The arrival of Steve Kerr as head coach in 2014 transformed the Golden State Warriors into title contenders. They won the championship in his first year in charge and went on to win four titles in total in his nine seasons at the helm. For the longest time though, Draymond Green didn’t realize just how good of a coach he was.
During his recent appearance on “The Pat Bev Podcast”, Draymond revealed it was only after this past season that he understood that Kerr is a mastermind.
“I can be 100 percent honest with you, I never understood or respected Steve Kerr’s brilliance as much as I have after this year,” Green said. “And I think a large part of it was my immaturity… The more I learned about the game, the more Steve Kerr’s brilliance is so evident to me.
“This dude, he always knows the right adjustment,” Green explained. “We beat Sacramento (Kings) in this series, we really should’ve lost in Sac… Steph Curry in that Game 7 was obviously great, he is incredible. Nuts. He wasn’t letting us lose. Steph didn’t let us lose Game 7, but Steve got us through every other one of those games with adjustments. He was just making adjustments and then obviously you gotta go play but those adjustments, he got us through that series and then Steph did what he did (in) Game 7 and sent them home.
“I walk into film and he’s just sitting there, legs crossed, sit back in his chair, leaned back… and he just has a smirk on his face,” Green continued. “We just lost the f***ing game and he just sits back there with his legs crossed with a little smirk on his face. I walk in like, “What up coach? What up? Coach, I saw this. I watched the film.” I come in with my notes and s***… And he’s like, ‘Yeah they were doing this, but I got this adjustment.’ Man, he is a mastermind.
“And I think one other important trait that Steve has is he’s so confident and certain of himself that he ain’t afraid to let one of his guys take the wheel,” Green added. “Whether that’s me, whether that’s something Steph thinks… I’m telling you, man, dude is a mastermind. And it really took me until my 11th year to really be able to understand it.”
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Kerr and Draymond have had their clashes over the years but the latter has now finally understood just how great of a coach the former is. He also had some big praise for Kerr during the postseason, stating that he is one of the best ever at making adjustments in the playoffs.
Steve Kerr Spoke About One Area He Came Up Short In Last Season
While Draymond realized last season just how great Kerr is at his job, the man himself has one big regret when he looks back on the season. He felt he failed in connecting his group of players and has spent much of this summer wondering what he should have done differently.
Admitting that you can make mistakes and ensuring it doesn’t happen again is a sign of a great coach and that is what Kerr is. The Warriors need to ensure they can keep Kerr around, as he will be out of contract next year. He might want a salary of around $20 million per year, and you’d think they won’t hesitate to give it to him.
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