• 17 hours ago
Transcript
00:00it is time for Coach Kerr presented by Great Clips.
00:03In sports, success is about team effort
00:05and the same is true for your hair.
00:07Great Clips, it's gonna be great.
00:09Coach Kerr, how you doing, Steve?
00:10What's going on?
00:12Gentlemen, I'm doing well, thank you.
00:14How are you guys?
00:15We're doing great and I first want to,
00:17and this is self-serving, I know,
00:18but I want to thank you for Saturday night
00:22and answering the questions of the students
00:24because you don't have to do that
00:26and you did and you did it with a smile and all of that.
00:28So just, I appreciate it so much.
00:31No, it's a great thing that you do.
00:32I love that those students get to come in
00:35and kind of see how the whole operation works
00:37and ask questions and it was awesome.
00:39I enjoyed just chatting with some of them.
00:43Yeah, well, and I'm gonna follow up
00:45with a similar question to one of the ones
00:47that one of the students asked,
00:48which is obviously about Jonathan Kaminga
00:51because the report is out there that Thursday is the night.
00:55So what can you tell us about the challenges
00:58associated with it and the plan
01:00for introducing him back into the lineup?
01:04Yeah, so, I mean, it looks good for Thursday.
01:06That is the plan.
01:08We'll see, just until the last moment,
01:12you never want to announce anything,
01:15but assuming he doesn't have any setbacks
01:17in the next two days, he should go on Thursday.
01:20We're excited to get him back and yeah,
01:23obviously we're gonna keep doing what we're doing.
01:26I'm not gonna change the starting lineup,
01:28but excited to incorporate JK back into the rotation
01:35and we'll see how it goes.
01:38Really at this point, because we're on a roll,
01:42because we're really clicking and things are,
01:46the rotation's good, lots of good stuff is happening.
01:49He just has to adapt to us and come out
01:53and do the things that he knows are gonna help us win,
01:57which is sprint the floor and offensive rebound.
02:01All the things that Guy has been doing,
02:04that Moses has been doing, that's what's helping us win.
02:07And so that's what I'll be asking from JK as well.
02:11Is it a challenge for you to balance
02:13the two different ideas of,
02:16yes, you want to increase his minutes gradually
02:18and get him up to full playing shape,
02:20while also making sure that all those things
02:23you just described are still intact?
02:29Yeah, I mean, that's the challenge, right?
02:32I mean, when a player of his caliber comes back,
02:38it's not easy coming back to a winning situation.
02:41It's actually easier when the team is struggling.
02:43The other factor here, I think, is last time JK played,
02:48which was 10 weeks ago, we were a completely different team.
02:51And so I thought he played his best basketball
02:54of his career during that maybe five, six game stretch
02:58just before the injury.
03:00But now he's returning to a completely different team.
03:03And so he has to adapt to that
03:05and we have to adapt to him as well.
03:07So look, we all know that the whole thing is winning.
03:11That's the bottom line is what is it gonna take
03:14to win on Thursday night?
03:16And that's how I'm gonna coach.
03:18That's how we're gonna play.
03:19And I think there's no doubt that JK can help us do that.
03:26And as he goes, I think he's gonna get
03:28more and more comfortable and he'll have more and more
03:31of an opportunity to help us win.
03:34Steve, I wonder if you could expand on that.
03:36When you say like he's coming back
03:37to a completely different team,
03:39most fans are probably like, right, Jimmy Butler's on it.
03:41But I bet you have a more intricate answer.
03:43Like what are the differences in this team now
03:47as opposed to when JK last played?
03:49Well, I think in his last couple of weeks,
03:52we were really running a lot of things through him
03:55because Jimmy wasn't here yet.
03:59And now that Jimmy's here, look,
04:01Jimmy's one of the best players in the league.
04:04He's proven it.
04:05Soon as he got here, we started winning.
04:07And so we're gonna run through Jimmy Butler
04:10and we're gonna run through Steph Curry.
04:11And so what that requires of JK is to be
04:16settling into a role to support those guys.
