What has Steve Kerr done to be considered to top coaching candidate?

[imdaman99]

What kind of player was Riley? Or Phil Jackson? These guys weren't studs and they sure weren't coaches on the floor. You of course realize that in basketball the best players aren't usually the best coaches, it's normally role players who are the best coaches. I mean was Rick Carlisle a stud? Don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less if this dude coaches or not but I'm all for GMs and owners taking a chance on someone unproven and thinking a little outside the box.

I get what you're saying, I am willing to give him a chance because guys that come out of nowhere have potential too like you said with PJackson and Riley... but this has been dragging on for too long. Either say yes or no, Knicks should not be his 3rd option.

[AnaheimLakers24]

hes white and played for phil. thats it

[chocolatethunder]

I get what you're saying, I am willing to give him a chance because guys that come out of nowhere have potential too like you said with PJackson and Riley... but this has been dragging on for too long. Either say yes or no, Knicks should not be his 3rd option.

I feel you but Jackson just got fired yesterday. Phil is no dummy and I'm sure they talked about if Golden State job opened up so Kerr is weighing his options. I personally wouldn't coach NY because I don't trust Dolan and the roster is not that good and it will take several years before it gets better because of lack of cap space and draft picks. Golden State on the other hand isn't a walk in the park because if they do well everyone will say it's because of Jackson and if they don't do well everyone will say it's Kerr's fault. For instance when Larry Brown won the title with Detroit, at the time some people complained and said he just took over Carlisle's team and had an easy win.

[GimmeThat]

I actually don't know.

I thought he had a good run as a GM for the Suns and helped build up an even larger fan base while he was there.

I still think he would fit in great with the Lakers FO.

[Relinquish]

Well he did commentary, and it sucked so I guess that is good enough qualifications.

[Thorpesaurous]

Thing is though, on a basic level, the triangle is all about spacing and ball movement, and having players who can drive/pass/shoot. Being a threat to shoot is how you kill a zone.

It's true that not having back-to-the-basket players to play the post position will limit what you can do with the offense. After the initial guard-wing pass which I think is in most of the triangle sets, I believe most of the first looks are to the post. Melo might be able to play it, but with all the ball movement, if the first option isn't there, you look to rotate/invert the main triangle. There are a ton of options though, and the triangle is meant to be tailored to the individual talent you have. Not every team would implement the offense in its entirety.

I do think there are real questions about how accustomed Kerr is with the offense though, how well he can teach it, and as someone said, how dedicated he is to using it.

I had a team that played against me in college that ran a little triangle, and being a walk on PG, I was asked to run scout stuff sometimes, and got pretty familiar with the triangle. You are correct about the spacing being a huge factor. That's why PG play in the triangle frequently fell to guys like Kerr. Pure floor spacers. Kerr, Pax, BJ Armstrong, Craig Hodges, right down to Mike Penberthy.
There was a second type of "PG", usually a nominal term used on an extra SG or SF. The Ron Harper types. There main focus is to play on the weakside and be able to attack and finish after cutting without the ball. Basically spacing the floor but without the shooting, just by being active enough and enough of a threat going to the basket that they can't be ignored. They usually have the added advantage of making the team a real defensive pain in the ass.

Ball movement, at least the way I think of it in terms of San Antonio, Portland, and a few other of the really crisp current teams, isn't really something I'd associate with the triangle. More player movement within the triangle. And the scheme has only extremely rarely used ball screens, especially in any attacking manner.

Defensively, I think the laxed zone rules would make it harder to run that strong side of the court stuff. I have a feeling that's part of why we've seen an explosion of mid court offense based a lot on center pick and rolls. Probably part of why we've seen something of a golden age of NBA PGs, because that type of offense that can exploit the defensive rules is something that position is adept at.

Most importantly though is what you say at the bottom. I'm not sure how committed he is to any particular scheme.

[DukeDelonte13]

hes made statements stating he likes the idea of utilizing two bigs and would rather stay away from a 4 guard line up. he also drafted dragic in the 2nd round, but did draft earl clark and he butted heads with Mike D and his system, which is why he left PHX to coach NY.

so maybe GM's know this stuff and want it implemented to their team. or maybe theyre using favoritism of him being a former NBA player with phils approval in aide to their decision

David Griffin the cavs interim GM was behind the selection of Dragic, he was Kerr's assistant at the time.

[fpliii]

I had a team that played against me in college that ran a little triangle, and being a walk on PG, I was asked to run scout stuff sometimes, and got pretty familiar with the triangle. You are correct about the spacing being a huge factor. That's why PG play in the triangle frequently fell to guys like Kerr. Pure floor spacers. Kerr, Pax, BJ Armstrong, Craig Hodges, right down to Mike Penberthy.
There was a second type of "PG", usually a nominal term used on an extra SG or SF. The Ron Harper types. There main focus is to play on the weakside and be able to attack and finish after cutting without the ball. Basically spacing the floor but without the shooting, just by being active enough and enough of a threat going to the basket that they can't be ignored. They usually have the added advantage of making the team a real defensive pain in the ass.

Ball movement, at least the way I think of it in terms of San Antonio, Portland, and a few other of the really crisp current teams, isn't really something I'd associate with the triangle. More player movement within the triangle. And the scheme has only extremely rarely used ball screens, especially in any attacking manner.

Defensively, I think the laxed zone rules would make it harder to run that strong side of the court stuff. I have a feeling that's part of why we've seen an explosion of mid court offense based a lot on center pick and rolls. Probably part of why we've seen something of a golden age of NBA PGs, because that type of offense that can exploit the defensive rules is something that position is adept at.

