Steve Kerr Introductory Press Conference

I want to thank all of you for coming. It's a special day for the Warriors, the day we announced Steve Kerr as the head coach. I'm Bob Fitzgerald, the Warriors TV announcer. I want to welcome everybody watching on NBA TV and CSN Bay Area, as well as listening on the Warrior flagship KNBR. Steve will speak, Bob will speak, we'll take your questions. But first and foremost, there's a lot of special people in Steve's life that are here today, and so his family, with Margo and Nick and Madeline that are here. The man who taught him everything he knows, Lute Olsen, is here, and his friend Paul Weidman, which is great to see. And so really, this is, this is a great day for the Warriors, a tremendous day for Steve, and something our whole organization is incredibly excited about. Media members, if you would just raise your hand, we'll have people circulating with microphones. Identify yourself to Steve as well as your affiliation and ask any question that you might have. So We'll start it off here with, Bob, the targeting and selecting Steve Kerr as a head coach. Tell us about that and maybe the process behind that.

Thanks, Bob.

Um, and thanks, I'm so happy that Steve, your family can be here, and Coach Lou Dawson. Um, it's a big, big day for you, and I'm happy that your family could be here. Um, choosing a coach, selecting a coach, of the utmost importance when, uh, when you're trying to build an organization and trying to compete and win a championship at this level. Your coach touches the players more than any other person in the organization. So it's of the highest importance to get it right. So when we began our search, Bob, we called Steve and asked him to meet, and we couldn't get a meeting. Because Steve, true to his character, said, I've begun the process with the Knicks. And I'd like to see that through. So at that point, it was difficult because like any business, you want to—

Probably hit a little bit of a dead spot there.

Is it back on? Like any business, interviewing somebody is a big part of the process. So we began our process with that in mind, that we really just were hoping to get an interview with Steve. But he rebuffed us in his own polite way until very, very about a week into the process when he reached out with his representative and said, I think I'd like to talk to you. And that was a big moment for us because even though it had been reported that we had identified Steve, we hadn't sat down with him at all. And we finally got to do that. And like anybody, your first impression of somebody upon sitting across the table from them is very, very important. And in Steve, we found, I think, one of the most genuine, respectful, committed people that you can meet in any walk of the NBA. So we immediately knew that this was somebody that we could work with and could get excited about. We asked some hard questions and he answered them well. And that was important to us as well, because when you, like I said, embark upon this journey of trying to win a championship, there's a lot of big decisions. But we feel like in Steve, we hit it right, and we're just so glad it worked out. And he said yes.

Now, I haven't heard you really talk about this, but Final Four with Lute Olsen, 5 NBA championships, GM for 3 years, made the playoffs twice. You're an elite NBA broadcaster. Why go into coaching? It's kind of fraught with a little bit of pressure, a little bit of stress. Why, why become a head coach?

This is something I've thought about for a long time, Bob. You know, I've been in the NBA for 26 years now, 15 as a player, 8 as a broadcaster, 3 as a general manager. And the greatest moments of my career have come through team building and being a part of something special, whether it was going to the Final Four with my teammates in Arizona or being on championship teams with Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. It was the, the magic that occurs when a group of players and coaches and an organization can come together and achieve something that's special. And you can't find that anywhere else. And so I've been intrigued by coaching for a long time. I decided to go into television because I was raising young kids. Now they're all in college. They don't even know where I am anymore or what I'm doing. So now's, now's the time where I can create that balance between family and work and do it quite easily. And I've been preparing in a lot of ways, attending training camps of people like Hubie Brown and Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich. I've consulted a lot of former coaches in a lot of different sports. I've put together a philosophy and a plan. What's the philosophy? So I've been preparing for this, and I'm well aware that I haven't done it, and I'm gonna have a lot to learn. And I'm planning on putting in the work to learn as much as I can and to put the people around me to help me be as good as I can.

If you have a media question, just raise your hand. We'll have people circulating with microphones. You can ask away. But Bob, 26 years— Steve has no experience obviously being in the NBA, so I would say 26 years, a little bit there. What attributes did Steve bring to the table? What kind of background? And just in terms of the actual selection process of a head coach, what were you looking for?

