The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 173: Steve Kerr

Episode Date: February 8, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to discuss the "supervillains" narrative (5:00), back problems in 2015 (8:00), Pat Riley's "disease of more" after championship runs (11:30), Steph Curry's magic (15:00), and John Stockton's dirtiness (18:00). They also tackle Luke Walton's impact on the Warriors (23:00), Durant-Curry growing pains (27:00), chasing 73 wins last season (33:00), the dysfunctional "Jail Blazers" (40:00), and social awareness in the NBA (43:00). Last, they address the Michael Jordan–Tom Brady comparison (51:00), the Chargers leaving San Diego (56:00), and the Warriors' move to San Francisco (59:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's special On Location episode of the BS Podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek. That's our presenting sponsor since 1947. SeatGeek spent Super Bowl week helping football fans find the best Super Bowl seats at the best prices, fully guaranteed with their revolutionary grading system and a team of ticket concierge experts that are a phone away with free advice, a phone call away with a free advice. Download the SeatGeek app today. Get ready for the rest of the NBA, NHL seasons,

college hoops, music, so much more. Or go right to SeatGeek.com. We are also brought to you by the Ringer NBA Show. That's our NBA podcast hosted by Chris Vernon, Kevin O'Connor, Chris Ryan,

Chase Soran, or even me sometimes. We're ramping it up now that the NFL is done. Subscribe to the Ringer NBA Show and our other podcasts on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play or even me sometimes. We're ramping it up now that the NFL is done. Subscribe to the Ringer NBA show and our other podcasts on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play or wherever else you get podcasts.

And we are brought to you by TheRinger.com. Go there and check out all of our written audio and video content from Super Bowl 51. I'm trying to get something done for Friday. We'll see. I got strep throat. It killed me. It ruined my brain.

I'm just putting my brain back together. But fortunately, we'll be able to have my brain for this podcast because at least it's working for that. Steve Kerr coming up right after this. Here we go. all right once upon a time i had a podcast on espn steve kerr was a media member used to come on all the time used to shoot the shit about hoops i remember we did a pod once where you you promised me nobody would ever win 73 games. I did, didn't I? You said Michael's will to win. Yeah. It was just never happening again.

There was 12 games a year that he just won by himself. You'd never see it again. And then years later, I'm not in ASP anymore, and you coached a 73-win team. You won a title. Now we're in a conference room in Oakland. In Oakland. Oakland. Secret location in Oakland.

Yeah. How are you feeling about the team? It's been quite a year. It's year three for you. First of all, I'm going to guarantee you that nobody ever wins 74 games in the NBA. Ever. There's no way. I stand by that one. I was wrong the first time. There's no way I'm wrong

this time. Can you believe you won 73? How many games did you guys pull out of your ass? Like eight? At least five. Yeah. And I think about this year.

Like, we have a better point differential this year. We're blowing more teams out. But we've lost all three overtime games. We're 0-3 in overtime, I think. Yeah. So we are, as we speak, 43-8. A year ago, I think we had four losses at this time. Wow. And we have a better point differential this year um i would say the biggest thing is um early in the season we didn't have the

continuity that we had last year right um well you added one of the 22 best players of all time yeah just kind of threw him in there we We did, which was an incredible blessing now. But we also lost seven guys from last year's team. So we overhauled, you know, half of the roster. So the continuity wasn't there at the beginning of the year. It's really growing now. But you guys were evil. We were, yeah.

To be evil has to be tough, right? To just be like, man, we just stand for all the wrong things. We're Darth Vader now. Yeah, yeah. That's kind of a different role for us, you know? Yeah. tough right to just be like man yeah we just stand for all the wrong things we're darth vader now yeah yeah that's kind of a different role for us you know yeah i mean the last couple years we were sort of the darlings everybody loves steph curry and then yeah so then we get uh we get kd and now we're the villains so i thought you handled it not to kiss your ass i thought you handled it really well because you addressed it immediately you kept joking about it you kept joking about how you're the villains now you're darth vader like and you kind of diffused it i felt like because

i think in the wrong hands that might have gone the wrong way and you and teams get uptight and you saw it happen you were doing tnt the first miami lebron here yeah i thought it really affected those guys and i thought it affected the whole season yeah i thought so too and and you know our team's nature is to be very free and loose and happy-go-lucky. And so we just thought diffusing it with humor was the best way to go. We had T-shirts made up, you know, super villains T-shirt. And Steph picked up on it.

He had a birthday party for his daughter at his house, and there was a big super villains sign made out of balloons. And so, you know, it's just something that is part of the narrative. I think you realize after you've been in the NBA for a long time that every year there's just different stories, different themes, and they don't have to make sense, but people are going to go with it and it shouldn't really bother you. You know, it's just, it's all, it's all part of it. You just, you just roll with it. And the main thing is just to, just to get thing is just to come to practice and try to get better and have fun. And whatever people are going to say, they're going to say.

And you were in the media, which helps. You know how the games go. I know how the game goes. It's boring. You've got to come up with a new thing every time. Let's go backwards, though, because you and I have been friends for a while. And you had a choice. You were ready to coach for a while and you had a choice you're ready to coach for a while you had a choice basically between the knicks and the warriors and you

battled and you talked to every single person you've ever met in your life to try to figure that decision out right right maybe twice maybe three times yeah and you end up here and it looks like a magnificent decision yeah and then you have a great fairytale season you guys win the title but during the finals your back starts to bother you and now physically you're falling apart even as your team's winning the title right yeah i mean what do you remember that that last week because you were like in real pain which which last week the last week of the finals you guys are winning the title but you're in real pain yeah yeah that's kind of when my back started to ache and and uh but that was uh that was such a magical season um and and a magical finish and um you know to win the title um in my first year coach i mean i hadn't imagined i

i knew the talent was really good and i thought all right we can take the next step you know the team had lost in the first round the year before to the Clippers. And I thought, all right, we can take the next step. We can get better. They were right there against the Clippers. I went to that game seven. It was tight. It was a very important game for them.

Five-point lead for the Warriors with a couple minutes to go. So I knew this team had a lot of potential. And I thought, all right, we can take the next step, you know, get to the conference semis, maybe even get to the conference finals, you know. And over the next few years, I think we'll have a chance to get really good. But it happened right away. And I think the team, the foundation was there. That was the main thing.

