Kerr-Era Warriors follow the trends of a champion

“When we’re playing our best the ball is moving, we’re attacking, bodies are moving and were getting guys open shots. So, when we space the floor and are able to change side of the court and get guys open looks, we have a lot of talent and a lot of guys that can knock down open shots. So thats what our offense is predicated on.”

This was Stephen Curry’s response to SportsCenter’s Stan Verrett question of what was working for the Warriors to produce last Wednesday night’s 121-104 blowout of the Clippers.

The most anticipated change from the Warriors’ new coaching staff prior to the season was in the area of ball movement.  Curry’s answer indicates quite well that the greatest assumption about the Kerr era is already coming to fruition.  If ever there was a desperate need for an overhaul, it was to the way last year’s team went about getting its buckets.  The team’s numbers back up their floor general’s words as they’ve jumped up a whopping 22 spots from the dead last they ranked last season in passes per possession.  A welcome indication, along with the team’s 5-1 start, that rookie coach Steve Kerr has his team on the right track to the very spot among the Western Conference’s most elite of which he was brought in to get them.  The early numbers in passes and wins has lead to a rapidly building optimism among even the most consistent of Warrior skeptics.  As warranted as this optimism maybe, with nothing close to a significant sample size to draw from, it is far too early to know the precise identity of Kerr’s inaugural team.  Many questions, namely health and a set rotation, remain.  However, already in place is a staff, personnel, and team philosophy that indicates this early success can be sustained past the current honeymoon stage.  In an NBA driven greatly by trends, Kerr’s 5-1 Warriors have followed blueprints set by the league’s most successful teams in recent history.  To date, this may be the 2014-15 Warriors’ greatest attribute and a legitimate justification for the “title contender” label that has recently been bestowed upon them both locally and nationally.

If a coach’s rookie season was a murder case, Kerr has hired an All-Star team to represent him that would make OJ blush.  The two gurus that Kerr has chosen to flank him each display an area of expertise on their respective end of the floor that has earned them immense respect throughout the league.

Kerr’s new offensive coordinator, Alvin Gentry, was an assistant on Mike D’Antoni’s seven seconds or less Suns that revolutionized uptempo basketball.  He sustained his own level of offensive superiority as his 2009-10 team led the NBA in points per game and offensive rating.  He comes over to the Warriors from their Southern California rival Clippers who lead the league in scoring last year.  Ron Adams will handle the defense, an end of the floor for which he has been long considered one of the game’s top authorities.  He was the right hand man for Tom Thibodeau’s recent Bulls teams that are widely known as the league’s top defensive powerhouse.

The two coordinators’ impressive resumes illustrate an obvious desire for symmetry.  Perhaps obviously, symmetry is a common strength among many of the league’s recent champions.  While such a coaching strategy follows a precedent set many teams to hoist the Larry OBrien Trophy, there are two specific past champions’ molds in which the Kerr Era Warriors look most likely to follow.

Spursian

Nov 8, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich gives direction to his team against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

A new term has become popular in NBA circles to describe various forms of perfection in team basketball.  “Spursian” has become more of a superlative than an adjective in the way it is used to describe a player or team that executes cuts or ball movement with the precision that have made Gregg Popovich’s Spurs famous.  The new jargon is more commonly used in reference to sets and plays used by one of Pop’s many assistants turned head coach with another organization.  Just as often, it describes the plays of a coach with no Spurs lineage at all, simply borrowing the current dynasty’s trademark movement in an attempt to implement a similar system.  The term is a perfect indication of how the Riverwalk’s team has become synonymous with perfect team basketball and doing things the right way.

As much as Pop has tweaked and in some cases even overhauled certain aspects, the team’s selfless mentality has remained identical to the one that won Pop his first title in 1999.  Expectations to execute the team’s system are the same for star and role players alike.  As a result, every year another role player steps up to have a big game for the team during a post-season run, be it Patty Mills one year or Gary Neal the year before that.  This has always been the case.  On the team’s first two title teams they relied upon similar performances from a skinny blond veteran guard off the bench, who now holds the Warriors’ franchise record for most wins to start a season from a first year coach.  Kerr consulted Pop this summer before taking the job with the Warriors and has obviously already implemented his former coach’s famous ball movement.  But as much as Kerr respects Popovich and learned from him during those championship season, those twin tower Spurs teams that won Pop his first two titles were constructed completely differently than the up tempo team that won him his fifth this past June and certainly different than Kerr’s Splash Brothers-led Warriors.  Kerr’s main interest will be in the principles Popovich used to build a foundation with those early teams, not the tactical game plan he tailored for specific personel.

Kerr’s demand for precision gets to the core of those principles on which Popovich and his staff built their continuing dynasty.  Kerr is far more personable than the man he played for in San Antonio, except when the topic of discussion is his team’s turnover issues.  His self-deprecating humor fades away, his laid back demeanor is immediately gone and he is visibly upset.  It’s not for effect or to look the part.  Turning the ball over as frequently as the Warriors have is simply not acceptable to him.

Kerr understands the importance of these principles because he watched them build a foundation of something great.  He was in San Antonio early enough in the process to get a glimpse of how the foundation was built.  Popovich didn’t build that dynasty from scratch himself.  Popovich’s college coach Hank Egan was one of the first people Popovich brought on when he took over the Spurs job and together they installed a philosophy they could build.  In a recent episode of NBA TV’s open court Isaiah Thomas and a member of Popovich’s 2003 championship team, Steve Smith spoke about the instrumental role Hank Egan played in the success of the Spurs we still see today.

“One of Kerr’s great strengths…is an ability to defer to others for idea when he might not have the best one.”

