When Steve Kerr decided to return as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors on a new two-year contract, he did it knowing the team no longer had championship aspirations. In case fans needed another reminded of that, he provided one by dodging a question about the team’s expectations next season.
NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole asked Kerr about what he would consider a satisfactory season, with the head coach looking to dodge giving a specific answer in his response.
“You get into the danger zone when you start trying to predict stuff. For me, this is all about the process and what we're doing day in and day out. This is a season where we've got to get back to our values, our basics, supporting each other, bringing great attention to detail day in and day out," Kerr said.
Warriors can still do positive things even if they aren't true contenders
That refusal to set any sort of definite goal is basically Kerr’s way of saying: Yes, I know the Warriors probably aren’t going to be all that great next season.
He didn’t come back to the Warriors to chase another ring. He made it clear in his comments at the time that he wanted to leave the Warriors in a better place by the time his tenure ended. That’s a noble goal, but it’s not exactly going to get fans fired up about the season ahead.
“Get back to our values” doesn’t quite have the same ring as “the quest for five rings,” but that is simply where the Warriors are at right now. Kerr made his famous comment about how the Warriors are a “fading dynasty” and maybe that’s all they have to play for at this point in time.
That doesn’t mean the Warriors will be unwatchable. As long as Stephen Curry remains reasonably healthy the team is still going to be fun to watch, and they have some interesting young players who could turn into fan-favorites like rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.
The most likely outcome is that the Warriors will be around .500 and will be a Play-In team yet again. Being stuck in neutral is hard for many fans to accept especially when the mentality was championship or bust for so many years, but at some point all dynasties come to an end.
Kerr clearly just wants to end things the right way. In his mind, that means restoring a brand of basketball that can live beyond him and Curry. Whether that’s possible remains to be seen, but it’s probably a more attainable goal than any sort of expectation to make the playoffs or win a certain number of games.
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