Well, Bob, when you strip— when you strip it all away, what matters most is winning. And sitting to my left is somebody that has won at every level. And I don't think that can be understated because when you're around people that have won, it rubs off on you. When we look to draft players, we try to draft players from winning organizations. Steve Kerr can sit and look at our players and on one hand have 5 championship rings. And I can tell you that resonates. That resonates with me. That resonated with ownership. And that will resonate with our players. And it should. Because anybody that's won at that level and won in the NBA knows how hard it is. Everybody you talk to that's won a championship in the NBA, how grueling and grinding that is, even when blessed with the utmost talent. And Steve was not blessed with the utmost talent.

No, no.

No, he certainly was. But hard work was a big part of your success, and that's why you were attractive to us. But we want to have winning people in the organization. And when you say winning, you mean winning, ending your season on a win. And only one team gets to do that. So we met with Steve, and he's able to look at you in a, in a very humble way and, and let you know his story and how he's achieved success through hard work, and it's translated into winning. Um, that meant a lot to us, meant a lot to our owner, um, meant a lot to myself, and, uh, it will mean a lot to our players because that's the thing everybody wants. At the end of the day, it's winning a championship. And we have somebody in our organization, and I believe the only person that's won a championship.

The unknown is always interesting. What kind of coach will Steve Kerr be? Lute Olson, Lenny Wilkens, Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich— maybe a sliver of what you took from each of them that comprises your view on how you view the game of basketball.

Well, I mean, I think about The names you just mentioned, at least four Hall of Famers, I believe. But my basketball career really began with Coach Olson. I played growing up. I went to John Wooden basketball camp, ball boy at UCLA. That's when I got the bug for the game. But getting the opportunity with Coach Olson was what started my whole career. And you know, we when when I arrived at Arizona, it was the same year. Coach was there the same year that he arrived. I think the team was 4-24 the year before. Coach had to build it from the ground up. And so I learned an awful lot about consistency of effort, of preparation, consistency of the message that he provided for the players each day. And I was part of that growth and that process. And that's something that I will never forget. And, and, you know, thinking about Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich, I mean, 2 of the great leaders ever in the NBA. And, and one of the things that, that really pulled me to Golden State was, you know, what was special about the Bulls and the Spurs, and what's still special about San Antonio, is the strength of the organization. And, and both coaches constantly preach that to us. It's not just the guys on the floor and the coaches. It's, it's the entire organization. And this organization is on the rise. Where it is now compared to 3 years ago is remarkable. The talent on the roster, the new arena coming, the strength within the organization, the business side of it, partnerships, TV contracts, new arena coming. These are all things that translate onto the court. And I learned those lessons with every organization that I was part of. And so it's not just the coaches who have influenced me. It's the experiences that my teammates, but also the organizations that I've been blessed to be a part of. And that's ultimately why I'm here.

Just identify yourself and raise your hand. Tell Steve who you are and who you work for.

Ethan Strauss of ESPN.com. I know that you have spoken with Steph Curry. Which other players were you able to reach out to and talk to so far?

I've reached out to every single player. I've spoken with all but 2, I think, and the reception has been fantastic. You know, one of the reasons I wanted to come here was because of the success that this club has had the last couple years under Mark, and the talent base that is here and the character that is quite obvious on the roster. And I— that was apparent immediately with each phone call that I made, each conversation that I had. There's some, some wonderful people and players on this roster who are committed to each other and committed to the organization, and they've already had great success, and, and I'm excited to, to become a part of that.

Welcome to— is this working? Welcome to the Bay Area.

Thank you.

Nice to meet you. My name is Mindy Bach. I work for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. This question is actually for Bob Myers. You said you had some hard questions to ask Steve. What were the questions that you needed answered before you made this hire?

Well, the obvious one, Mindy, was you haven't coached before. And why you? What are you gonna do if hired? And that was the ultimate question. And there was some skepticism, healthy skepticism, to that question. But when we were on the plane to see Steve, I think we all— That was the question that rose up the most. Why you? And how are you gonna overcome the lack of coaching experience? The best thing I think I heard in that response, Mindy, was he didn't run from that. Steve said, I haven't coached before. I'm well aware of that. But I'm going to work hard and surround myself with people that can help me get better. And each and every day, I'm going to become a little bit better than the day before as a coach in this league. And we believe that. And for us, it was the right answer. It was confidence combined with humility.