04:18And that's slightly different.
04:20And that's just something that he's gonna have to adapt to.
04:22Is there any particular reason why the ramp up to play
04:26took maybe longer than it normally does?
04:28Because I'm thinking about when he started going
04:30full court scrimmaging, which is almost two weeks ago,
04:33normally that portends for a player
04:35to come back and play right away.
04:37What were the reasons that had this
04:39be a little bit more elongated?
04:42It's no particular reason.
04:45I think every player is different.
04:46And we wanted JK to feel comfortable and confident
04:51before he made his return.
04:53And it just took this long and that's fine.
04:56It's just the way it went.
04:58Steve Kerr with us here, with the Dibs, 95-7 the game,
05:00as he is every single week.
05:02This might be a chicken or the egg, Steve,
05:04but I'll tell you one thing I've noticed.
05:06Man, the guys are joking around with each other a lot,
05:08poking fun, having fun,
05:10talking about each other in interviews.
05:12Is that because you're winning
05:14or is the winning sort of more a function of it?
05:21It's a great question.
05:23I do feel like this team has had a really good vibe
05:28all year, even during the losses.
05:30I think our team really genuinely liked each other.
05:35So I think, I guess the way I would answer that question
05:39is Jimmy's arrival obviously changed things,
05:43but the culture and the vibe was already built in.
05:47And even during the losses,
05:51I think there was a strong foundation.
05:53And so Jimmy's arrival combined with the foundation
06:00that existed already and the culture that Steph Curry
06:03and Draymond Green set,
06:05I think it allowed us to flourish right away.
06:08Is he the big reason that this idea
06:10of a crisis of confidence has evaporated?
06:13You guys were down 27 to five the other day
06:16and none of us here in the room even felt like
06:18there was any doubt that you were gonna rally.
06:20Is Jimmy solely responsible for shedding that crisis?
06:25He is, I think because what he does
06:29is he makes everybody else better.
06:30So he instantly arrived and started making Moses better
06:36and Guy better and Quentin Post better.
06:38You could see the confidence level that Steph suddenly had
06:42knowing Jimmy was by his side, same with Draymond.
06:46And so everyone else is improved with Jimmy's arrival
06:52and with that improvement comes confidence
06:54and we're playing with a lot of confidence again.
06:59Steve, here's one thing I wanted to throw at you.
07:01You've won five in a row, so the Wolves,
07:03Clippers three in a row, Rockets three in a row,
07:05Grizzlies three in a row.
07:07So the urgency remains really high.
07:11How do you guys keep your foot on the gas
07:15as hard as possible the rest of the way
07:18and still potentially have something left
07:21when you get to the playoffs with guys
07:23who are of a certain age?
07:27Well, I don't think that's gonna be a problem, honestly.
07:29I think our guys look at the standings every day.
07:33They watch games, they know where we are.
07:36Our goal is, as we've talked about, is sixth or higher.
07:42We wanna get there and when we get there,
07:45the playoffs start and we'll be excited
07:48and there will be days off in between games
07:51and we'll have plenty of rest and recovery time
07:53and we'll be fine.
07:55I'm not worried about that at all.
07:57Fans are so thrilled with what Moses Moody's done
08:00and Steve, we've had this conversation for years now
08:03about why don't you play Moses Moody
08:04and now he starts and you're not taking him out
08:07of the starting lineup.
08:07What is it exactly that he's done
08:09over the last couple of months that have made him
08:11so integral to what you guys are doing?
08:14Well, I try to explain this all the time
08:18but it's a five-man puzzle
08:21and the roster now makes perfect sense.
08:23It just does and the last couple of years, frankly,
08:27there's been a lot of overlapping parts.
08:30Moses didn't always compliment the guys next to him
08:33and vice versa and so it made things trickier
08:38not only to play him but to play JK,
08:41to play a number of guys.
08:44That's why roster construction is so important.
08:47You see what's happened though,
08:48the four-for-one trade really clarifies
08:51our top eight, top nine.
