Getty Steve Kerr and Draymond Green react to a play in a Golden State Warriors game.
Draymond Green admits that he wasn’t quite sure what to think of Steve Kerr’s motion offense when the coach first came to the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors big man opened up about his first impressions after Kerr took over as Warriors coach in 2014. The team had previously utilized a more traditional offensive style under head coach Mark Jackson that centered around the team’s star players, and Green said that he thought Kerr was “out of his mind” with the changes he implemented.
Green Sounds Off on Warriors Coach
Appearing on the “Checc’n In” podcast this week, Green discussed the deep changes to Golden State’s offense when Kerr took over as head coach. He noted that Jackson’s style was to seek out and exploit mismatches for Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
The transition to Kerr’s more complicated and intricate motion offense was difficult for Green, however.
“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,” Green said. “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.’ ”
Draymond was very confused by Kerr’s offensive philosophy when he first took over as coach 🤣
Green admitted that there was some pushback from himself and his teammates at first, but they quickly embraced Kerr’s style.
“We all thought he was out of his mind,” Green said. “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.”
Kerr’s Style Won Over Curry
The Warriors were already a franchise on the rise when Kerr took over. After four consecutive seasons below .500, the Warriors had made the playoffs the two previous seasons under Jackson, though never advanced beyond the conference semifinals.
As Curry recalled, Kerr’s objective was to turn that team into a title contender.
“As one of the lead guys on the team, when you have a new coach come in, it’s kind of awkward at first,” Curry said on “The Rex Chapman Show” in 2021. “Because we had a certain level of success, and he’s coming in and trying to give us the blueprint of how to get over the hump and become a championship contending team.”
Steve Kerr’s HC career resume:
– 4x NBA Champ
– 2x NBA ASG HC
– 2016 NBA Coach of the Year
– Team USA HC
– Most Wins (73) in 1 season
– Best Playoff Win% (72.6) & in 1 Postseason (94.1)
– Most Wins (67) by a rookie HC
Kerr was successful because of the way he involved everyone in the organization, Curry said.
“You see how [Kerr] handles people, how he manages people, how he talks to people, how he finds ways to make sure everybody knows their role and get them to buy into it for the betterment of the entire team,” the Warriors star said. “That meant a lot.”