Steve Kerr: Overrated or Underappreciated?

It’s nearly impossible to discuss Steve Kerr’s coaching career without first bringing up Mark Jackson. After back-to-back second place division finishes and a 50-win season, the warriors decided to part ways with Mark Jackson and hire Steven Kerr in 2014, who at the time had no coaching experience. While Mark Jackson showed plenty of success and had the backing of the players, it was clear the Warriors front office did not share the same feelings. There are too many stories and rumors about the Mark Jackson time in Golden State to discuss here but it can be summed up mainly by a fit issue. Joe Lacob – owner of the warriors – discussed Mark Jacksons unwillingness to “take his wallet”, in Lacob’s words, for the best team of assistants. Jackson felt he already had the best team of assistants.

"Carte blanche. Take my wallet. Do whatever it is to get the best assistants there are in the world. Period. End of story. Don't want to hear it. And his answer was, 'Well, I have the best staff.' No you don't. And so with Steve, very, very different.

We see immediately the change in Steve Kerr’s coaching style as the warriors opened the 2014-2015 season with a 19-2 with a 14-game winning streak sprinkled in. Mark Jackson is a great coach and by all accounts instilled a type of culture with toughness and fundamentals. The defense notably improved under Jackson and the players agreed. Steve Kerr had a much different approach but he quickly showed an ability to learn and adapt to the roster. Kerr mentions on a podcast back in 2020, the lesson in coaching he learned from Klay Thompson in year 1.

“My very first season, I lit into Klay. I took an early timeout, lit into Klay, and he did not respond very well. He went out and was kind of rattled, made a couple mistakes.”

One of the defining traits that we have learned about Steve Kerr over this dynasty run is he manages the team perfectly. His ability to define roles on the team and motivate each player to play that role has been vital to their success. As evident by the warmup shirts worn during the 2014-2015 season, “Strength in Numbers”, they lived off this unselfish play. And hey, having an MVP level Steph Curry doesn’t hurt either. His unselfish coaching style led to one of the most unselfish teams in the league and as you can see below, Kerr believes it takes the entire team to “steer the ship” where it needs to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyvcteKLcJI

Steve Kerr may not have coaching acumen of someone like Erik Spoelstra or Rick Carlisle, but he is the best coach for the Golden State Warriors. His ability to manage a locker room, motivate his players, and pass along his basketball IQ are rare to find together. Do I believe Steve Kerr is a top 3 head coach in the NBA? I do not, but I do believe he has become severely underrated and underappreciated. Especially for his role in this Warriors run. There is no denying the struggles of the past year or two but missing key cogs in the machine we call the Splash Brothers would cause struggles for most coaches. The roster top to bottom simply is not to par with the top teams, especially in the Western Conference and I think injuries are just exposing that. As any other coach in this position, I believe Kerr deserves the benefit of the doubt.