<\/p>\n
Warriors head coach Steve\u00a0Kerr is seen during the second half of Friday\u2019s season-ending\u00a0NBA play-in loss against the Suns in\u00a0Phoenix.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Dang, that sure felt like the end. It was emotional. Dramatic. The on-court hug, the heartfelt words, all the signals and cues pointing toward a goodbye.<\/p>\n
But was that really Steve Kerr<\/a>\u2019s final game as the greatest head coach in\u00a0Warriors<\/a> history?<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been building toward this denouement for a year, ever since it became clear that\u00a0Kerr was content to go into this season without a contract extension. And now that we are here, it\u2019s becoming apparent that many insiders feel he will walk away from the Warriors. That\u2019s what is being written. Some of Kerr\u2019s friends privately believe that\u2019s what will happen. That\u2019s what Draymond Green<\/a> said, on his podcast, that he was sensing.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But if Kerr told ESPN the truth \u2014 the outlet reported he said his return was 50-50 just last week \u2014 that means there\u2019s a lot of gray area. And that is what is being mulled and debated right now, as he and owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy<\/a> look toward the future.<\/p>\n Should we believe Kerr when he said in the last game in Phoenix, with his arms around his two partners in dynasty creation, Stephen Curry<\/a> and Green, \u201cI don\u2019t know what happens next\u201d?<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat was kind of a jolt of a message,\u201d Curry said in the poignant aftermath. \u201cBut he left the door open.\u201d<\/p>\n Warriors forward Draymond Green, guard Stephen Curry and head coach Steve Kerr embrace during the closing minutes of Friday\u2019s NBA play-in loss to the Suns in Phoenix.<\/p>\n Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Curry\u2019s won\u2019t be the loudest voice in this discussion. That\u2019s not his way. But his voice is the most important, because he will remain the centerpiece of the team. If we are to believe him, he and Kerr hadn\u2019t really talked about the future as of last Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That makes sense, because professional sports is about the present, every day, until the season is over. It\u2019s for the rest of us to speculate about the future.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll have those conversations where I get to understand where his mind is at,\u201d Curry said. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to open up on that front at any point during this season, because we still had a job to do.\u201d<\/p>\n But Curry doesn\u2019t need to have a conversation to know what his coach is thinking. He and Kerr have had a mind meld for the past 12 seasons, a beautiful connection that produced four championships and six trips to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n \u201cI want Coach to be happy, I want him to be excited about the job, I want him to have an opportunity to enjoy what he does, whatever that means for him,\u201d Curry said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to try to tell anyone what to do. He knows how I feel about him.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI want him to look at the situation and feel he\u2019s the right guy.\u201d<\/p>\n ESPN reported that Lacob wants to hear Kerr \u201cexpress a hunger to continue executing the nitty-gritty details of the daily job.\u201d While Kerr has looked frustrated and tired at times during the past exhausting season, he has continuously expressed his pride and enthusiasm over coaching the team. But if Lacob wants Kerr \u2014 after all he has accomplished \u2014 to construct some kind of PowerPoint presentation to sell himself, well, that seems unlikely.<\/p>\n Kerr is right that \u201cthese jobs have an expiration date.\u201d The voice gets stale, fresh blood is needed. But is that date now?<\/p>\n As Curry said, the team has to \u201cadapt and evolve.\u201d And that means change. But the Warriors will still be building around Curry. They will likely be looking for veteran players to come in and complement him. Green, who was floated as a trade chip in February, may or may not be back. That kind of roster construction points toward the need for a veteran coach, one who knows how to manage complicated personalities. (And could any other coach manage Green?)<\/p>\n It would be an incredible risk to get some newbie out of the college ranks who has never dealt with the NBA. Florida\u2019s Todd Golden is a name that has been out there \u2014 but he\u2019s only a couple of years older than Curry (and also has unsavory misconduct allegations in his past). Would he, or any untested coach, really be an answer?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Is there an assistant out there who would be better than Kerr? Could the Warriors elevate Jerry Stackhouse or Terry Stotts and, if they did, would that really represent a fresh start? Did the New York Knicks\u2019 face-plant against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference playoff series put Mike Brown\u2019s job in jeopardy with erratic\u00a0Knicks ownership, and could he be a long-shot candidate?<\/p>\n And, though this decision may be made before the May 10 draft lottery, could that change plans? The Warriors currently have a 9.4% chance of landing a top-four pick, but funny things happen \u2014 just ask the Dallas Mavericks. Could a thumb be placed on the scale to keep the NBA\u2019s greatest showman\u2019s team more relevant, and also reward one of the few lottery teams that didn\u2019t tank?\u00a0<\/p>\n There are so many personal dynamics involved. Is it simply too tiring working for Lacob? Does Lacob blame Kerr for the recent failings, despite all the injuries? How much of a voice does Dunleavy have? What does Kerr\u2019s wife, Margot, think? How important is it for Kerr to coach alongside his son, Nicholas? And, critically, how can he walk away from the final act of Curry?<\/p>\n We are at an inflection point for the Warriors. Almost 40 years ago, the architect of the last great Bay Area dynasty walked away from the job. The 49ers were at a different point \u2014 a dazzling team still at the height of its powers. The Warriors aren\u2019t that. They need to change, but that change needs to be thoughtful, not rash.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Bill Walsh and Steve Kerr share many traits, including being among the best ever at their jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kerr is one of one, a seminal figure in Bay Area sports. Is this really the end?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warriors head coach Steve\u00a0Kerr is seen during the second half of Friday\u2019s season-ending\u00a0NBA play-in loss against the Suns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7000,101,103,102,104,106,105,127,17007,13340],"class_list":{"0":"post-279954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-golden-state-warriors","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-steve-kerr","17":"tag-warriors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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