I mean, when I came on board, the team was already great defensively. They had been the fourth-ranked defense in the league the year before. And so I saw it right away. There was continuity. The guys liked each other. There was good chemistry. And the foundation had already been built defensively. Trading for Bogut, I think Mark Jackson had the right approach in terms of, let's make this a defensive-minded team. The Warriors, think about it, for 20 years, it was just try to outscore everybody. You know, games were wildly entertaining, but, you know, to win, you have to defend. And that's when I realized we could be pretty good

when I saw just how good our defense was right away. And then the whole thing was just developing our offense and getting more movement, getting more pace and more ball movement, more flow. And those are the things we really worked on and that we've gotten better with and you had put just insane amounts of time not just thinking what kind of offense you run but you were like banking out of bounds plays you prepared for this like it was like an invasion how many out of bounds plays did you have like 300

no definitely not no maybe maybe 50 of them but 50 brad stevens has 300 yeah brad's a master with that stuff he really he's amazing but uh no i think um my whole approach with my last like two years at tnt uh as i was preparing for coaching was just to talk to every coach that i could pick their brains jeff van gundy was a big help. And I watched League Pass every night anyway, because that's what I love to do. And I was preparing for my job. And every time I saw a play I liked, I would just put it in a video library.

And that was my preparation. I could tell I had somebody do that for me. I'd send an email to my buddy who ended up coming aboard with us here with the Warriors. Yeah. I'd say, hey, you know, 4-23 of the first quarter, Clippers play versus Boston. And he'd put it in the library. I bet you stole a lot from Brad Stevens.

Oh, yeah, yeah. He's one of the masters. He's great. He's great. So that 2015, you know, luck plays a big part of this. And you get lucky. The Clippers knock off the Spurs. I think the Spurs would have been a tough one.

And then Josh Smith gets unconscious, right, as they're about to get knocked out of the Clippers series. I think you would have beaten the Clippers. That's a tough series, though, going against Blake and those guys. Sure, sure. Then you get to the finals. Just everything goes perfectly. And then at some point your back goes out.

It gets worse. You rupture a disc playing golf. You get to the finals, just everything goes perfectly. And then at some point your back goes out. It gets worse. You rupture a disc playing golf. You get the surgery. And then at what point did you think, oh, my God, I actually might not be able to coach? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I don't want to go too much into detail on this, but I will just say to anybody out there who's having back problems, do not get surgery. It really is. I mean, it can be successful., the last resort of all time. It should be the

last resort. And, you know, you got to rely on mother nature and, you know, just rehab. And, um, you know, I went to one of the top back specialists in the world and it was a supposedly a simple, you know, micro discectomy. It's the simplest surgery they do. It wasn't like a fusion or anything like that. And, and, um, what was supposed to be a simple procedure, one that I've got half a dozen friends who've all had and who it's gone really well for it. Uh, it did not go well for me. And, uh, so it was a, it was a tough, tough road last year. Um, just a couple of weeks after surgery, you know, starting to feel headaches and neck pain and dizziness. It was bizarre. And, and that led to me missing half the season. Yeah. And then I

was able to come back and fortunately, you know, I'm doing better. And, and, but it's, you know, I'm still, still in some pain and it's, it's no fun, you know, getting old and feeling pain all the time. You were pretty athletic guy still too.. I mean, not just that you played, but you surfed and played golf. Yeah, yeah, and, you know, worked out every day. I still work out every day, but I've been limited in what I can do, and that's hard. You know, at 51, I should just be entering my golfing peak. MMA, doing some MMA against the cage.

Yeah, maybe that, too. Yeah, why not? But I'm all right, and, right. And I can't complain. I got an unbelievable gig. I love living in the Bay Area. Our players and our staff are so awesome to work with. This is an amazing group of people to be with and to work with every day. It's awesome.

How involved were you in that first half of the season, even though you couldn't coach and the team's playing so well and you're not feeling good? Are you just sending emails? Are you on the phone? Are you couldn't coach and the team's playing so well and you're not feeling good like are you just sending emails are you on the phone are you texting i didn't travel with the team i would talk to luke walton every day um i would talk to players i would text players if i saw stuff and then at home i was coming to practices every day and so i was taking part in practices and and so i was involved um and the players knew I was there. And Luke was just amazing, just an unbelievable assistant and great friend.

And so, you know, it all worked out. I mean, I came back halfway through the year, and, you know, we really – last year we really just kind of picked up where we left off after winning the title. The whole thing was so smooth right from the start we had basically the whole roster back and uh so remember for my book i asked you i had a whole chapter about after a team wins a title what happens to them yeah and you know the disease of more versus the fu edge right and you played on that 97 bulls team that came back the next year and still had the edge yeah and you were basically saying the reason we had the edge was because Michael was a complete maniac. And so what made that Warriors after the title team?

Was it because everybody was kind of discounting it because of the injuries on Cleveland? Like, what was the reason? I think the disease of Moore was not much of a factor for us. I think we naturally have a lot of really team-oriented guys who loved winning, loved playing together. And so what really kicked in was the continuity and the confidence from winning the title. So we came out just thinking nobody can touch us.

We just won the whole thing, and we got everybody back. We're going to be even better. And we're better, yeah. And we were better, but we couldn't finish it out, obviously. And you talked about all the things that went right for us the year before, which is dead on. Last year, things kind of went wrong in a lot of ways. Steph got hurt the very first playoff game, missed the first, I think, five or six playoff games that we played.

And then he was in and out, I think, five or six playoff games that we played. And then he was in and out, I think. He came back during the first round, but then missed a couple more. And it was really set up as a tough run. And then, of course, in the finals, Boga gets hurt, you know, and Draymond gets suspended. And I'm not using this as an excuse. I'm just saying every year it's stuff like this happens, you know. And for us, the year before, you know, things went right. Last year it's stuff like this happens. And for us the year before, things went right.

Last year things kind of went wrong, and you've got to be able to play through that and find a way, and we just weren't quite able to do that. And Cleveland was. They were fantastic, and they deserved to win. I think every great team has like a window, right? You've got like maybe three years, four years, five years. Like for the Celtics with KG and those guys guys it was a three-year run right and then they were able to

kind of squeeze two more years but it was really three and they should have won two titles in the three years kg got hurt in 09 that was a killer 2010 perkins gets hurt in game six so they end up with one out of three i think with you guys and i don't know what durant does to this window and it might you know might be seven, eight years, who knows, but you figure the over-under was probably one and a half to win titles these last two years. Without KD, you mean? I'm saying these last two.

Oh, the last two, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you easily could have won two. I would say this. Before the first title, we were not considered a championship. So if you're talking about odds like in vegas i don't think anybody expected us to win the first one but if you just look at it in retrospect this guy right here i had a little wager on you guys did you i really did really nice what were the

odds do you remember we bet on when it was 30 to 1 and it was i was like i like this steve kerr guy he learned from the tutelage of Popovich and Phil Jackson. And by the way, the Steph Curry guy is not bad either. I know. Well, I was going to ask you about when you realized that there was some, you know, he's not MJ, obviously. Nobody's MJ, except for Tom Brady. But I want to talk to you about that. But when did you realize Steph was at, there's something different.

