why he came home<\/a>. This is why he gave up his seat in a glory franchise in Golden State, leaving the prestige and opportunity of the NBA. For a moment like this. Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, with his parents in the crowd, in the gym of his childhood, with a team he constructed. For the love of the Valley.<\/p>\nIt took him only two years to put together a team, on the court and off, worthy of championship contention. But it took 20 years of development, of grinding, of faith, of soaking up every ounce of wisdom he could from his Hall of Fame senseis. They called him Boy Wonder in Golden State. It\u2019s no wonder the boy from Phoenix has come up golden.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just so rock solid,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHis emotional IQ is off the charts. He\u2019s really thoughtful and process driven. He just does things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The recruitment of Alyssa Thomas earlier this year came down to basketball philosophy.<\/p>\n
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Everything else about Phoenix, Thomas was on board. Mercury legend Jennifer Gillom was one of Thomas\u2019 coaches in Connecticut, so she was well aware of the culture and the legacy of WNBA basketball in Phoenix. Thomas also played with USA Basketball, so she\u2019d seen the fancy new practice digs.<\/p>\n
But her primary concern was how she\u2019d fit into the Mercury\u2019s system and their vision for maximizing her talents. U\u2019Ren hired Tibbetts in 2024, in part because of how Tibbetts saw the game. They knew each other from Tibbetts\u2019 days in Portland, a common foe of the Warriors in the Western Conference. Tibbetts also interviewed for a job with the Warriors in 2018. But their philosophies overlap.<\/p>\n
Skill over traditional size \u2014 with shooting, passing and length being premium traits. U\u2019Ren and Tibbetts want size, but it matters positionally more than just throwing a big out there for the sake of having one. They cherish high-IQ basketball players who can make quick decisions, even while moving. Defensive pressure and intensity cover most ills and, especially important, fuel transition offense.<\/p>\n
Oh, and of course, take advantage of the 3-pointer.<\/p>\n
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\u201cComing here, one of my very first meetings with Nate, he was like, \u2018I need you to get some more up.\u2019 And I don\u2019t think a coach has ever told me that,\u201d Copper said. \u201cI played in the middy, shot a couple of 3s. It wasn\u2019t really my role. But I always wanted to grow my game and that was the first conversation I had with Nate. \u2026 It\u2019s times on the sideline where he\u2019s like, \u2018Shoot it!\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018All right, bet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
U\u2019Ren\u2019s understanding of basketball begins with Kerr, who took a 51-win team in 2014, injected his philosophy of skill and motion into an offense led by Steph Curry, and won four championships. One of the key pieces of his offense was Draymond Green, the highly skilled, undersized big who doubles as a point-forward.<\/p>\n
Yeah, they sold Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he gets enough credit for how he put this team together,\u201d Thomas said of U\u2019Ren.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFrom Day 1, they made it clear what they were trying to build. Yeah, it was a match made in heaven for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The construction of this team, and the success it\u2019s endured so fast, is validation for U\u2019Ren. How many people have a dream, get to learn from the best and get to put what they learned into action \u2014 and do it at home?<\/p>\n
The journey to this point got legs back in 2014. U\u2019Ren was in the weight room of the Suns training facility. As an intern for Phoenix, spending every waking hour in the facility, he was working out when he saw journalist David Aldridge on the screen and Steve Kerr\u2019s name in the headline.<\/p>\n
U\u2019Ren put down the dumbbells and affixed his attention to the television. That\u2019s how he learned Kerr was taking the Warriors head coaching job. That\u2019s how the journey began, at least in his mind.<\/p>\n
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Kerr was the general manager of the Suns when he hired U\u2019Ren as an intern. Kerr was filing through a stack of resumes, loaded with Ivy Leaguers, but chose U\u2019Ren because he remembered his face and work ethic from the Las Vegas Summer League. Kerr left the Suns in 2010. He said wherever he landed for his next job, he\u2019d hire U\u2019Ren to join him. Four years later, U\u2019Ren wasn\u2019t sure how serious Kerr was or how it would work out. But that day in the weight room, he allowed himself to envision his career starting in earnest.<\/p>\n
Kerr honored his word. Taking a cue from his agent at the time, NFL executive-turned-agent Mike Tannenbaum, Kerr knew the perfect job for U\u2019Ren. Tannenbaum told Kerr how former NFL coach Bill Parcells wouldn\u2019t hire a typical administrative assistant but filled that seat with another young football mind. So Kerr hired his former intern with front office aspirations as his \u201cspecial assistant.\u201d<\/p>\n
U\u2019Ren checked emails, answered phones and managed the head coach\u2019s calendar. He also helped with advanced scouting, was in charge of the video room and warmed up Shaun Livingston and others before games.<\/p>\n
In his nine-year tenure with Golden State, U\u2019Ren elevated from special assistant on the coaching staff to assistant general manager in the front office. But the ethos that shapes him as a GM, that he\u2019s infused into the Mercury, happened in his first season with Kerr. It informed the perspective he uses to shape the franchise.<\/p>\n
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After the Warriors lost Game 2 to Cleveland in Oakland, U\u2019Ren was coordinating the film for the staff. He had an idea.<\/p>\n
