Is Kerr Getting Too Much Credit?
By Brad Malone
It’s been a fun NBA playoffs for Arizona Wildcat fans.
In the East, Jerryd Bayless hit a game winner for Milwaukee in the first round.
In the West, Jason Terry and Nick Johnson reached the conference finals with the Houston Rockets.
But the big story thus far for the Tucson faithful is how Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr has led his team to the NBA Finals, with some help from high flyer Andre Iguodala.
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The other day I was talking to a buddy of mine about the NBA Playoffs. He mentioned to me that he felt Kerr has gotten too much credit for leading the same team Mark Jackson had a year ago. I wondered why my friend would say this about my childhood hero. He might have said this with bitterness since the Warriors new rival, the Los Angeles Clippers were bounced from the second round by the Rockets and then Kerr’s Warriors dominated the Rockets in the next series.
When I was a kid I assumed when Steven Spielberg directed a movie that meant he did mostly everything but act. I didn’t realize he needed someone who knew something about the art of cinematography to film the movie. It didn’t occur to me that he would send people months in advance to locate somewhere exotic to film. I just thought he said ‘Action!’ and then Harrison Ford started punching bad guys, and then Stevie would yell ‘Cut!’, all while filming the movie himself, with little help from behind the camera.
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As an adult now, all that seems silly, but I feel a lot of fans get the impression that is similar to what an NBA head coach does. Some may think he is in charge of everything but does little or nothing and lets his players do the talking for him with their play.
Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach are considered the gold standard when it comes to great NBA head coaches, but they would be nowhere without Hall of Famers on their rosters or a supportive hard-working staff and organizations behind them.
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Have you ever heard someone say ‘I would have 11 titles too if I had Phil Jackson’s teams. All I would have to do is roll the balls out and tell Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to do whatever they want?’
If you were able to have this fantasy come true in a different dimension, odds are you might win a few titles if you were lucky, but I don’t think you would have 11 rings.
I’m pretty sure when Dennis Rodman showed up in this fantasy world, you wouldn’t have known what to do with him and he might have burned Chicago to the ground. The Zen Master found a way to avoid Rodman from making a sequel to the great Chicago fire, and on top of that he found a way to control Rodman and win three rings with him on the roster.
I love basketball but great head coaches are addicted to it. The amount of time these guys spend preparing for games is obscene.
If coaches are smart they get the tools they need and use them to accomplish a job while using strategy and experience they have gained along the way.
If they lead the right people and things go just right, it comes out like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. If things don’t come together, it ends up looking like ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’.
Steve Kerr didn’t just go to Northern California and say ‘Hi guys. I like basketball. People love me. I’m a good shooter and I like to announce games. Am I hired.’?
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Instead he has been preparing his whole life for this. He has played with and for some of the greatest basketball icons in the history of the game.
He knew he was walking into a good situation with an excellent team and incredible fan base that has stuck through decades of mostly mediocrity.
He did that for a reason. Why would he seek out a job that is doomed to fail from the beginning? He saw an opportunity and felt it would be a good challenge to improve a good team and make them great with the knowledge he has assessed through the years.
Mark Jackson had a good run in the Bay area but the Warriors brass wanted to take the next step.
With Kerr, the Warriors have busted through the glass ceiling. They won 16 more games this season with Kerr roaming the sidelines and are in the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years.
NBA MVP Stephen Curry is a major reason for the success of the Warriors this year.
Kerr did his part by building a staff of great basketball minds.
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
He also made some tough decisions along the way like bringing Andre Iguodala off the bench and limiting 2-time all star David Lee’s playing time throughout a major part of the season.
Kerr has thrown all the ingredients into the gumbo and it has been cooked to perfection thus far.
In two weeks around the time Jurassic World hits theaters he just might have some new jewelry to show off.
I know Spielberg is producing Jurassic World and not directing, but I hope the movie comes out as good as the Warriors season. I’m worried it might be as bad as the New York Knicks previous decade. Please don’t let me down Team Stevie Spielberg.
Bear Down!