Like Magic. I mean, not Magic Johnson. Like there's something magical. There's an MJ, yeah, or Magic Johnson or any of those guys. There's a piece of something in him that reminds you of guys you played with. Duncan. Well, yeah, and I would not equate any of the skill set to those guys.

But whatever it is, whatever quote unquote it is, he's got it, right? And you can see it. Did you see it from the day one that season? No. Or was there a moment during the season when it started to pop out? I think it took a month or so. He was still pretty wild in training camp.

We started out 5-0, and we were averaging 22 turnovers a game at 5-0. Right. And it was like, this is not going to work. This is not sustainable. And I think we really had to go through an understanding of how this was going to work. We lost our next two games. The Spurs blew us out. I think we had like 24 turnovers and shot at home.

At 24 turnovers, we shot like 54% and we lost by 12 points. And it was the easiest thing for me to do to walk into the practice facility the next day and hold up the box score. Go, we shot 54% at home and lost by 12 points. Basically got crushed. That's not good. There's one number here that has to change and it was turnovers. And that was once Steph figured out that he had to take care of the ball,

that three turnovers is fine, six is not. Just that mentality, when that changed and he started getting super efficient rather than just explosive, then our team changed. And then the other thing that really changed us was Draymond Green you know we we came into the lineup he didn't even we didn't think he would start we thought David Lee would start yeah David had an amazing training camp was doing great got hurt with a hamstring injury and missed the first month of the season we were so good I went to David

before he came back I said you know this is this probably't fair, but you're not getting your starting job back. This is how we're going to play. Draymond is too good for us. We're right where we need to be, and you're going to have to come off the bench. And to David's credit, he accepted the bench role. That could have gone bad. It could have. But he hung in there, and he had a big role in the finals,

had a couple great games against Cleveland, and it all worked out. And then, of course, the other thing was Andre Iguodala taking a seat on the bench willingly after starting every game of his entire career. Well, so you tapped into, you tapped into two major chemistry things there. Cause you asked David Lee to basically give up his job and you asked Iguodala to come off the bench when he's making 12, $13 million a year. Do you think because of who you are and because you played

and you won titles with San Antonio and Chicago, did that give you more leeway to do that than the average coach? Or are those just good guys or both? I would say it's mostly that they're good guys. I think a lot of it was that Andre, it came at the right time of his career. If I had gone to him in his fifth year, he would have been like, what are you talking about yeah you know why would I you know but you're in your 10th year you've seen it all

you've made a ton of money I think Andre was at the right time of his career to do it he's a great guy he's a great team guy he wants to play the right way and I think he's smart too right he's like oh that's 26 minutes a game that sounds great yeah maybe extend let's do it yeah and he was a bulls fan growing up yeah i grew up in illinois and uh love the bulls and and um i think he respected the fact that i was on those teams and that i had a firsthand knowledge of how all that all those dynamics worked for the bulls teams and the depth that we had and the importance of every guy did you remember your vicious feud with John Stockton? I don't think one of the most vicious feuds in NBA history. You guys know about the John Stockton, Steve Kerr feud?

If Tate and Tommy are, Oh my God, you guys were like two pitbulls. I texted you once, one summer. I was like, what did you Stockton? Did you guys date the same girl in high school or something? What happened with this? Yeah, he was such a great player. Guarding him for six games, two years in a row in the finals. And he was dirty. I mean, he was in a good way.

You wanted to be his teammate. But not his opponent. Not his opponent. He was definitely dirty. The Utah fans get mad when I wrote that in my book. I'm like, sorry, the tape doesn't lie. He was. He tripped people on picks. and i say it with perfect respect yeah you know i like i like guys who are going to try

to get away with everything they can you know i want my players to do that um he was an unbelievable screen setter he would like kind of trip you you know like when you're bringing the ball up the floor without making it look like it and little things like he he was an unbelievable cutter when he would like he'd throw a post feed and then grab your arm. Like you, you know, you're defending the play. He'd grab your arm as he cut past you to get your momentum going the other way. And then next thing you know, he's laying the ball in. You're looking at the ref.

He grabbed my arm. So much respect, right? Like he was sharp. He was one of the smartest players ever. But when you play against that time and time again you get you know you get a little now you fast forward to last year's finals and guys are just body blowing stuff yeah i mean that it got so physical and it was smart and it was exactly what the clippers did to him chris paul was the first guy that i really saw just say i'm gonna commit 40,000 on them and they him. And if they don't call him right away,

I'm just going to keep fouling him. And then you saw that happen during the playoffs. And by the time we get to the finals, I really thought Steph was, I know he's hurt too, but I really thought he was banged up. And he seems bigger this year. It seems like he put on some muscle.

I thought it was more the fact that he was banged up than the physical play. the physical play you have to expect in the playoffs yeah um that's just the way it's always going to be if you can't possibly call every foul right in the playoffs or the game would never get started and it's so much more intense we're doing the same thing by what by the way we're being physical defensively we're trying to grab and hold and when you can't when we can uh but we happen to play a lot more off the ball than most teams yeah in fact we're dead last in the league in number of pick and rolls we have been we've been like 28 29 30th the last three years we play a lot more screen away pin away so so what people complain about with us

is our screening you know our they they complained a lot with bogut they complain a lot with with zaza uh but most teams run on ball screen and roll and so the away from the ball holding isn't really a problem because everyone's just spotting up but we call those constant motion what do you call those things where like i run toward you and then i do the quick five step start and i'm getting the ball it's almost like a it's like a slip yeah is that the slip you guys you guys have mastered that this year in ways that i don't it's it's kind of unstoppable it's not really a pick and roll i don't know what it is yeah it's kind of a fake pick and roll yeah you know so much there's so much switching now right in the nba and we do a ton of it ourselves and that's the trend you get uh you know a bunch

of guys who are six'7 and strong, and they can all guard all five positions. A bunch of Draymond Greens, Andre Godalas. If you can do that, then switching becomes a really difficult defense to attack because every offense is designed to create an advantage for penetration, turning the corner, getting the ball into the paint. But every time you switch, if you do it well, there's nowhere to go, and the guy has to go one-on-one.

And so we're seeing more and more of that. And so, you know, you're seeing lots of teams set screens and slip screens. You're trying to deceive the defense and see if you can create an opening through rather through a screen through through a slip slip of a screen well it seems like you guys have four different variations off of whatever might happen and it also helps when you have three of the best 10 shooters in the history of the league including the best one yeah uh you have you have like two legitimate freaks on your team yeah no we we have we have a ton of talent we know that we're so lucky it's one

of the reasons we've been so consistent because even on a bad night we have a chance to win because we have we're loaded with talent so the key for us is playing to our standard trying to you know have a set of standards that we can uh try to reach every night and then uh just understanding that um we got a lot of playmakers, the guys who are really unsung on this team who are critical are Livingston, Iguodala, you know, last year, you know, Bogut and Harrison Barnes were really amazing players, but didn't get a lot of respect. But it's been the depth of our weapons you know yeah iguodala and livingston are tremendous passers so if we can just move the ball four or five times we almost always have a guy who's capable of making a play

at any time on the floor and that's uh that's a real luxury to have there was an article about luke walton recently about how you know he was there for the 86 outs with Walton and Bird, my favorite team. I thought it was a great article. It was really good. And the funniest thing of it was he was talking about what an impact it had on him as a basketball fan. And my dad's seats were right where the Walton's seats were. And all we remember was this poor lady, the Walton's ex.

