Unlike Mark Jackson, Warriors Have Bought In with Steve Kerr
“Buying in” can mean all the difference: San Antonio’s players certainly have done so, accepting their various roles, and look at their success.
Now look west to Los Angeles a couple of years ago, where a frazzled Mike D’Antoni tried to get a group of stars to run the Princeton offense, leading to bickering between players and an embarrassing first-round exit in the playoffs.
Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker were almost certainly less talented than Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and Steve Nash, but they bought actually into their system — granted, they had a better system to buy into — and had much greater, sustained success. “Buying in” is often what separates talented teams from great teams.
And during the second quarter of Game 4, Mark Jackson spoke about Harrison Barnes’s unwillingness to “buy in” last season. Jackson started former All-Star and All-Defensive Player Andre Iguodala in front of Barnes — a sensical move, as Iguodala was generally the superior player — and Barnes’s play off the bench was inconsistent at best, a shadow of his breakout performance in the playoffs the year before.
November 23, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes (40) listens to head coach Mark Jackson (right) during the third quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at Oracle Arena. The Trail Blazers defeated the Warriors 113-101. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
If Barnes didn’t “buy in” to Jackson’s system last season, what has changed under Steve Kerr, with the Warriors’ outstanding season headlined by numerous players “buying in?” David Lee, a former All-Star, Andre Iguodala, an All-Star and Olympian, Shaun Livingston, a NBA vet, and now Andrew Bogut, a No. 1 overall draft pick, have all accepted diminished roles this season — Lee and Bogut have even turned in DNPs while completely healthy.
It helps that Iguodala, Lee, Bogut, and Livingston are all established players, towards the end of their careers. Winning a championship is what matters for them, as Livingston said, “This is my 11th year. I’d rather play on a winning team in a reserve role than on a losing team and have a bigger role.”
Barnes, on the other hand, is still young, and still has a lot of time to win a championship. Perhaps the more immediate need for him is just establishing himself in the league, and Kerr’s system has certainly been more conducive to his individual success.
Still, there seems to be a general difference in players’ readiness to buy into the two systems. Barnes was a sulking, bricking mess off the bench last season while today a jovial, bench-warming David Lee waves towels, dances in his sweatpants, and hugs Steph Curry when he comes off the court. Sure, Lee is at a point in his career where he values winning more than playing time, but an age gap cannot simply account for the stark difference.
To me, the difference in players “buying in” is all the difference between Mark Jackson and Steve Kerr.
Certainly the Warriors are more successful this year — players see their “buying in” coming to fruition. But “buying in,” as we’ve seen, must precede success; teams win because players have bought in. And even at the beginning of the season, before the Warriors were in the NBA Finals, Lee, Iguodala, Bogut, and Livingston (to a degree) bought in.
How did Kerr do it? For one, he hired experienced assistant coaches in Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams. Whereas Jackson, according to Joe Lacob, the Warriors’ co-owner, was unwilling to hire top assistants, opting instead to tell Lacob he already “had the best staff.” Kerr’s addition of top-shelf assistants suggests a more balanced structure of power, Adams helped upgrade an already stout defense, and Gentry’s head coaching experience has helped Kerr through his first year.
When Kerr told players they were going to take a reserve role, it wasn’t simply Kerr’s whim as much as a decision made by a group of experienced coaches. Kerr said, “Andre [Iguodala] is a really smart guy. He doesn’t suffer fools. So you can’t just throw something at Andre and expect him to believe it.” Simply telling Iguodala that he wasn’t going to start wouldn’t have worked. Kerr needed to prove it to him, and what better way than being able to draw on the opinions of top basketball minds?
December 27, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr (right) instructs guard Andre Iguodala (9) against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Timberwolves 110-97. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
This week, Kerr credited video coordinator Nick U’ren with the idea of starting Iguodala in place of Andrew Bogut for the last two games. Again it was Kerr’s balanced structure of power making what felt like a collective decision.
But Kerr doesn’t deserve all the credit. Iguodala and Lee are special players, and, even with Kerr’s cajoling, many as accomplished players would not have accepted a reserve role as readily. Kerr’s logic was sound: Barnes was nowhere near being the playmaker than Iguodala was, so he needed to be surrounded with the talent of the starters. And Draymond Green’s defense, rebounding, and greater range of shooting often made him more useful on the court than Lee.
Still, Iguodala and Lee set the tone by accepting their roles; as Andrew Bogut said, “When you have David Lee getting DNPs and have Andre Iguodala backing up a third-year player in Harrison Barnes and all these kinds of things and not complaining, you don’t have a right to complain. It’s been infectious for our team chemistry.”
Bogut was the latest player to “buy in” to a reserve role, taking a DNP last game. Who will be next? With Bogut, Iguodala, and Lee all taking diminished roles, it seems like no player is safe.
Well, it probably won’t be Curry. Or Klay. But trust me: even they have bought in.