Most importantly though is what you say at the bottom. I'm not sure how committed he is to any particular scheme.

1) Apologies, I was thinking player movement, but wrote ball movement (there's tons of cutting obviously). However, I think you need to have able/willing passers to execute.

2) What changes do you think need to be made then? Moving the center closer to the elbow in the triangle so the PnR is more of an option if you pass off to the weak-side guard? Or do you think the offense has to be modified on a deeper/more fundamental level?

[senelcoolidge]

I agree too. He has no coaching experience. That seems to be the new trend, media guys/ex players with no coaching experience seems to be the new hot things these days. I personally wouldn't hire a guy with no experience at the NBA level.

[chocolatethunder]

I agree too. He has no coaching experience. That seems to be the new trend, media guys/ex players with no coaching experience seems to be the new hot things these days. I personally wouldn't hire a guy with no experience at the NBA level.

So in saying that you're saying that you wouldn't have hired Jackson in the first place.

Ex players being coaches is nothing new. Hiring a guy who's been an assistant forever even under a good coach doesn't mean much. Kuester was a hot commodity and he was an awful head coach. Mo Cheeks was thought of as a great assistant and he's about as bad of a coach as could be. Pitino is not a great NBA coach and neither is Cal. Picking a coach is like picking a player, it's not a science, it's partly a crapshoot.

[Thorpesaurous]

1) Apologies, I was thinking player movement, but wrote ball movement (there's tons of cutting obviously). However, I think you need to have able/willing passers to execute.

2) What changes do you think need to be made then? Moving the center closer to the elbow in the triangle so the PnR is more of an option if you pass off to the weak-side guard? Or do you think the offense has to be modified on a deeper/more fundamental level?

I do think moving the offense to the high post would be fasinating. And reading Tex Winters stuff, it always seemed to be his notion that it should be run higher and wider, to allow more cutting to go on behind it.

If you moved it up higher, I could envision it becoming closer to Portland's pinwheel set, that looks like a four out one in with the one at an elbow, and then all four spinning around that center point. You can use that center point to run high hand off, or straight middle pick and roll. It doesn't hurt that Portland has one of the best mid post mid range shooting big guys in the league. It would also look pretty with Kevin Love up there I'd imagine, and as I think about it, he already runs something similar out of Addlemens horns set with the two bigs at the high post, you'd just be asking him to do it solo. He's not a great breakdown handler though.

(University of Oregon runs the pinwheel a ton too by coincedence, and may be the best pure form to look at it if you're looking.)

It's that constant going to the middle that I feel has led to the explosion in corner threes becoming such a valued weapon. When a PG heads to the middle of the lane, he can kick in either direction, or behind him. The help defense tends to come from both directions as it's not clear which way he may break. Back when offenses were started from the sidelines more, the shooting sat more exclusively on the weakside. It was harder to hit that strong side shooter. But because of the way the illegal defense was called, overloading the strong side with your best players turned the game into three on three. Now you see teams like the Bulls flooding offenses that run that sideline stuff, and even aggressively driving teams that run to the top to a side.

[fpliii]

I do think moving the offense to the high post would be fasinating. And reading Tex Winters stuff, it always seemed to be his notion that it should be run higher and wider, to allow more cutting to go on behind it.

If you moved it up higher, I could envision it becoming closer to Portland's pinwheel set, that looks like a four out one in with the one at an elbow, and then all four spinning around that center point. You can use that center point to run high hand off, or straight middle pick and roll. It doesn't hurt that Portland has one of the best mid post mid range shooting big guys in the league. It would also look pretty with Kevin Love up there I'd imagine, and as I think about it, he already runs something similar out of Addlemens horns set with the two bigs at the high post, you'd just be asking him to do it solo. He's not a great breakdown handler though.

(University of Oregon runs the pinwheel a ton too by coincedence, and may be the best pure form to look at it if you're looking.)

It's that constant going to the middle that I feel has led to the explosion in corner threes becoming such a valued weapon. When a PG heads to the middle of the lane, he can kick in either direction, or behind him. The help defense tends to come from both directions as it's not clear which way he may break. Back when offenses were started from the sidelines more, the shooting sat more exclusively on the weakside. It was harder to hit that strong side shooter. But because of the way the illegal defense was called, overloading the strong side with your best players turned the game into three on three. Now you see teams like the Bulls flooding offenses that run that sideline stuff, and even aggressively driving teams that run to the top to a side.

Great stuff all-around.

Good call on Portland. I'll look into Oregon's offense.

[FLDFSU]

Tbh, I am not sure. Lol it seems like head coaches in the NBA like mark jackson and potentially Steve kerr are like US president candidates. They pop out of nowhere and become head coaches... Just because the gm or owner said so.

The issue with Kerr, that separates him from Kidd and Jackson is that neither Jackson or Kidd were highly sought after. The Warriors supposedly rushed to fire Jackson to make themselves available for Kerr, and reports were out that the Warriors were letting Kerr's people to hold on until the Warriors were eliminated because there would be a vacancy if he was interested.

You would think that Doc Rivers or Thibs suddenly became available...

[DMAVS41]

Why are people making such a big deal of this?

Kerr is a former player, former champion, former GM...and has been in and around the game for a long time.

He's clearly a very impressive man and seems to have the respect of everyone in the league from players to coaches to gm's to owners.

He and Stan Van are the two guys I'd be going after if I had a team that needed a coach.