Golden State Warriors: Steve Kerr is on the hot-seat

This isn’t going to be an article dedicated to firing Steve Kerr. But, it’s time to be honest about Kerr’s shortcomings and begin to question what the Golden State Warriors need to do in order to fix their problems.

It’s easy to look at the Warriors’ numerous injuries and give them a pass for how their season is going. No one would dare question if Kerr is at fault for the Dubs stumbling around without Klay Thompson, right? I mean, this is the guy who has helped coach the team to three championships in five seasons.

However, there isn’t much excuse for the way Golden State has played this season with a healthy Stephen Curry. Missing the playoffs with this roster just isn’t cutting it. And, when looking at the entire picture, it’s easy to see some of Kerr’s flaws as a coach are being heightened by the Dubs’ lack of talent.

Steve Kerr’s shield of invulnerability has worn off. The Golden State Warriors head coach is now on the hot seat after two rough seasons.

Are they tanking? Is Kerr just stubborn? That is the question we have to ask when looking at how the Dubs have run offense this season. The Warriors hold the 22nd worst Offensive Rating and score the 14th fewest points in the NBA despite having one of the league’s most high-powered offensive threats at the height of his powers.

We will give Kerr a pass for some of the supporting members on this team. It’s not exactly his fault that Andrew Wiggins has been wildly inconsistent and no one outside of Kelly Oubre has been scoring the ball on a routine basis.

Instead, Kerr is at fault for not using his players to their strengths. Or at least, in the way you would expect them to be at their best.

The Warriors run fewer pick-and-rolls than anyone in the league outside of the Denver Nuggets. Yet, they rank fourth in points per possession and in the 89th percentile as a pick-and-roll team. It should be no surprise that a threat like Curry paired with a good screen from either James Wiseman, Draymond Green or Kevon Looney can open up some scoring opportunities.

And yet, Kerr hardly ever runs these plays. When asked about this earlier in the season, Kerr mentioned that he didn’t want the Dubs to become the Houston Rockets and spam pick-and-roll every possession. That’s fair, but completely avoiding the play altogether isn’t a good alternative.

Look, I understand that the motion offense is what brought the Warriors to glory. My point here is that Kerr has continued to prove that he is incapable of making necessary adjustments, though. Remember the 2016 NBA Finals? He allowed Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejo to play roughly 20 minutes with the two combining for a minus 18 points when they were on the floor. Kerr’s refusal to adjust has cost the Dubs.

Even so, Kerr has proven to be a solid coach. However, his refusal to adjust the Warriors’ playstyle to adapt to their new assets has been killing them as of late. Maybe he’s just looking to tank for a lottery pick – maybe he’s laser-focused on forcing the Dubs to learn motion offense before Klay Thompson comes back, but it’s time we start looking at Kerr more critically.