Hi, Steve. Rob Gloucester with Bloomberg News. How close were you to signing with the Knicks, and was there a point at which you already started thinking about what life was going to be like working with Phil Jackson again? Well, you know, it was an interesting process because, you know, I started down the road with the Knicks maybe a week after the regular season ended. That was my first conversation with Phil. And I spoke with the Warriors approximately 2 weeks later, maybe 2 and a half weeks at the most. The problem was for me, I was working every other night for TNT. I was on the road 19 straight days, travel in between game. So I was never able to visit the Knicks facility, but Phil and I were talking throughout the process. But I was also trying to speak with my family from the road. I wasn't able to sit down face-to-face with my wife, which was really important. So I think the process with New York probably was stunted a little bit by my workload. But really, there's kind of a feeling-out process in every situation. In the end, I felt like I was choosing between 2 unbelievable opportunities. I mean, the Knicks, the brand speaks for itself. It's Phil Jackson. He's been one of my mentors. I mean, The thought of having him guide me through my young coaching career was enticing. There were a lot of great things about the Knicks, and he laid out a great plan. I talked to Steve Mills, several people in the organization. I'm convinced Phil is going to make it work in New York. But when I sat down with the Warriors, it just clicked on a lot of fronts. I think it's a better fit for me. I was already familiar with Bob from my days as a GM and Bob and Lopez in Phoenix, and Bob and I worked closely there. And I've been acquaintances with Joe for many years, kind of friend of a friend type thing. And a really big connection for me was Rick Welts, who I worked with for 3 years in Phoenix and who became one of my closest confidants as a general manager and who's remained a friend since. And so the day we sat down and met in Oklahoma City, it clicked. Everything clicked. It also meant a lot to me that my family is located here in California. 2 kids in college and one in high school. And my daughter is right here in my backyard now at Cal. And that, that means a lot. My son, who plays basketball at University of San Diego, will come up here, you know, 4 times a year to play the WCC schools in the area. Those are really important things. The balance between my family and my career has always been of the utmost importance. Be happy on my personal side as well. And all that came together and I realized it. And to Phil Jackson's credit, he told me, you know, the day I sat down with the Warriors, he said, you have to feel Whatever you need to feel in your heart, and if that's to come to New York, great. If that means you're gonna go there, then that's important. But you have to make the decision based on your gut and your heart. And I felt it immediately with, with the Warriors, and that's the story in a nutshell, I guess.

Steve, Ann Killian with the San Francisco Chronicle. You cited the success that Mark has had, and I'm wondering If you had any tough questions for Bob, did you do your own investigation as to what went wrong between the organization and Mark? And do you feel confident that you can avoid whatever pitfalls he fell into?

Yeah, of course. You know, that was a big part of our discussion. You know, anytime, you know, a team has success and has a good year and the coach is fired, there's questions, right? And so I had a lot of questions. And I felt like I gained a lot of clarity on the circumstances, the situation. I think what was probably most refreshing to me was, was Bob and Joe admitted mistakes along the way in the process the last few years, and I shared mistakes that I made in Phoenix as a general manager. One of the things that's really tricky before you get into the NBA is a lot of high-level relationships. And how they manifest themselves and the pressure, the constant pressure that comes from fans and media. And it's, it's not easy to deal with. And it's— you think getting in, it's going to be easier than it really is. But I made mistakes as a GM in Phoenix. I shared some of those with, with the Warriors group. They shared some of theirs with me. And ultimately, I think it's good that we've both sort of had experiences in the past that we can grow from and learn from. Ultimately, that's the whole idea in any business. But I think particularly In the NBA, you've got to learn from your mistakes and grow and, and get better. And I'm really confident that that's what we're going to do as a group. Hi, Steve.