And these kids just jumping on her. And it was, you never would have guessed that they were going to be anything other than in jail like they were just these three maniacs and i'm thinking and my dad was like did you read that article luke walton's claiming he was watching basketball these kids are like jumping off the uh off the seats and stuff but apparently there was some osmosis but i like that because the way you guys play reminds me i mean the passing's been unbelievable yeah yeah and i the 96 797 98 bowls brilliant basketball team but didn't pass like that i mean it was basically it was a lot of one-on-one and i saw we had um we had the ultimate

one-on-one player and michael yeah phil's whole thing was uh with the triangle was just to create some flow and to get everybody involved and try to sort of circle or yeah yeah get the motion and the flow that that creates good shots but um yeah we didn't you know we had um the guys who could really make plays obviously were pippen jordan and then uh kukoc you know and we had a good passer with longley in the low post and we just tried to move the ball but ultimately michael would take over game after game and and what we have here is a little different we don't have the the physical monster like michael or or uh or lebron who's just gonna literally take over a game with sheer force um you actually do his name's kevin duran he's seven feet tall but he does it with skills gigantic no he's phenomenal but he does it with skill. He's gigantic. No, he's phenomenal.

But he does it with skill. He doesn't do it with force. No, you're right. You know what I mean? I think LeBron does it as a middle linebacker. LeBron's like, I'm going in the hole. Yeah, yeah. I'm getting in the room right now.

KD does it with skill. Steph does it with skill. And it's incredible skill, but it's not like this overpowering physical strength that allows to do that. Westbrook's with the number one on that. Westbrook's like, I've got the rebound. I'm going to be going to get a layup now.

I'm going. Yeah. Does anyone want to get in my way? I bet not. Durant, you knew he was great. You went against him last year, and he was spectacular in that playoff series. I mean, it was funny because when I interviewed him,

he actually, it seemed like he, I mean, he takes everything a tiny bit personally, which is in a good way. I think that's what he does. He's always as the chip. But I was like, I've never seen you play all around basketball like that. And he's like, I was doing that for eight years. And I was like, I'm not sure, actually. The way he played on both ends and the way he protected the rim, and it's carried over.

And it's like he's been unleashed on this team as an all-around everything now the question is was that always there and he just needed to find the right team has it been is it the right time of his career is it all those things what do you think it is uh it's a different team different personnel he's not asked to carry as much of the load offensively for obvious reasons we've got Steph and Clay and Draymond we got guys who can can carry the team so he's playing fewer minutes I think he's averaging 34 for us he was probably at 38 in OKC I think he's at the time of his career too where he's smarter and wiser and I think um you know we've we've pushed him we we told him

like for seven games last year you were devastating against us that you're this is what you're capable of yeah and I still think he has room for improvement I think he's he can be brilliant defensively but he has his moments and he knows this where he loses focus and lets his guard down and we're just trying to get him to be as consistent as possible. So you had that game six against OKC, which is on the short list for me for great NBA games. OKC is ready to go to the finals. It's happening.

You guys are tired. You've played a ton of games over the two years. And Clay just has an outer body experience, which you've had. You've had games like that. Not like that. He had 42 points. I was trying to pump you up a little bit. I did have games like that where I had 10.

Hey, four for four. Way to go. What about an 0-3, the Dallas Spurs game, the playoff game? I had 12 points. But you were 38 years old. It was an out-of-body experience. That was my equivalent of Clay. It was just, it's a scale.

It's relative to your ability. But that was my out-of-body experience. What Clay did was, that was one of the most remarkable individual performances that anybody's ever had considering the circumstances where we were.

We were kind of dead in the water. You were done. Yeah. And it was one of those games where they they they were between 12 and 15 and it was like one more three or one more and you were done it was over and it's not like we were running these great offensive sets to get them open shots yeah we were trying everything their defense was devastating yeah and he just started launching these you know oh my god no no no yes yes you have shots you know and once you know the thing with clay i mean once he gets a couple of them to go he can get it off at any time he's so big and strong he can get that shot off anytime and from anywhere and do you just not look at him because it seems like when he's having the outer body

experience everybody just stays away from him and he just kind of looks at the floor like he's having this, I don't know, like somebody invaded his body. Right, well, Clay is, I think Clay and Steph, you don't want them thinking too much. They are who they are because they're gunslingers. Yeah. And so you've got to allow for some bad shots. You've got to allow for some bad shots. You got to allow for

some misses and you got to just trust that, you know, at some point they're going to get going. And they almost always do. All I try to do as a coach is, you know, if they start taking really bad ones, just step in and remind them, Hey, you got all these great teammates. You know, if you don't have a good one, move it on reposition, you'll get a better shot later in the possession, but I don't ever want to take away what makes them who they are. So you can't put a governor on them. You just kind of have to give a little advice here and there. Quick break to talk about Vistaprint. Did you know you could get 500 business cards from vistaprint.com for just $9.99 when you enter my promo code BS at checkout? It is true.

Vistaprint is all about supporting small business owners. They offer tons of custom products for home and office needs like business cards, postcards, flyers, banners, apparel, invitations, whatever level of design or order support you need. It's so simple to personalize your business cards and other marketing materials and get that professional look. Customize the text, colors, backsides, and more with thousands of industry-specific templates.

Upload your logo to one of Vistaprint's designs. Upload your own design. You can even upgrade to a thicker stock or add a brilliant finish like metallic spot gloss or raised print right now. Get 500 custom business cards for $9.99, which is a 50% savings off regular site pricing. Just visit vistaprint.com, design your custom business cards,

and enter my code BS at checkout. That's code BS to get 500 custom business cards for only $9.99. Go to vistaprint.com today. And quick shout-out to Channel 33. That's the Ringer's pop culture podcast feed with shows covering video games, celebrity culture, pro wrestling, the Oscars, and right now the bachelor. It's also where you can find my sports movie hall of fame podcast series with Chris Ryan.

Subscribe to all of our podcasts on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google play back to Steve Kerr. Game seven, Cleveland. Have you watched that game since? I've watched it,

uh, three times, three times. So you're like me. So was it to torture or to learn from it? Uh, to learn from it. Yeah. I mean, I watched it three times. Three times? So you're like me. Was it to torture or to learn from it? To learn from it, yeah. I mean, I watched it immediately.

