Steve Kerr on how he needs to improve the Warriors next season

Shooting, shutdown, simplifying

Steve Kerr on the TK Show

Steve Kerr sat down with Tim Kawakami to discuss what the Warriors need to change next season. There were lots of great parts though with significant overlap with his exit interview, but I guess that means he meant it.

I’m including a link to the podcast and some extended quotes. At the end, I’ll give my takeaways from this interview.

Q. What would you say you could have done better?

Well, I think there was a stretch of games where we lost really close games down the stretch, games that we had in our grasp. So there's some coaching decisions that I would probably change up if I could. ... when it really hurts you you just pick it apart. We lost two games to OKC where our three-point defense failed us. So for me as a coach, it's like, man, we we needed to be better, and that's on me. I've got to we've got to go over that stuff more. We've got to make sure we have the right coverage in place. So those are things that as a coach, they they eat at you, but especially at the end of the year when they come back to bite you.

Q. It definitely seemed that you guys were having trouble bringing the ball up against pressure. Was that a specific problem you had, particularly late in the season?

Ironically, this team actually did really well in terms of avoiding turnovers for the most part. For the second half of the year, we were really good taking care of the ball. But the play-in game, Sacramento's pressure definitely bothered us. I felt like we had, for the second year in a row, we put way too much on Steph's shoulders trying to figure out ways to score and we just, we put too much burden on him, not only having to score, but having to handle the ball against that pressure that you're talking about.

So, yeah, we tried to relieve that pressure with inverted actions, having JK and Draymond and Wiggs handling the ball, and Steph and Klay setting ball screens. And I think for the most part, those actions were helpful this year, but in that play-in game, our susceptibility to pressure definitely hurt us. And those are some of the things that I'm really examining and hoping to fix in the offseason.

FYI on inverted screens:

Q. We talked a lot about getting that #2 scorer, that one scorer that can supplement… For a while, it looked like Kuminga could be headed that way.

>> He is someone who definitely has that potential. I think he needs to have a similar leap next year to the one he had this year. I thought this year he really played well, the game started to slow down for him. But there are certain areas where if you're gonna be that number two guy, you have to be proficient.

I think his catch and shoot game has to get better. I think to be a really productive player in the league these days, you've gotta be able to stretch the floor and have teams respect you. Because part of being a number two is creating plays. It's not just scoring, but it's being a shot creator. And right now teams aren't really getting out to challenge JK at the three point line, they know he can make them, but they're willing to give them up. And with that being the case, teams are packing the paint and that's why it's really hard to play him at the three.

And that's what I've talked to you about in the past. We really love Trayce at the five and what he can do for us. But if Draymond's at the four, that limits what we can do with JK. Because to me, offensively, he's still very much a four. Can he become a three? Yes, but he's gotta extend the range, become more comfortable shooting that three point shot. And then also improve his passing and playmaking. I think he's a capable playmaker, but fundamentally, he's gotta improve the passing. And that's something we'll be working hard on this summer.

You look at the modern NBA and teams like Boston, Oklahoma City. They have five guys who are shooting. And what it does for your spacing is so dramatic and it makes everybody a step quicker. It just gives everyone a driving lane. It also means you're constantly driving close outs. If you have to close out on all five shooters, it's so hard to guard.

That's why when we played Boston at Boston this year, we decided not to guard Jaylen Brown. And the reason was, we knew if we're gonna close out on all five of these guys, we're in big trouble, especially where we were in the season. Third game and in four nights, we had spent the night on the runway in New York. Very little sleep, older team. We went into that game, we said, we gotta take a huge risk. We'll take their weakest three point shooter, not guard them.

And I think because of the shooting that exists in the league today, whether it's Boston or OKC, it's just way harder to gimmick a defense. To scrounge together a desperation defense like a box and one or a triangle and two or switch the matchups and don't guard a certain guy. And that's why the league is so much more difficult now than ever defensively, because teams are putting four or five shooters out there, and it creates all sorts of problems.

So where we are right now, we're a little bit stuck in between offensively, because while we have two of the great shooters on Earth in Steph and Klay, we're very top heavy in that regard on the shooting front. So that's where I think Mike and I are going to really talk this summer about how can we balance out our shooting? Can we get more shooting on the front line? Can our current players get better with that stuff? And can we put together lineups that make the game easier for Steph?

Q. Does the 27 - 12 finish kind of unlock some things?

… I mean, I think we have to recognize where the rest of the league is. That's the difference. I think three years ago when that happened, I think we were very confident that that team that had that finish 15 - 5 could find something. And we did.

I think this team, 27 and 12, but also top 10 in both offense and defense, which is significant. I believe it was seventh on offense, fifth in defense, if I'm not mistaken. That's pretty impressive. That's half the season. So I think we need to hang on to that and recognize, hey, we were pretty good second half. We were one of the top teams in the league. But also understand there's a reason we were as flawed as we were in the first half of the season. And it wasn't just Draymond's suspension. There were some holes that we need to fill. And so I'm kind of looking at it as a combination of, yes, I think we can still be good. But the rest of the league has done some things. The rest of the conference is loaded. In order to compete, we do need some change. We do need to adapt and adjust a little bit.

Q. When you mentioned maybe change some things, offensively. Would that be going more back to the stuff that you did, all the split cuts, all the movement? Or would you think, OK, maybe I got to dial up just some more plays, just call some plays?

