Steve Kerr’s future has been up for debate all season.
If the longtime Warriors coach is back on the bench for a 13th season next fall, count wins like Thursday night’s improbable triumph over the Rockets as a primary reason.
Conventional wisdom has always assumed that Kerr’s timeline with Golden State would coincide neatly with the superstar assassin with whom he has won four NBA titles.
Steph Curry is locked up through next season, and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. negotiated extensions with Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler to line up with Curry.
All signs pointed to Kerr doing the same and giving Golden State’s aging core a definitive window to possibly add a fifth Larry O’Brien Trophy to its dynasty.
But Kerr, 60, wasn’t up for the commitment. He is coaching this season on an expiring deal and has repeatedly declined to address his future until after the year.
“Hopefully I’m here for another few years,” Kerr said at the opening of training camp, emphasizing his close relationships with Dunleavy and owner Joe Lacob. “But I think it makes sense for the organization, and for me, just to see where this thing is at the end of the year.”
There have been instances this season that could claim sole responsibility for another strand of gray hair or newly formed wrinkle on the face of Kerr, now a grandfather. The saga with Jonathan Kuminga devolved into a headache for everyone involved. Kerr, typically thoughtful and passionate, has been forced to walk back public comments on more than one subject.
On the court, Kerr’s read-and-react system that produced the beautiful basketball once associated with the Warriors isn’t as novel as it once was; they’ve been lapped by teams younger, faster, more athletic and equally adept at quick decision-making and shooting 3s.
Injuries to Curry and Butler, coupled with Green’s decline, have only complicated things further.
Kerr has already achieved more than a small sliver of people to be associated with the league — five championships as a player to go with four as a coach — and there have been times when it seemed totally reasonable for him to have no desire to keep going.
And then there are moments like Thursday night.
Kerr quite literally glowed in the small visitor’s press room after a win over their longtime nemesis without Curry, Butler or a substantial portion of their supporting cast. He couldn’t hide his pride behind a beaming grin while touting the performance of a team that suited up only 10 players, half of whom were current or former two-way players who rose into the rotation from their G League affiliate in Santa Cruz (coached the past three years by Kerr’s son, Nicholas, now an assistant on the NBA staff).
It was a win not just in the standings but for the Warriors’ development system. The same system that failed Kuminga helped turn players such as Quentin Post and Gui Santos from late draft picks into a group capable of beating a full-strength playoff team in its own building.
“Tonight was really fun,” Kerr said. “Just to see a bunch of young guys compete and come out with a win, it feels like a playoff win — it really does. It’s the beauty of competing in the NBA: You get nights like tonight where everything’s worth it.”
The Warriors’ next win would be Kerr’s 600th as a coach. Golden State played at Oklahoma City on Saturday night. He showed his prowess for X’s and O’s is as fresh as ever, too, with the perfect out-of-bounds play that freed up a cutting Green for a three-point play that stemmed the Rockets’ run late in the fourth quarter.
Despite the challenges this season has presented, Kerr said repeatedly that this has been one of his favorite groups to coach. Recently, he was asked why.
“When you’re short-handed, there’s kind of a mentality of all hands on deck. You can really feel the guys pulling for each other and trying to fill in the gaps with energy and grit,” he said. “Those are always fun teams to coach when you get that vibe. There’s a lot of joy, a lot of laughter. You kind of have some ‘nothing to lose’ in there because of all the injuries. So you just want to come out swinging, and that’s how our guys have been. It’s been fun to watch.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