08:54Moses is now on the floor with a whole bunch of guys
08:57who really know how to play.
09:02BP now is given a clear path towards 30 minutes a night
09:07and he is a secondary playmaker next to Steph.
09:10Jimmy is a playmaker, Draymond's a playmaker.
09:13So now Moses can just play hard like he's doing,
09:17spot up, make shots, move the ball
09:19and the game all makes sense.
09:22So I know it's hard to envision all of that
09:26and why it doesn't happen with different lineups
09:29but this is what we do as a staff every day.
09:33This is all we do and so it's been really clear
09:36for our staff the last couple of years
09:39why we couldn't quite put this together
09:43and now it's really clear that Mike Dunleavy's move
09:46to trade for Jimmy Butler has made things really simple
09:51and now you're seeing guys thrive.
09:53We brought up Podjemski there.
09:54Can we get an update on his status as well?
09:58Yeah, he's doing fine.
09:59I think anytime there's a back situation
10:02you just wanna be careful and so I talked to Rick today
10:06and he's doubtful for Thursday.
10:09We just wanna be really sure before we bring him back
10:13so that we don't aggravate it
10:15and I can't wait to get him back
10:16because he's playing at a really high level
10:20and I mentioned the playmaking and the feel
10:23and the IQ.
10:24He has a ton of that and we missed him
10:28the last couple of games and we need to get him back.
10:31One thing I also wanna do to toss at you
10:33with regard to Jonathan's potential return
10:36on Thursday night, what can you share with us
10:39about the mental side of what he's facing here
10:43which is A, coming back from injury,
10:46B, as you put it, joining a completely new team
10:49and then let's be honest, Steve,
10:50it seems like he's gotta have the contractual situation
10:53in the back of his mind too
10:54so how would you describe his challenges
10:56and how he's doing with it?
10:59Well, he has to answer that question.
11:01I mean, I can't really tell you how he's feeling about it.
11:05I just think that my job is to help him ease back in,
11:12find his place amongst the group,
11:15find his role with this situation
11:20different team that he's coming back to
11:22and help him along that path.
11:25And again, this entire operation is about winning.
11:30I mean, that's why we do all of this.
11:32And so what I've gotta help him understand
11:36is whatever it takes to win,
11:39that's what you've gotta do for this group.
11:41And if he does that, he's so talented that I have no doubt
11:45he'll find his way back in and find his rhythm
11:48and things will go great.
11:50And things have been going great
11:51without Jonathan Kamenga,
11:53but Steph Curry hitting milestones,
11:5525,000 points the other night
11:57and now just two threes away from 4,000 threes.
12:00And when all said and done, he might be up around 5,000.
12:04Do you think that's gonna be an unbreakable record
12:06or is this new brand of basketball mean
12:08it's just a matter of time before someone,
12:10maybe his own son comes up and breaks his record?
12:15Yeah, it seems unbreakable right now,
12:18but who knows?
12:20I mean, the game has changed, as you said.
12:25I wouldn't feel comfortable comparing it
12:29to DiMaggio's hit streak or something,
12:32or our 73 win season.
12:35I think those things are unbreakable.
12:37You just never know.
12:38So we'll see, but it's gonna be really difficult.
12:43I know that.
12:44What Steph does is just incredible.
12:49Speaking of Steph, one thing,
12:50and this is just as a fan,
12:52from watching him play through the years,
12:53I know this, if I were an opponent,
12:55I would not try to get under his skin.
12:58It feels like that brings out great things in him.
13:00And you watch Brooklyn try to get really physical with him.
13:03Detroit gets physical with him.
13:05Dennis Schroeder, even getting into it
13:08with each other a little bit.
13:09So what did you notice from those moments,
13:12from those players and how he reacted?
13:15Same thing I've seen for a decade.
13:18Teams are understandably gonna try
13:20to get physical with him, get under his skin.
13:24But I've said this many times,
13:26Steph's most underrated quality is his competitive desire.
13:30And he is a fiery guy.