Well, to me, it's more about making the game easier for the players within our actions. I think we've always had kind of a read and react motion style that for many years was obviously lethal. The last couple of years, we've kind of been a little bit stuck in between.

We ran more pick and rolls this year than we have in a long time. And our pick and roll game is effective. But without the spacing that-- a team like Boston or OKC has with all the shooters, you really do need to generate offense through passing and movement and cutting.

And I think there's a way to make that movement easier on the younger players and the guys who maybe haven't felt as comfortable within the stuff we've been doing the last couple of years. So I'm not talking about a complete overhaul. I'm really talking more about simplifying things and finding better ways to teach those actions that we are going to run.

Q. Now you did some isolation with Jonathan….Could you do more of that?

Again, if there's no spacing, isolation is hard for anybody. And that's what we were facing. You know, at the end of the year, we sort of had some decisions to make, offense or defense and when Trayce and Draymond played those five or six straight games when JK was out, those were our best defensive lineups of the year. And so we leaned defense. But then when we brought JK back, couldn't really play those three together because of the spacing issues. So that's the biggest thing for me is winning the championships that we've won here, getting to the finals. Those teams found two-way balance. You know, they were all top, basically top ten, both offense and defense. How can we find that again, but have it hold up under playoff type pressure? That's what we're trying to figure out this summer.

… But I'm really proud of the way Draymond and Klay handled themselves in the second half and proud of the team for making the push that we did. But this is the reality of father time catching up. And this is the way pro sports works whether it's the end of our run or whether we have a little bit of time left, which we're hoping we are where we are and not much is going to change that.

Q. So much of this is always focused on Steph and it should be focused on Steph. …So what do the Warriors do to make sure that… at least his greatness lasts as long as it can?

Yeah, I mean, I think our training staff does an incredible job, Rick Celebrini and his whole group. I think they really have thought this through with Steph and have him on a program all year long that makes sense. Ironically, the fact that he didn't get injured this year and only missed, I think, six or seven games, maybe that wore him down. Because playing so many games, maybe that wore him down a little bit.

But I think from a basketball standpoint, the responsibility that my staff and I have is to try to take some of the pressure off of him. And that's where I think we can improve on the offensive side of the ball. Taking him off the ball a little bit so he doesn't have to handle the pressure, but giving us some patterns and sets that we can really rely on and help everybody else get better too. Because the better everyone else plays, the less pressure there is on Steph.

Q. I know you're not the general manager, Mike Dunleavy. Would an offensive initiator be one of your top priorities? If you could get a guy at whatever position that can initiate things, get things going, and maybe Steph can play off of that. Maybe a bigger Chris Paul, or maybe someone who can play multiple positions, but also initiate the offense. Would that be number one?

We had that in Chris this year. And Chris was fantastic. I thought he had an excellent year. I think when you look at the team as a whole, where we can get better defensively is equally as important as having, whether you wanna say it's a number two scorer, another organizer, whatever it is, we need point of attack defense. We just do.

You can see it in the Sacramento game. They were able to put a lot more pressure on us with Mitchell and Fox and Ellis. And we have to do a better job at the point of attack, not only containing penetration, but really pestering people. Gary does a great job of that. It's one of his big values to the team, but he's been injured quite a bit, and we haven't had a consistent ball pressure guy. Wiggs can do it as well, and I thought for the most part, especially in the second half of the year, he did a nice job defensively.

But yeah, I mean, all of these things you point to and you try to achieve, and you realize how lucky you've been in the last decade to have these teams, especially during our run to five straight Finals where you just had incredible two-way basketball all the time because of the personnel, but that's the exception rather than the rule. And so you do your best with this stuff. You try to find lineup combinations that kind of cover for each other, balance things out. But there's a reason teams win championships. Generally those teams have the most two-way players and the most ability to play long stretches with two-way lineups.

Q, A question I ask you always at the end of the year, any coaching staff changes do you expect? Are you at this point going to bring back almost everybody or everybody next season?

I anticipate bringing everybody back. You know, obviously we do have an opening with Deki's death. You know, we will examine, I think, everything. And I've already talked to a lot of things with, to Mike Dunleavy about a lot of things. We're going to meet with Joe this week. We'll talk about everything, staff, personnel, options going forward, the path. So I think everything is always we always keep a very open mind about any way we can improve, we're going to improve. But we have to give it some time and see what that means.

Apricot’s Takeaways

Here are the three key quotes I took away from the interview.

1. So that's where I think Mike and I are going to really talk this summer about how can we balance out our shooting? Can we get more shooting on the front line? Can our current players get better with that stuff?

2. We need point of attack defense.

3. I'm really talking more about simplifying things and finding better ways to teach those actions that we are going to run.

#3 is something the staff will have to work on. The only ways to add players fitting #1 and #2 are through:

• Current roster players getting better. We won’t really know until the start of the season. Kuminga has presumably been told to work with a shooting coach all the summer.

• Free agency. We’ll be looking at this over the summer.

• Trades. Bobby Marks analyzed the trade assets that GSW has.

• Draft picks. Even at the end of the second round, I see a number of possible players fitting this description.

• Promotion from the G-League. You can look at the G-League roster stats to see who you think could help. For instance, I can’t tell if Garuba’s 3P% is a fluke, but if that holds, he could be helpful as a 3-and-D guy.

This gives us lots of homework to work out over the summer as well.

Time to get cracking!