20% torture? I mean, do we like torture? Listen, I've watched a lot of Boston losses where I'm just like, I'm watching it hoping a play is going to go different, knowing that it's not going to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, there's some of that. But mainly, you know, you're trying to learn and you're trying to get better. What would you do differently?

Anything? I would, but I'm not going to tell you because, you know, there's some personnel stuff, lineup stuff that I could have done differently and that's not fair to say publicly. But I absolutely, you know, would have done some things differently. I think our players would tell you, you know absolutely you know would have done some things differently i think our players would tell you you know they they probably would have done some things differently is it fair to say that one of the weird outcomes of that game was everybody because maybe it was the pressure of the moment maybe it was the pressure of the two seasons together everything all of a sudden you were one-on-one in the last two minutes basically yeah and it was not

what you guys were and i don't know whether it's a fluke or i don't know it's funny i was talking to bob myers about this last night almost every nba game when it's close it devolves into a one-on-one battle yeah it really does i was i was watching cleveland and washington last night a game of the game of the year phenomenal game unbelievable um and you know there was just there was some unbelievable one-on-one play. I think what happens is it gets harder to execute down the stretch, moving the ball because there's a lot of holding and grabbing away from the ball. Just a fact. It's not, you know, anything other than that. And the game gets, the game gets tougher. The tendency, player's natural tendency is to get

the ball to your best player and kind of move out of the way. And, you know, tendency is to get the ball to your best player and kind of move out of the way. And, you know, we want to get motion. We want to execute as best we can. We're at our best when the ball is moving three or four times. But there are games where it just doesn't happen. We can't get that. And you try as a coach, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But you also, you know, get to certain matchups that you like. You know, you run something specifically more in a playoff game sometimes it doesn't but you also you know get to certain matchups that you like you know you run something specifically more in a playoff game than you would in the regular season where you want to go after one guy yeah and sometimes that means you you start to get less ball movement as well so it's kind of a fine balance so here's my take i'm so glad you went for the 73 i'm just of the mentality i don't take that. Like the Pats, when they tried to go 19-0 and they ended up not getting it in the last two minutes. If they get it, they're immortal.

And it's like you guys had already won the title. Now you had a chance to go back-to-back and do it. And I'm sure that season has to be so special for everybody. Just the grind-to-grind of that regular season. The crowds coming an hour and a half before the games to watch Steph warm up and all the great moments. I just can't imagine you would, as a do-over, be like, I wish we hadn't have done that.

I wouldn't change anything. And what I would tell you is we never felt like we chased anything. If you look at the minutes played, our guys, our top guys, all were at 33, 34 minutes. Nobody even averaged 35. We had some injuries where guys were out. Andre missed a couple of weeks, Bogut missed time. But the other guys were healthy.

And the only thing, you know, that the only point in the season was maybe in the last couple weeks we had a back-to-back in san antonio that was a brutal back-to-back like if it were this year or if we had you know if we weren't you know looking at 73 maybe i would have given him a night off you know but other than that you know what it was the celtics brad stevens really taught the league what to do against you guys. It always comes back to Brad Stevens and the Celtics. That was when it turned. No, but I think a lot of people have kind of used that narrative like,

well, maybe they shouldn't have chased 73. I think that's bullshit. I don't think we chased anything. I really don't. It's not what sports is about. Like, you know, if you hadn't won a title before, I can see it. But at that point, you're going for something different. We were.

And I think it's important to define chase, right? Like, yes, we wanted the record. Our guys wanted it, and they were going after it. But chasing it means you're getting out of your stride, right? We didn't get out of our stride. We didn't play anybody when they were banged up. And the bottom line is um we were right there we're up 3-1 in the finals um you know if if if we win you know one of those games

nobody's talking about you know the chase hurt us obviously but the results dictate that there's going to be the storyline and if that's the story then that's fine but we we don't we don't have any regrets about the way we approach the season, that's for sure. Were you worried about them after? Because, I mean, you haven't had... Was I worried about who? Just the team, the psyche. After the Cleveland loss?

Yeah, after how that was going to play out over the summer. No, no. Yeah, didn't seem like it. No, I mean, it's... I don't know, sports are weird, especially when you're on the inside, when you're coaching, when you're playing. There's less hysteria than there is as a fan, right? Than on the internet?

What are you talking about? Than on message boards? Surprisingly, yes. What? Surprisingly. Who knew? Who knew? But it's all very matter of fact. And one of the biggest challenges as a professional athlete these days

is to avoid all that hysteria because it can be self-fulfilling. I would say it's a challenge for a coach. It is. It's a huge challenge. Hey, Clay Thompson's getting traded to the Celtics. Like, what? Where did that come from? It's some Yahoo on some local radio station. It says it, and it goes. So you've got to be able to have perspective.

You've got to have balance. And that's part of our job as coaches is to remind them He does it and it goes. So you got to be able to have perspective. You got to have balance. You got to, and that's part of our job as coaches is to remind them that it's not the end of the world. I mean, it's, you know, yeah, we wanted to win desperately. We didn't win. It didn't happen. It happened the year before. Like it's going to, you know,

we just want to keep giving ourselves a shot year after year and see what happens, but put ourselves in the best position possible i don't think any of our players walked away from last year going yeah we should have done this we should have done that my life's you know forever changed i'm now you know it's like we lost a game it sucks you move on you go home you kiss your wife and your kids and you you know you go play golf go do do something fun you come back the next year you give it another shot you got to avoid all the hysteria that goes along with it plus you knew durant was coming he told you like after game seven it's like don't worry guys it was after game four i got this

i was i was kidding that's not that's not tampering yeah i will say this though and you know me i i try not to get caught up in whatever the narrative du jour is. Around Christmas, I did start to wonder about the Durant Curry thing. And I don't say it was an issue, but it did feel like Curry was trying so hard to let Durant have his moment offensively. And you have these two guys like I'm, I've been messing around redoing my pyramid just for fun.

I can't even believe how high Durant is. I mean, it's only been nine years, I think, for him, but you think, like, is he better than Carl Malone, Charles Barkley, all these guys? It's starting to be a conversation, right? The guy averaged 30 a game when he was in his third year, but you just have him and Curry in the same team, and the history of basketball says it's really hard

when you have two unbelievable offensive players on one team have a give and take goes and i think you saw in december now it seems like you're in a better spot we're in a great spot um and i and it's mostly steph has uh has changed kd has been really consistent all year long so what did curry change he realized he could be aggressive and shoot 25 times and it wasn't going to affect kd i think early in the season he felt like man i gotta i gotta get this guy involved i gotta get him the ball but what makes kd so unique is that he doesn't need the ball yeah um he doesn't even need a volume of field goal attempts he's had multiple games this year where he's had 12 shots and 25 points it's incredible his efficiency and his mentality on

top of that he doesn't care that that he doesn't have to be the alpha you know he doesn't have to he doesn't have to get 20 shots he doesn't care I think Steph realized that to the point where our team even realized that when Steph just is aggressive and is shooting his 30-footers in transition and going nuts, that's when we are at our best. KD not only appreciates it, but enjoys it and feeds off of that. Yeah.

