Steve Kerr holds vast experience in handling the final moments of NBA dynasties.
As a player, Kerr competed alongside Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson during the Chicago Bulls’ “Last Dance” 1997-98 season, the last of three consecutive championship campaigns. Afterward, Jordan, Pippen and Jackson were gone, and so were the wins, with Chicago needing seven more seasons to return to the playoffs.
Last year, as a coach, Kerr oversaw the final season of a Warriors run that yielded five consecutive NBA Finals appearances and three titles. Afterward, Kevin Durant was gone, along with the wins, as the Warriors slid to 15-50 with stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson injured.
Kerr wasn’t as sure about Durant and the Warriors’ end as he was about those Bulls, though, as he recently detailed on NBC Sports Bay Area’s Runnin’ Plays podcast.
“There was definitely a thought in my mind from the very beginning of the season that this might be it, that we didn’t have a definitive answer like that team did,” Kerr said. “[Bulls general manager] Jerry Krause and [owner] Jerry Reinsdorf basically came out and said, ‘This is going to be it.’ We didn’t have that.”
Krause said Jackson wouldn’t return as the Bulls’ coach, no matter what happened during that 1997-98 season, and Jordan vowed not to play for anyone else. Despite that -- along with a trade demand from an injured Pippen, who missed 38 games after delaying foot surgery as part of a contract dispute -- the Bulls won 62 regular-season games and claimed their sixth NBA title in nine years.
[RUNNIN' PLAYS PODCAST: Listen to the latest episode]
Two decades later, Kerr’s Warriors sensed the end of their own dynasty after they had won back-to-back titles behind Curry, Thompson, Durant and Draymond Green. Durant -- who spurned the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign with the Warriors in 2016 -- was expected to enter free agency after the season, which Kerr said he supported.
“I think we’ve always tried to give our players here plenty of rope, plenty of freedom, the respect that they deserve to make any decision they want to make,” Kerr said. “We understood the whole reason we got Kevin is because he wanted a new challenge after he left Oklahoma City. So, when he decided to leave after last season, who would we be to complain?”
Kerr's sentiment seemed more simple in theory than in practice, as one month into the season, Durant and Green got into a verbal sideline spat, reportedly over a Green comment about Durant’s impending free agency. Green was suspended one game by the team over the incident, and his friendship with Durant was put in peril.
All the while, speculation on Durant's future hung over the Warriors. It heightened during the playoffs, as Durant dominated, averaging 32.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. The talk continued even after Durant tore his Achilles during Game 5 of the NBA Finals, ending his season.
“I think the difficulty just came within the season and trying to get everybody to focus on the task at hand and to worry about everything else later,” Kerr said. “And that was our main job as a coaching staff.”
[RELATED: 'Quarantine Klay' is working out, 'walking around fine']
One month after he exited the Finals on crutches, Durant left for the Brooklyn Nets to team up with friends Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan. Still, Kerr bears no ill will toward Durant.
“He just saw another challenge was ahead of him and decided to make that choice,” Kerr said. "So, we all wished him well and understood that he was making a decision for himself, and we all respected that.”
Durant's last final Warriors season had its share of headlines, producing an aura of finality for everyone involved. But Kerr’s experience as a player with those “Last Dance” Bulls gave him a unique perspective on how to best coach his Warriors.
“My experience from the Bulls basically helped shape my message to the Warriors team last year," Kerr said. "Which was, ‘Enjoy every second of this and don't waste it because you may never be in a position like this again to be able to win a championship, to have this kind of shot.’ ”
"last" - Google News
April 30, 2020 at 09:35PM
https://ift.tt/2Ywupft
Kerr compares KD's final Dubs year to 'Last Dance' Bulls - NBCSports.com
"last" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2rbmsh7
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Kerr compares KD's final Dubs year to 'Last Dance' Bulls - NBCSports.com"
Post a Comment