13:33And if you challenge him,
13:36he's gonna respond in a beautiful manner.
13:39Yeah, and he's shown an increased fitness
13:42and the feistiness and the strength
13:43over the course of the years.
13:44And it makes me think about Sacramento
13:46coming up on Thursday,
13:47where it's kind of been a little bit of a rivalry
13:50over the last few years.
13:52Is that one that you know that they're gonna come in
13:54and be up for and something that you have to
13:56get your team extra prepared for?
14:00Well, I don't think there's any extra preparation.
14:02I think, first of all, I'm just glad to have the time
14:06for some actual preparation
14:08compared to our last five games or so.
14:11So we finally have a practice tomorrow,
14:14our first one in a while, and we need it.
14:17They will have a couple of days to prepare as well,
14:21coming off of their game last night.
14:23So it should be a good game.
14:25I mean, Sacramento has been really good this year,
14:30beating us twice already,
14:31and obviously are fighting hard to catch us.
14:37So we know they're gonna come in motivated.
14:40Speaking of the potential post-season,
14:43I'm curious, Steve, when you look at this team right now,
14:46what you sort of think still needs to get better?
14:49Draymond Green recently said,
14:50yeah, no, no, we got a long way to go, still getting better.
14:53What are some of the things that need to change?
14:57I thought last night was a good example
14:59of what needs to happen,
15:02which did happen in the first half.
15:04We took care of the ball.
15:06We found our offensive rhythm.
15:08I thought the ball movement was so much better
15:10than it was against Detroit two nights earlier.
15:17And that first half was beautiful, 69 points.
15:20I think we had like 18 assists and only six turnovers.
15:25I thought Moses Moody made three or four plays
15:28that Jimmy Butler would make.
15:31Penetrate, get into the paint, nothing is there,
15:34jump stop, turn around and throw the ball back out.
15:38No assist, nothing special,
15:41but the next thing that happens is the ball moves again,
15:44and then you attack the defense from a better angle
15:46and you score.
15:47Those simple plays are what we need to make
15:50over and over again.
15:51And when we do that, we're really good.
15:53Second half last night, we started turning it over.
15:55I think we had 12 turnovers,
15:58and that's what allowed Portland back in the game.
16:01The modern game, you cannot allow anybody,
16:05easy buckets, easy threes in transition
16:07because the floodgates can open up like they did
16:11with Portland.
16:12And they were fantastic in the second half.
16:14They almost caught us.
16:16And it was both their play, but also our mistakes.
16:21And those are the things that I'm gonna harp on
16:24with our team.
16:25I love it, 12 of your last 14,
16:27and yet you're gonna have to harp on them in practice.
16:30That's old school.
16:31And Steve, you're just one win away from tying Al Adels
16:33for most in the history of the Golden State Warriors.
16:37When you do get those two wins and you pass Al Adels,
16:41what is that gonna mean to you to pass
16:42such a legendary figure like Al Adels?
16:47It is, it's kind of crazy to be honest with you.
16:52I never could have imagined that happening
16:54when I arrived here 11 years ago.
16:59It's insane, but it's obviously a sign of
17:04just what an incredible organization we have here
17:08and the talent that Bob Myers and Mike Dunleavy,
17:15Joe Lacob, that they've put on the floor
17:17for our coaching staff to coach.
17:20But it goes beyond that really.
17:22It's the stability.
17:23It's just the strength of our business side
17:28with Rick Welts and now Brandon Schneider.
17:31I mean, the whole operation,
17:34the Warriors have become one of the best franchises
17:36in the NBA.
17:37And so the success is really organization-wide
17:42and that record is really more reflective of that
17:44than anything else.
17:46Steve, this might be a little random
17:48going back to last night's game,
17:50but I'd really love to know
17:52kind of what was going on there at the end.
17:54I think people saw on TV a conversation
17:56between you and Jimmy Butler.
17:58And there's that situation where like,
18:00you've got the game in hand,
18:01but the shot clock's running down.
18:03It looked like you guys had a conversation
18:06about whether or not he should shoot it.