And you never worry about Klay. Klay's going to get his shots up. Leave him alone. And so, and I think, you know, and Draymond has adapted really well to a slightly different role. And I think Steph finally realized, oh, wait a second, I can still do all this and all those guys are going to be fine. And our team has grown comfortable with it.

And our defense has gotten better too, which plays a role because now you get stops. Now Steph's more likely to get a transition three and the house comes down. So I think those things together kind of happened at the same time and we've gotten a lot better over the last six weeks.

You know what else helps? That you can have Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry on the floor for 48 minutes. Right. Just pick

and then together, separately. That's the beauty. It's really helpful to have that. It's amazing how much better you become as a coach

when you have really, really good players. I don't know how that works. How many kids do you have? What's that? How many kids do you have? to have that. It's amazing how much better you become as a coach when you have really, really good players. I don't know how that works. How many kids do you have? I have three. Is Draymond harder than all three kids combined? He was last year. He's easy this year. He's easy this year.

Durant? Did Durant help? Why is he easier? I think a number of things. I think Draymond is, first of all, somebody who is extremely motivated to get better. Yeah. And he talked over the summer about he wanted to take the next step as a player, as a person. And that meant kind of, you know, reining himself in. He talked about it publicly. And he's done that. He become um much more of a partner

in coaching this team this year that sounds helpful yeah he's uh you know the rest of the guys have all been that way for the last couple years andre andre's a coach on the floor sean livingston very stoic and and smart and draymond has always been the engine, but the emotional guy who could get a little out of control. And this year- But I mean, you did play on the Jailblazers. So you've seen emotion at its worst. Seen that, yeah.

At its worst level. Draymond's a walk in the park. What a great experience that was. That was awesome. That might've been the most fun year I've ever had in the NBA, just to see the dysfunction. I had never seen it anywhere else.

Why didn't you keep a journal? That would have been the best book anyone's- You kept a journal? I think so. I think I've ever had in the NBA just to see the dysfunction. I'd never seen it anywhere else. Why didn't you keep a journal? I think I did. That would have been the best book anyone's... You kept a journal? I think so. I think I've got it. That would be the best book. Right?

That would be the breaks of the game of this generation. So you think Draymond's in a better place? He's in a much better place. He's grown a lot. You sound very confident. It sounds like you like your team. I love our team. And it doesn't guarantee anything, but we have great chemistry. Would you say you were this confident in the summer no because i hadn't

seen it yet you never know what you have until you see it and um but the combination of kd just fitting in so seamlessly steph sort of remembering who he is and draymond's uh maturity and then i think adding zaza and david west has been quietly really important for us. They're both really good, strong leaders. I think David in particular has been great for Draymond. Draymond has so much respect for David. David could run for office. And actually, that's probably the wrong analogy.

David probably wouldn't go into politics because of all the BS that's in politics. David is a tremendous human being, incredibly smart, genuinely wants to help people. So wait, he can't go into politics. He's got to go somewhere else. He could be like the greatest community leader. He could do anything he wants. He is smart as a whip. He's tough. He's fair.

He could be an incredible whip. He's tough. He's fair. He could be an incredible coach. He's intellectual. He follows politics. He follows history. He doesn't mince his words, but he's not a blowhard. He's like really, he listens. I mean, this guy has been fantastic for our team. I told you I didn't want to talk about politics because you have said a ton already.

Maybe too much. Probably. But the one thing I did want to ask you about is just the NBA's position right now and how it's changed since you played and how intelligent the league is now and socially aware. And you look at how sports has played into everything

that's going on in this country the last couple years i think by far the nba and its players and its coaches and the stuff like things you and popovich said and things adam silver has done it's by far the best league for just being aware and caring and giving a shit and um i don't want to use the word liberal just i would say just educated and thoughtful i'm glad you i'm glad you didn to use the word liberal. Just I would say just educated and thoughtful. I'm glad you I'm glad you didn't use the word liberal. Yeah, because I don't know. I don't think everyone's.

It takes on a connotation. Well, and also there's a lot of foreign players in the league, too. You know, people come from all kinds of backgrounds. It's this melting pot of the world. And it has to me, it has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. It has to do with being liberal or conservative. It has to do with being compassionate and fair. And I think Adam Silver has been amazing leading the charge in terms of promoting equality. We have such the perfect demographic to do it. As you said, we got over 100 foreign players from all over the world. You know, we have this melting pot in this league, and the players have been great in terms of community service over the years.

I see our guys doing a ton of stuff, just like players are doing all over the league, not just for promotional value and the camera, but genuinely good work. I mean, I've been with Steph at hospitals without any media with kids, and you can't even believe the effect he has on these kids. And so I think our league understands the power that we have. Our players understand the power. And they're using it to promote these things that are critical. But how do you explain the maturity of the players and the wherewithal that they have? Especially there's so many ways to get in trouble now with social media.

Yeah, it's true. And just so many, like imagine if they had had Twitter in the mid-90s with all the guys that were in the league back then. I just don't understand why these guys are so thoughtful about it. Yeah, here's what I would say,

that I think the times call for thoughtfulness. Yeah. For most of, you're about 50, right? What are you? 47, Jesus. 47, all right so for me you know i my earliest memories kind of from a social awareness standpoint were the vietnam um protests in the early 70s it was a tail end of vietnam i remember like the you know the hippie generation everybody complaining about war anti-war protesters, and then we went into this basically like what a 30 year

Piece right a Vietnam ends and all the way up until the Iraq war we basically have it's there's the Cold War But you know the that ends when when the Soviet Union breaks apart We had this incredible era of peace. And, you know, the social media, I mean, pop culture reflects that, right? Think about the music in the 80s. And, you know, the 70s music was all anti-war and drugs. And so we basically missed most of that until right now. And now you're seeing this change where people are rallying and protesting because there's a

reason for it yeah we don't have this peace and prosperity we all have all of a sudden have this really dangerous scary time in the world and i think people see that and so i think our players see that and feel it and be it's almost like there's a call to to duty to to speak up and i think our players are responding and i wonder if you, you know, it's been, I would say, 15 years now where you've seen, to me, LeBron never gets enough credit for just how well he's handled himself. I agree. Guy's never been in trouble in his life.

I love that he said that to Barkley. I thought he came off as a little sensitive, but I love that he said to Barkley, hey, man, I've never been in trouble. All I've done is played hard, take care of my body, and represented every team I've had, and he's right.

