Back in 2014, the Golden State Warriors beat the New York Knicks in the race to hire Steve Kerr. They needed someone who could build around what Mark Jackson had put together after several shortcomings in the playoffs.
The Warriors were still a young team, and they were quite close to coach Jackson, so filling in those shoes was going to be tough. Kerr came with plenty of pedigree as a player and executive, but this would be his first experience as a coach.
Notably, Draymond Green recently admitted that some of the players weren’t actually fond of Kerr at first. However, as soon as they got a hold of his flow offense, it became clear that they could do something special.
NBA News: Warriors Players Thought Steve Kerr Was Crazy
(via Fadeaway World)
“When Steve Kerr took over the job, I remember the first training camp, he’s like, ‘ball movement, cut, stop standing and waiting for the ball.’ I’ll catch the ball at the top of the key, Steph on the wing, and he’s like, ‘Steph, cut’ and it’s like, ‘No, dude, I’m supposed to pass the ball to Steph right here.’ And he said, ‘Pass the ball and move without the ball, the ball will find the hands of the people that are supposed to get the shots.’”
“We all thought he was out of his mind. And then as we started to do it, then you figure it out and you like, ‘Yo, this is actually pretty incredible.’ Like, it’s ball moving, ball moving. Ball moving. Screen roll, it’s ball moving, ball moving. ball moving. There goes the mismatch, but nobody’s really standing. And that’s kind of where all this flow offense and all this stuff came.”
Fast forward to today, and Kerr is considered an elite coach. He’s led the Warriors to six NBA Finals and four rings in eight seasons, and the team is still poised to compete for years to come.
Mark Jackson deserves a lot of credit for the Warriors’ success, that’s for sure. But sometimes, all a team needs is someone with a different perspective and a determination to try something new.