18:08What was going on there?
18:10Yeah, it's funny, actually.
18:12It was actually a conversation with Danny Avita.
18:16What happened was there was a shot clock differential
18:19about five seconds.
18:20And we're running the clock out and Jimmy looks at me
18:24and I said, shoot it.
18:25Because I do not believe that you should ever
18:28take a turnover and take a shot clock violation
18:32at the end of a game.
18:33I just don't.
18:34It goes against what the game calls for.
18:36If the shot clock is off, absolutely.
18:39You run the clock out and you let the buzzer sound.
18:42I tell our guys, never take a turnover.
18:45If the game calls for a shot, take a shot.
18:47And Avita kind of looked at me
18:51with like a sideways look.
18:53I just yelled out to him,
18:55hey, you know, shot clock differential.
18:58And then Jimmy looked at me after the game.
19:00I said, look, this is how we handle this stuff.
19:04You know, we always shoot.
19:07And it's beyond me why anybody should be offended
19:11in the NBA or at any level of basketball
19:15if you shoot a shot when there's still time
19:18on the shot clock.
19:19So it's just the way I handle it.
19:21And it really was not a big deal.
19:24I love Danny.
19:26Got to know him a little bit in the draft process.
19:29Huge respect for him.
19:30And he had a phenomenal game, by the way, last night.
19:33So it was nothing.
19:35It was just, you know, a brief little explanation
19:37for how we approach things.
19:39In general, do you tend to believe
19:42in those kind of unwritten rules in sports?
19:47I think there are certain ones that make sense.
19:51You know, I think, you know, there are unwritten rules
19:56that should be honored.
19:58I just, for whatever reason in the NBA,
20:02maybe in college basketball too, the last decade or so,
20:05it feels like there are these weird ones.
20:07And I'm sorry, but I just refuse to take a turnover
20:13because you may be offended that I take a shot at the end
20:16when we have five seconds on the shot clock.
20:18I'm sorry, I can't do that.
20:19And part of it had to be Jimmy's refusal to turn it over.
20:23He probably looked at you panicked, like,
20:24Steve, I don't know, I'm about to do something
20:27that I don't like to do.
20:30Yeah, maybe that had something to do with it too.
20:32But no, he just looked over at me
20:34and I said, go ahead, shoot.
20:37So, you know, whatever.
20:38Like I said, it was really not a big deal.
20:40Yeah, it was a big deal to some people in Vegas,
20:42but we won't go into that at all.
20:46But I did want to ask you this, Steve,
20:48since you guys were talking last week,
20:51the Draymond birthday in New York thing,
20:53I was looking up your birthday and realized
20:56that your big 6-0 is coming up here in just a few months.
21:00So here's what I want to know.
21:01Like, your 50s, for you, rank where
21:05in terms of the decades of your life?
21:11Not that high, to be honest with you.
21:14Yeah, well, he just turned 50, coach.
21:17So he's trying to put his toe in the water.
21:19I'm right between you two, I'm 56.
21:21And sometimes, I don't know if you have this experience,
21:24but I got to pull out my driver's license
21:26to remember if I'm 55 or 56 anymore.
21:30Let me tell you something, everything hurts, all right?
21:33So, you know, this last decade has been really fun
21:37coaching the Warriors, a lot of great stuff,
21:39family-wise, coaching the Olympics.
21:43But if I could go back 20, 30 years
21:46and feel like I did then, it's a no-brainer.
21:50Like, I get in that time machine and I head straight back.
21:53Yeah, yeah.
21:54Coming off a screen and catch and shoot,
21:57now it's like getting out of bed,
21:58it's like a seven-minute process.
22:00Isn't that the truth?
22:01Oh, man.
22:02Yes, sir, coach.
22:03Well, we hope you're at least moderately
22:05feeling good right now.
22:06Thank you so much, as always.
22:08We love doing it each week, we'll talk to you next week.
22:12Hey, thanks, guys, appreciate you having me.
22:14All right, there he goes.