Gerard Moncure, NBC Bay Area and Comcast Sports. During your tenure as the GM with Phoenix, when you're sitting there watching games in the stands, how often in the 4th quarter, maybe crunch-time situations, did you find yourself going, If I were on the sideline right now, this is what I would run, that type of thing.

That's a good question. I found myself doing that much more so in my broadcasting seat. When you're a GM, and Bob can probably attest to this, you're worried about everything, not just what's happening on the floor, but you've got so many employees who are counting on you for various duties, various thoughts, various ideas. that you're— it's sort of all-encompassing. One of the things that attracted me to coaching was that I felt more strongly about what was happening on the court than anything else. And as a broadcaster, that's a huge part of the job, is commenting on what's happening and looking ahead in the game. What would you do? What do you anticipate would work in these circumstances? And so I feel like the broadcasting Has helped prepare me. Now, there's no pressure. I'm still undefeated as a TNT broadcaster, so that doesn't factor in. But the preparation, the strategy, and meeting with the coaches before every game has been an incredible learning experience for me. You know, we sit down with the coaches for 10 minutes before every game, and and I've learned so much from from all the great coaches around the league, and and I feel like I have. A lot of knowledge and tools that I now have to learn how to apply, and I'm ready to do that. And again, I'm— there'll be some growing pains and I'll make some mistakes, but I'll work through everything and I'll have a great staff around me to help me do so.

Steve, Tim Kawakami, San Jose Mercury News. Mark Jackson said several times recently that this is a championship-caliber team. Would you agree with that? And if you don't, Where do you see room for improvement? What areas would you like to see improve? Or maybe you just believe it's a championship-caliber team.

Well, one thing I can tell you, this is a very good team, and that's one of the reasons that I wanted to come here. You know, a lot of people have said to me this past week, you know, do you really want to go to a place with such high expectations? And my first thought is, it's better than the opposite, you know. You know, if you can find a job in the NBA where Expectations are low and talent is high. Let me know, and I'll look into that one. It doesn't work that way. So I'm excited to inherit a good roster and a team that has really done well the last couple years. And I think Mark Jackson did an excellent job, particularly in emphasizing defense and rebounding and toughness. You think about where this club was three years ago. The entire identity has changed, and a lot of that has to do with with Mark. A lot of it has to do with the roster. A lot of it has to do with the new organization and the new leadership. But I embrace that. You know, as far as you know whether this is a championship team, this is a very good team. It was three games away from being. The fourth seed in the West and hosting home court, it was three games away from being out of the playoffs. So we know what we're up against in the West. It's an incredibly deep conference. It's very difficult to to succeed in the West. But my view is not next year we've got to win fifty-two games or we've got to get to the second round. My view is what are we going to do the next decade? What are My goal is to continue this upward trend that— Competitive year in and year out. And we all know how the NBA works. You can get a couple breaks and make a huge run. You can get a couple of injuries and not make the playoffs. And those things are all in play. But as long as we're all aware of that and just constantly working towards getting better, I think we're gonna be in great shape.

Marcus Thompson, Berry News Group. I have a 2-parter for you, Steve. One, you care to share some of the mistakes that were— that you guys talked about? And 2, what, what, what's your voice going to be as far as what players to add and some of the offseason moves? Do you have a— do you plan to have a role in that?

Marcus, excellent questions. I'm not going to go into detail about our conversation in Oklahoma City. A lot of that has to remain private. I can tell you from my side that the mistakes I made in Phoenix were just in terms of, you know, the relationships at the top level— coach, owner, GM. We had a really good situation. We had a few bumps in the road that I probably could have handled differently. And beyond that, I'm not going to go into detail, but I will tell you that I, that I learned from that. And And I feel good about that experience. The personnel stuff, we're just getting to that point. I haven't even moved up here. I'm waiting for the San Antonio series to end. So as soon as it's over, I'll be here and I'll sit down with, with Bob and the group and put in my 2 cents on, on the personnel side.

I was gonna say acquiring Steph Curry in Phoenix, would that have been a mistake if you could have gotten that done? Both you guys have talked about staff. And the quality of staff. You know, Phil Jackson hired Johnny Bach and Tex Winter and Jim Clements. He was a CBA head coach and hired iconic assistants. Staff being the people that, that touch the players the most in terms of strategy development and assisting the head coach. Tell me about the idea. People want to know who your staff's going to be, not necessarily names, but what are you looking for in assistant coaching staffs? Particularly for someone who had never coached before?