And I wonder if you have enough veterans now, and those guys teach the next group, and then that group rises up, and now they're like Iguodala's age, and now they're teaching the Durant group, and then the Durant, those guys are in their prime. Now they're with the Ian Clark group, then the Durant, those guys are in their prime. Now they're with the Ian Clark group.

Right. And this just becomes how the league goes. And these guys just passing it down. I think that's a good way to look at it. I think our leaders within the league, the best players, the top coaches, you know, Adam Silver, there's this great leadership that's happened kind of organically from within as the league has grown in popularity and strength. And it's all tied together.

I mean, the last 10 years have been a boon for the NBA. The product is great. The best players have been great. A lot of great storylines. And it just so happens you've got a bunch of guys who are really good people who are in these limelight roles where people are watching and listening. The product's great, and yet,

I don't want to get to the point where teams are shooting 73s a game. Right, right. I just don't. And I know the math makes sense, and I know we're in a math era and a win probability era and all this crap, but the Celtics have broken their own franchise record for threes in a game,

I think 10 different times already this year. And at some point, you're going to go in a playoff series and you'll probably play Houston at some point, and they're going to shoot 73s a game trying to just game the math on you. And it's like, does that mean the best team won, or is this just poker where a team kept just pushing their chips to the table hoping they got lucky on on the last card i don't know i don't like this i don't know if you saw this the other night but the the knicks 1988 team was uh honored at the garden team yeah patino team they were called like the bomb squad or something and it was great you

know they had you know all the guys out there who were shooting threes mark jackson and and rod strickland and gerald wilkins and they all get the ovation. And I saw the stat the next day that Steph Curry last year made more threes than that entire team. And they were the bomb squad. So, yeah, the game has changed so dramatically. You had Clay and Steph together shooting like 18 threes a game and making like eight and a half. Yeah. Steph together shooting like 18 threes a game and making like eight and a half yeah which is like Larry Bird I think in 86 when I would have sworn he made 700 threes and he made like 82

you know what's amazing is is I'm a I'm a I was a Laker fan growing up yeah you were Celtics fan so you think about those iconic matchups tremendous basketball and every once in a while you'll see classic sports you can catch one of those games. You watch the game, you watch those games and it's so different. The, the, the circumference of the floor, like where all the players were, it was like this tiny circle that revolved that didn't really go outside the top of the key. And you watch a game today and the guys on the perimeter are spaced 10 to 12 feet further out.

So back then it was post-ups. It was kind of constant movement and cutting and screening. And now it's high screen and roll with five three-point shooters spread around the floor. And the fast breaks, too. The fast breaks now, they just go to the corners. Oh, yeah, you run to the three-point line. Yeah. I had the same reaction.

I watched one of those games, and it was like watching hockey when one of the teams has the power play, and everybody's just crowding the net trying to get as close as possible. Dennis Johnson's open from 18 feet. Nowadays, that guy, he would be 28 feet away, right? Yeah, so defenses have had to become much more sophisticated. The rules have changed too, which is a big deal. The old illegal defense rule was so much different.

What does Jordan do now? Does he shoot more threes? is a big deal the old illegal defense rule was so much different um what does jordan what does jordan do now does he shoot more threes probably let's put him in a time machine and he comes in now yeah he shoots like nine threes like to me this is why you know when you hear like barkley's argument that you know guys don't go into the post enough anymore whatever any of the old guys talking about in the old days you know we wouldn't do. The fact that you can zone up the strong side now defensively before the ball is thrown into the post, you can basically discourage any post-up play. But you double-team before the guy even gets the ball.

Well, it's tough to throw it in there. So now that means the other team's got to put three-point shooters on the other side of the floor to space you out, so you can't do that. So the game has changed so i think michael would would have shot a lot more threes he would have practiced a lot more threes and he would have adapted um he also would have been fouled every play because now a hand check is a foul on the ball so he would have probably had to run a lot more screen and roll and iso stuff but um why i think different games i think kim and pippen both

would have had over 10 rebounds a game because the one thing one of the things i've noticed this year is just because there are no big guys out there anymore yeah you know westbrook a lot of long long rebounds on the threes a lot of like guards crashing on coming in right and westbrook the triple double you know be semi amazing if you got it but I still think the way the game's played now. Yeah, it's different. It's just the guards, he's not going against McHale and Parrish and these guys. My whole thing as a coach, I just want open shots. I don't keep track of how many threes we have.

I just want open shots. And if we have 20 straight open twos, I just want to take 20 twos. That's fine. That makes you happy. I'm not into the math stuff, but I understand it. And we have great three-point shooters, and if we should space the floor and move and take a bunch of them, it makes perfect sense.

I have a really important question for you. Here we go. Because the Super Bowl just happened. Yeah, I noticed. Did you watch? I happened to watch. Oh, really? Never gave up because I had Tom Brady on my team.

So a lot of the stuff that came out of that game especially from the teammates were like tom wouldn't let us lose we have tom brady on my team no no way i'm quitting i just you looked in his eye and it was a lot of like the jordan stuff from 20 years ago did it remind you of the jordan stuff i didn't really think of it during the game but i think we absolutely had that exact feeling that michael's on our team we're gonna win it was that he was that dominant um and um yeah i saw some of the quotes from the patriots guys it sounds like they have the the same level of uh confidence in brady well right after the game laguerre blunt goes to belichick and brady and he's like you're the best coach ever and you you're the best

fucking player ever and I had a flashback because after the Utah game when Jordan had the layup the steal and then the last shot you came up to him I did and you're like you're the best fucking player ever and they have to bleep it on the ESPN classic I am LeGarte blunt you're lagarrette yes yet again you guys are compared i love it but it reminded me of the the thing and it's just like i don't know i feel like that was his utah moment yeah yeah i think there's that something happens with guys when they break through and win um maybe not one time but they win a couple couple of times. They're in the spotlight. They become much more comfortable in the clutch. Yeah.

Once they've done it a couple of times. And I think that's where, and it's almost like, what do I have to lose, right? House money, however you want to put it. And that's what I saw with Brady. Like his legacy was sealed anyway. Yeah. If that had been his first Super Bowl,

I'm not sure he would have been able to get into the zone like he did. But, you know, that's what is really elusive for a lot of great players. Can you get to the point where your talent and your mindset can blend together and you can eliminate all the hysteria from social media and the fans and the overwhelming nature of what you're doing. Can you eliminate all that stuff and just play and go back to like when you were a 10-year-old kid where you just play for the beauty and the joy of it? That's what it's about. And when you see people do it at the very highest level, like Jordan did, like Brady did, it's like this

different level of consciousness that is so awesome to watch. Is it fair to say LeBron was 90% there but not 100% last year? Like I still feel like he has one more notch he can go. I know that's a tough question for you to answer. Yeah, I mean I never really liked to talk about other guys. But I have – As a basketball fan, can I say that I feel like he has one more notch left? You can just nod.

