Steve Kerr’s future as an NBA head coach seemed to be in doubt just a few weeks ago, when complications from back surgery caused him to miss 11 consecutive playoff games. Thankfully, Kerr made his return in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and general manager Bob Myers said that the Warriors’ head coach would be returning for at least next season.
Kerr joined NBA writer Zach Lowe’s podcast on Wednesday, and announced some good news — he’s planning on being with the Warriors for much longer than that.
“I’m planning to coach for a long time,” Kerr said. “This kind of stuff happens very rarely in the NBA where you get a group of players this talented who are together in their primes. It’s so rare so I know exactly how lucky I am. I love it, I love the group, I love coaching them every day, and this is what I want to do for a long time. That’s the plan, so I just got to keep pushing forward.”
Kerr also addressed reports that the Warriors are not planning on visiting the White House, as is customary for any major professional sports team that wins a title. Kerr said that the team has not made a decision yet (the White House has yet to reach out to the team) but found reports that said Kerr addressed the situation in the locker room after Game 5 laughable.
“We haven’t even gotten that far and all those reports are false. It may be that a couple of players have been asked about it. I think Andre (Iguodala) and Draymond (Green) may have been asked about it, and David West,” Kerr said. “We never had any discussion about it either during the season — that obviously would have been premature, that’d be bad karma to talk about that. But after the game that’s the last thing on our minds. We’re just trying to celebrate and enjoy everything.”
“I’m picturing this scene where I go in and say, ‘hey everybody, everyone be quiet, let’s take a vote on whether we want to go to the White House.’ Are you insane? That’s not going to happen. We’re having too much fun for that,” he said”There’s a respect for the institution, for the office; there’s a respect for our government that I think you have to take into account, regardless of people’s opinions of the person sitting in that chair,” he said.”I think it’s important, but it’s also important for the players because it’s really about them to make the decision whether they want to go or not.”