Kurtenbach: NBA coaching has never been better, but there’s no coach
better than Warriors’ Steve Kerr
Golden State Warriors: Steve Kerr's Game 4 adjustment to have Draymond
Green defend De'Aaron Fox is yet another playoff game winning move from
the Dubs' head coach.
>Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr consoles Stephen Curry
(30) after he realized that he called for a time out and had no more
timeouts remaining during the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA
Western Conference first-round playoffs at the Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, April 23, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay
Area News Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2023 at 3:01 p.m. | UPDATED: April 26, 2023 at 4:48
a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/04/24/kurtenbach-nba-coaching-has-never-been-better-but-theres-no-coach-better-than-the-warriors-steve-kerr/

SAN FRANCISCO — The NBA playoffs are all about coaching adjustments, and
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has made so many since taking over the team in
2015 that he now boasts a greatest-hits collection.

There was the decision not to defend Tony Allen in the 2015 playoffs and
the choice to play small-ball in that year’s NBA Finals. Then there were
the adjustments to switch everything against James Harden and the
Houston Rockets and play 6-foot-2 Gary Payton II as a power forward in
last year’s Finals.

In a league obsessed with stars, Kerr has continuously proved that he’s
invaluable to the Dubs’ success. And while his ability to manage
personalities off the court receives plenty of admiration, his in-game
skills are just as good.

Get this: The coach of the greatest team of the 21st century — a man at
the helm for four banner raisings — might not just be a bystander to
success.

There are some genuinely outstanding coaches in the league. NBA coaching
has never been better. But there’s not one coach in this league who is
overtly better than Kerr, and having great coaching is a massive leg up
in any series the Warriors play, as proven repeatedly over the years.

In Sunday’s Game 4, Kerr likely added a new adjustment to his greatest hits.

No, it wasn’t his alleged failure to tell his team that it had no
timeouts remaining before their penultimate possession of the game.

Rather, it was the decision to have Draymond Green defend De’Aaron Fox.
Without that decision, it’s hard to imagine this series being tied 2-2.

And with Monday’s revelation that Fox has broken the tip of his left
(shooting hand) index finger, making him questionable to play and be
effective in Game 5 and beyond, the adjustment might have won the Dubs
the series.

Things were looking dire for the Warriors Sunday. They were being cooked
by Fox, again, even though Andrew Wiggins was playing conventionally
good defense. The Kings’ point guard had 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting,
with a near-perfect clip from the mid-range.

Had the Warriors allowed Fox to continue unabated, they would have
likely lost the game, putting them in a dangerous, if not
unsurmountable, 3-1 series hole. The 25-year-old Kentucky product had
proven capable of taking them down nearly singlehandedly in this series.

The Warriors’ problem was that Wiggins is their ace perimeter defender,
but Fox was too fast for him. Klay Thompson didn’t stand a chance of
standing in front of Fox on the perimeter, either. Perhaps in a past
life. Meanwhile, Payton — who is quick enough to stick with Fox — was
being washed out by Kings screens. Jonathan Kuminga — the Warriors’ best
athlete — wasn’t the answer, either. He has looked lost amid the Kings’
movement in this series.

>Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox (5) loses control of the ball while
driving against Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) during the
fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference first-round
playoffs at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, April
23, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

This was an emergency, so the Warriors broke the glass and stuck Green
on Fox to start the second half Sunday.

Green’s defense on Fox wasn’t lock-down, but all the Warriors needed was
a slowdown. Green provided that.

Fox shot 5-of-15 in the second half, with three of those made shots
coming on possessions where Wiggins guarded him.

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Kerr didn’t take credit for the adjustment after the game. It’s not his
style to self-congratulate, which is perhaps why he remains so
underrated as an in-game coach.

Remember, it was Kerr’s then-28-year-old assistant Nick U’Ren who
suggested moving Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup in the 2015 NBA
Finals.

The Warriors’ coaching staff is anything but an autocracy. One of Kerr’s
core tenets in life and coaching is collaboration. So while he would
have taken the blame if it didn’t work — like he took the blame for
Curry’s timeout gaffe Sunday — he consistently credits the players and
his staff for successful adjustments.

Yes, even if he might have forgotten, for a moment, who suggested
Green-on-Fox at halftime Sunday.

“Yeah, someone on the staff suggested it,” Kerr said postgame. “We just
thought it could be a good idea to give Fox a different look and change
the coverage a little bit. I thought it clicked. It worked.”

Eventually, he recalled the suggestion stemmed from assistant coaches
Dejan Milojević and Chris DeMarco.

“We’ve got like 117 coaches, so I’m not quite sure,” Kerr said with his
trademark sarcasm. “It’s kind of our routine at half is to throw out
some ideas and settle on one.”

This one worked.

There will be plenty more adjustments to come, both in this series and,
likely, beyond. Kerr has never been more valuable for the Dubs.

That’s because the Dubs are no longer a juggernaut. Wins aren’t
guaranteed upon Golden State’s arrival at the arena.

No, they’re winning in the margins these days.

And Kerr’s coaching has proven — time and time again — to be the
Warriors’ true X-factor.

--
Dieter Kurtenbach | Sports Columnist
Sports columnist Dieter Kurtenbach analyzes the amazing and roasts the
absurd in the world of sports for the Bay Area News Group. He was
previously a national sports columnist for Fox Sports and a staff writer
at the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can also be heard on KNBR
(104.5-FM, 680-AM). He graduated from the University of Missouri in
Columbia, Mo., with a BA degree in journalism.