Instead of continuing to match the size of the Cavaliers, who were basically playing two centers in Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson, U\u2019Ren thought the Warriors should go small. Start small forward Andre Iguodala instead of center Andrew Bogut, from the outset, and see if the Cavaliers could keep up.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until the Warriors lost Game 3 that Luke Walton decided to indulge U\u2019Ren\u2019s thinking. They had a film session and Walton was on board. He took the idea to Kerr. The Warriors made the lineup change and won Game 4. Kerr told the media after the game the adjustment was U\u2019Ren\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got all that press the next day,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe was so embarrassed. All the stories were about how young he was. So we started calling him Boy Wonder.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Warriors stuck to the lineup and won Games 5 and 6, capturing their first of four championships under Kerr. Iguodala won Finals MVP, and U\u2019Ren was etched into Warriors\u2019 lore.<\/p>\n
That story is important to him. Not because it was his idea. But because it embodies what he learned in his tenure with a dynasty and what he aimed to incorporate in his first time in the big chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean this with my whole heart,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy for a kid like me to have an idea and throw it out there. But this story is about three things. One, Steve creating an environment where his, basically, secretary felt comfortable coming to the group with that idea. Two, Steve having the guts to do it on the biggest stage. That\u2019s just nuts. And then, three, to shout me out like that. No one\u2019s doing that. No one\u2019s giving some kid credit, you know? That story is way more about Steve than me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first recruitment of Sabally came in 2024, U\u2019Ren\u2019s first free agency as general manager. She was intrigued with Phoenix but wasn\u2019t quite ready to make the change from the Dallas Wings, who drafted her No. 2 in 2020. She also wasn\u2019t thrilled about playing for a first-time head coach. So she wanted to see how Tibbetts did in his first season.<\/p>\n
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But by 2025\u2019s free agency period, she knew she wanted to leave. She also saw enough from Tibbetts. Most of all, Sabally was in pursuit of something more holistic \u2014 a coaching staff that would make her better, a franchise that wanted to win, and a work environment conducive to her mental flourishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t happy anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd with basketball, you just need to have a certain happiness to really be able to perform on the highest level for so long. You need to be able to really come to work and enjoy it. \u2026 This was the perfect opportunity for me. It\u2019s a family environment here.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the best thing U\u2019Ren can hear. Because if he took anything from his time under Myers, it\u2019s to value the people. It\u2019s not only the best way to get them to produce. It\u2019s also the way such a life-consuming, stressful, often-thankless job can be the kind of reward it needs to be.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why U\u2019Ren is pointing again. At forward Natasha Mack, his eyes rolling as he summarizes her incredible story. At guard Sami Whitcomb, and her propensity for being clutch and showing veteran leadership. At center Kalani Brown, who doesn\u2019t play as often but is always ready when she\u2019s called.<\/p>\n
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This heart-warming version of U\u2019Ren speaks to the meaning of this accomplishment. He\u2019s doling out credit like Oprah Winfrey did audience prizes, mushy about the people he\u2019s come to cherish.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get it twisted. U\u2019Ren, beneath his unassuming veneer, is an intense competitor. It\u2019s required in the halls of a dynasty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he vents to me more than anybody of what he\u2019s feeling,\u201d Thomas said with a smile. \u201cHe thanks me a lot of times that I just allow him to get what he\u2019s thinking off.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why the sentimentality may not last long Wednesday because he knows going down 0-3 is a death sentence in a seven-game series. But before he gets lost in competitive fervor, he\u2019ll take a moment to let it all in. He spent nearly a decade in one of the great basketball eras of all time, cutting his teeth and crafting his approach. And he got to bring it all home.<\/p>\n
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\nGolden State Warriors, Phoenix Mercury, NBA, WNBA, Sports Business<\/p>\n
2025 The Athletic Media Company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Nick U\u2019Ren sits up as he dives into his story. His sheepish aura is gone. \u201cSo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4652,97775,49,48,31973,4785,3459,14722,12202,50256,1483,3460,16296,24530,32561,8455,3461,16295,4659,82,12467,38542,6694,25836,95455,47621,630,15457],"class_list":["post-197349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-alyssa-thomas","tag-assistant-general-manager","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cavaliers","tag-connecticut","tag-dallas-wings","tag-draymond-green","tag-kahleah-copper","tag-kalani-brown","tag-las-vegas","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-monique-akoa-makani","tag-natasha-mack","tag-nate-tibbetts","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sami-whitcomb","tag-satou-sabally","tag-sports","tag-steph-curry","tag-steve-kerr","tag-suns","tag-the-mercury","tag-the-warriors","tag-warriors","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}