You can say whatever you want. I'll say it. Yeah, I'll say whatever. Did you feel when you were going against him these last two years? Is he just too different than Jordan as a player that it's hard for you to compare? Yeah, even LeBron says that he's not Michael, and he's right. They're very, very different players. Yeah.

The similarity is just the ability to take over a game with sheer force. Athleticism. Athleticism. Athleticism. But I don't see the same style. It's very different in terms of the way they attack and all that. But obviously tremendous. Yeah, you can't talk about LeBron. Who's your favorite unicorn?

Love Porzingis. I just got through saying, you know, I don't like to talk about other players. No, this is fair. You're a fan. Yeah, this is Steve the fan. Yeah, yeah. He's – I love watching him.

I mean, just the length, the sheer length combined with shooting ability. But you're seeing, you know, you're seeing more and more of these guys now because of the way the game has changed and the way players have changed even like towns you know towns out there shooting threes you can post up i was watching javel mcgee shoot threes that you shoot around and making them yeah i'm not sure how i feel about but no there's i think there's this whole generation of players even at the college level that you know these seven foot guys who 20 years ago would have been told by their coaches go down to the block and practice your jump hook they're now out practicing their dribbling and their shooting so they're way

more skilled yeah um but in general they're also less proficient in the low post so that's one of the reasons too that the game has spread out so it's one thing i like about al horford who i think you would have loved to coach just smart guy right place right spot all the time but occasionally he'll go down and he'll do a nice little jump hook in somebody's face from five feet you don't see it anymore you know it's like it's like this lost star yeah yeah and uh wait last thing i gotta ask you about the chargers yeah let's talk about it what a a blow. Did you see it coming? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've lived in San Diego the last 12 years.

That's been our family home. I grew up in L.A. as a Rams fan. Okay. So Rams leave for St. Louis 20 years ago, whatever it was. So you're just an orphan now. I'm an orphan, yeah. So I've seen this, and I didn't really care about the Rams while they were in St. Louis. I'm kind of happy they're back in L.A. I think they can recapture the fan base

because there's a generation that remembers them fondly, you know, back in the day with Lawrence McCutcheon and Harold Jackson. I mean, I remember those guys were awesome. But there's a connection. The Chargers spent one year in L.A. This makes no sense. And it's devastating for for san diego i was gonna say what do you think what is san diego now without the chargers uh it's well it's i mean

other than the nicest place to live in america yeah i mean a place that nobody in san diego yeah people will move on i would say it's like fight club nobody from san diego wants anybody else to even know about san diego i'm i. I'm really naive with this stuff. Yeah. But in my mind, it's like, okay, if you can't get the stadium built, the city won't build it. How about just saying, okay,

I'm going to sell a portion of the team to somebody who promises to build their own stadium and keep it in San Diego. Let's try that. And then I'll keep a piece. And I'll keep a piece. And I'll keep a piece. And that's where I'm naive. There's an ego thing that goes with sports ownership.

Yeah. But to me, I think an owner owes it to the community to keep the team there at whatever cost. And if it means selling your majority share, keeping a minority share, you still get the sweet. The problem is you don't get the camera shots. You don't get the ego stuff. And that's what's a killer is I just feel like whether it's the Sonics

or the Chargers, especially these teams that have such a rich history and tradition and a connection with the community, when they get ripped out of the community, it's just brutal. Do you worry about that happening at all with the Warriors when they leave Oakland? No. Because I know it's 20 miles away or 15 miles. It's 12 miles. It's 12 miles.

I feel bad for the people of Oakland. Yeah. But we're not leaving the Bay Area. Yeah, you're down the road. We are the Bay Area's team. We really are. We get fans from all over the Bay. I think it's a necessary move to advance our organization. It's going

to improve our standing. It's going to improve our revenue. But we're still right here in the Bay. I think to go to a game, if you're living in the East Bay, you just get on the Barton. It's not that big a deal. So I don't equate this at all with a team packing up and leaving. We're still right here. Okay. And I may not be here, by the way, so who the hell cares? You have the TV cushion. It's the best.

You have the least amount of pressure of any coach because you can immediately go back and be an awesome TV person. You were great. Well, thanks. I really miss you on games. Thank you. But you realize that. That was a big loss

for basketball fans. Thank you. I loved it. I had so much fun. I did eight years with Turner. Then you had the fight with Marv and they covered that up. Yeah, and it all just fell apart

from there. It was bad. Pushed him out of the car. I love it. I mean, especially like you would have been great these last two seasons because the league is so much – like you mentioned yesterday,

the Cavs-Wizards, like every night there's a great game. It's unbelievable. There's 20 – like Isaiah Thomas, what he's doing now in Boston. Amazing. It's not even a top 10 story and every night he's getting 40. Yeah, it's incredible. There's so much great talent in the league right now. Yeah, but I love coaching.

I really do. I want to coach for a long time and I hope I, I hope I'm able to, but I'm also well aware of how the league works and things can change, but we have a great thing here. I love working with Bob Myers and Joe Lake have been, we've got a really strong, stable organization. So hopefully we can, we can all be together for a long time.

When do we see you start just putting your kids on the bench as assistant coaches? That's the last stage for you right that's uh yeah you win three more titles and then all of a sudden i think there's a next year lead assistant there's a three title minimum to add a family member to the bench i'm pretty sure that's how it works steve caro is a pleasure i missed i missed doing these with you i know yeah this is fun thank you all right thanks so much to seat geek thanks to vista print personalize your business cards and other marketing materials and This is fun. Yeah, this is fun. Enjoyed it. Thank you. All right. Thanks so much to SeatGeek. Thanks to Vistaprint. Personalize your business cards and other marketing materials and get that professional look right now. Get 500 custom business cards for $999, which is a 50% savings over regular site pricing.

Just visit Vistaprint.com. Design your custom business cards and enter my code BS at checkout. That happens to be my initials. That's code BS to get 500 custom business cards for only $9.99. Go to vistaprint.com today. Don't forget about the Ringer NBA show. Things are heating up. Don't forget about the Ringer NBA show things are heating up don't forget about the Ringer NFL show because we have Lombardi and Mays they're going to do one giant nerdy breakdown

of Super Bowl 51 this week and the ringer.com still plugging away we love February February is where it gets weird basketball heats up

pop culture Oscars Grammys spring training Wrestlemania is coming lots of good stuff check out the ringer.com thanks so much to Steve Kern thanks so much for the Warriors spring training, WrestleMania is coming. Lots of good stuff. Check out the ringer.com.

Thanks so much to Steve Kern. Thanks so much for the words for helping to set this up. And we'll be back to you on Friday with another BS podcast. Until then. I don't have a few years with him on the wayside on the bruised side of the river I don't have a few years