Egan was a longtime college coach who spent over twenty years in the profession with Air Force and University of San Diego before he came to the Spurs.  He was a 62 year old basketball life by the time the Spurs won their first championship, a known as a defensive guru and well respected in the sport.  Kerr has his own version of Egan in Ron Adams.  Adams is 67 and, much like Egan before him, spent a long time in the college game and is respected in all levels of the game.  Much like Popovich had in Egan, in Adams Kerr has a well respected, basketball lifer he can trust as a sounding board and someone who can fill in the blanks for him as he learns the profession.  One of Kerr’s great strengths, that

before him constantly struggled with, is an ability to defer to others for idea when he might not have the best one.  A great example of this was the closing moments of the game in Portland.  Down one with 25 seconds to play,

Kerr explained in the post-game press conference

he had planned to foul, until Ron Adams suggested trapping for as long as they could to force a steal.  The team did just that and got the ball back with 14.5 seconds left.  As we all know,

then went on to hit a game winner and the Warriors came away with a huge road win.

2011 Mavericks

When LeBron James first took his talents to South Beach for the 2010-2011 season to form the “Big Three” with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade the team initially struggled to gel and got off to a slow start.  Critics began to question if James had made the right move and if that group of superstars could win as a team.  Of course, the team found its way and ended up in the finals, but it did not win one of the “not three, not four” titles he had promised that year.  The Heat ultimately lost the finals in six games to Dirk Nowitzki and a talented, well-rounded supporting cast.  The Heat’s failure was publicized many times over, compared to the few storylines around the great collective group of Mavericks that played as a team to win the title.  As another talented group lead by LeBron struggles to find it’s footing earlier on, so too is another great collective team waiting in the wings.  No one knows if this group lead by LeBron will even make it to the finals like the Heat did back in 2011.  If they do, there’s already an emerging team that looks very similar to the Mavericks one that knocked them off.  Across the board, a striking resemblance exists between the 2010-11 Mavericks and the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors.

The All-Time Great Shooter

Both teams are lead by an all-time great shooter, the Mavericks had Dirk and the Warriors have Stephen Curry.  Much like Dirk did for the Mavericks, Curry’s deadly stroke demands tons of attention from the defense and frees his teammates up as a result.

Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Defensive Anchor

Both teams are anchored by an elite defensive center with a precarious injury history that is a constant concern.  Much like Tyson Chandler before him, Bogut controls the middle and protects the rim for the Warriors.  The Mavericks were a defensive power when Chandler was on the floor and his elite ability to change shots at the rim forced teams to adjust their offensive attack.  Bogut serves a nearly identical purpose for the Dubbs.  Unfortunately, much like Chandler in 2011, this year Bogut is coming off another injury and many believe the Warriors success hinges on his ability to remain healthy throughout the season.

The Swiss Army Knife

Much like Shawn Marion did for the World Champion Mavs, Andre Iguodala fills in the blanks for the Warriors.  Like Marion, Iguodala is an athletic slasher who can get to the rim and finish strong.  Also like Marion, Iguodala’s elite athleticism allows him to be the team’s best perimeter defender and help out on the glass.

Speed and Instant Offense Off The Bench 

JJ Barea came off the bench throughout the 2011 season to give the Mavs an added spark.  The moment he got in the game everything sped up and he was instantly getting to the rim.  In his short time with the Warriors Leandro Barbosa has done just that. In the Portland and Clipper games, Barbosa scored in bunches for the team when the rest of the Warriors’ second unit was struggling to put points on the board.  He has done it his whole career and showing no signs of slowing up this year.

Coaches Well Versed In The Art Of Greatness 

Nov 6, 2014; Portland, OR, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle signals to his team during the first quarter of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Steve Kerr and Rick Carlisle both witnessed two of the NBA’s greatest winners up close.  In Carlisle’s rookie season with Celtics, he earned a reputation for getting to practice early and leaving late.  Larry Bird, a fellow gym rat himself, recognized this and took the rookie under his wing.  The following year Carlisle came off the bench for the Celtics as Bird went on to win his third NBA title.  Kerr’s relationship with Michael Jordan did not start in such a touching manner, one of their earliest interactions came in the form of a fist fight after Jordan had been physically bullying Kerr in practice.  However, Jordan gained a respect for Kerr for fighting back and the two formed a mutual trust that Jordan had with very few teammates.  Jordan displayed that trust for Kerr on the game’s biggest stage when he found Kerr for a game winner in the closing moments of Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals.  Like Carlisle in 2011, Kerr’s brings a unique understanding of what goes into winning an NBA championship.

This year’s Warriors team is certainly not a mirror image of the 2011 Mavs; they don’t have a facilitator like Jason Kidd or veteran scorers like Jason Terry and Caron Butler.  But, Carlisle’s Mavericks had no player remotely as dangerous as Klay Thompson or a player as tough and versatile as Draymond Green.  However, the two team’s similarities far out-weigh their differences.  The Mavericks won their championship with versatility, great shooting and one of the top defense’s in the league.  While it remains to be seen if it can be sustained over the course of an entire season, the Warriors have used the same three characteristics to jump out to one of the best starts in franchise history.

Of the last 10 teams to play in the NBA Finals, every single one of them finished among the league’s top ten in Net Rating(point differential per 100 possessions).  In this young season the Warriors sit a top that category and when the numbers are adjusted with respected to schedule strength their lead only builds.  In laymen terms, they have been downright dominant.  Caution should still be observed throughout the excitement.  Coach Kerr has made no attempt to hide his disgust for the team’s leading the league in turnovers and with legitimate injury history surrounding Ezeli, Bogut, Livingston and to certain extent even Curry and Iguodala, no one is penciling them into the Finals just yet.  However, at this juncture of the 2014-15 season, no one has their team looking more like an NBA champion than the rookie coach and his staff of wise men in Golden State.