That's why we hired Steve. No, I think staffing is very important at all levels of the organization, certainly on the coaching side, Bob. But the good thing is, is that the NBA is a small fraternity. So if you don't know somebody directly, you know someone that knows that person directly. So it's very easy to get background, to do your due diligence and find out who the best people are. But Steve's spent his entire professional career in the NBA, whether as a player, as a GM, now as a broadcaster. So I can tell you his phone probably is ringing right now with candidates. So it's not about who's available. It's more about picking the right people. And that's a process, just like going through a coaching search is a process. You interview the person, you designate internally, and especially Steve, what are the areas that he feels like he needs the most support in? Is that on the defensive side, offensive side, organizational side? And that's for Steve to decipher and figure out. We'll certainly collaborate, but bottom line is any coach in the NBA at the head coaching level picks their staff, needs to be comfortable with their staff, and we're very confident Steve will do that. The question won't be, does he have enough good people to do it? It's just amongst the good candidates, finding the best people amongst that group. But it's important and we're already working on it, but he's got to finish this TNT stuff so we can really get down to it. We're confident Steve's going to pick a great staff.

Your thoughts on the kind of staff you're looking for? When I think Gregg Popovich was an assistant under Don Nelson, Donnie Nelson was here, Terry Stotts was a Warrior assistant who's done well up in Portland. You know, assistant coaches matter, and they matter in assisting the head coach.

The staff absolutely matters, and it'll be huge for me not only this coming year but for many years ahead. And I won't offer any names. I can tell you there are a lot of them. Bob's right, everybody's calling me and emailing me, but I have a list and Bob has assisted me with that list along with Travis. And we're talking every day about potential candidates. I know that I want head coaching experience next to me, and so that will be something you'll see. Now, there are a lot of variables involved here. Coaches who are possibly still working on other staffs or have other commitments. But those are all the things, as Bob said, you have to figure out and vet and deal with. But we'll get there and before long we'll have a very strong staff.

Lowell Cohn, Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Bob, I've only read how you hired Steve. I wasn't in on it. And if I have a misconception, Please excuse me. According to what I read, you were going after Stan Van Gundy. He dropped out and then you went to Steve. Is that how it played out?

When we began the coaching search, we identified a short list of candidates. Steve was one of them. Stan was one of them. A couple other people that we were in line to interview. And we immediately reached out and said, we'd like to meet with Stan. We'd like to meet with Steve. Unfortunately, Steve was going through the process with the Knicks. So we felt at that time we were not going to be able to even interview Steve, let alone hire him. So I've read it reported that Stan was our first choice or Steve was our first choice. My opinion is, and I think ownership shares this, you don't designate a first choice until you've actually met with somebody. So that's how we went about the process. I know it's been reported a little bit differently, but people don't know everything we do. In this day and age, they know a lot of what we do.

I'm sorry.

But we'd interviewed Stan, and then the next day we actually were— got a chance to interview Steve. But ideally in the coaching search, Lowell, you want to identify your list of candidates, then meet with them, then get together as a staff and decide who the best candidate is. But I don't think anybody should be hired or ranked until you've actually had an interview. Stan went away rather quickly. We weren't sure if Steve was going to continue heading in the direction of New York. We actually considered following the Steve meeting flying to another city to meet with another coach. We were 5 minutes away from doing that if we had felt like Steve was going in another direction. A lot of the candidates we were targeting, it was very fluid and it moved very quickly, as we all saw. And one thing we credit Steve with was he was not going to belabor the situation. When we met with Steve, he said, look, I owe it to Phil Jackson, I owe it to the New York Knicks, I owe it to you guys, meaning the Warriors. I'm going to make a decision. I'm going to make a decision. quickly here. And that was beneficial to us. So coaching searches can be difficult. They can be very long. And they can even stretch into months at times. So thankfully for us, we got Steve and the interview went well. And that's kind of the real story behind the scenes.

Steve Monte Poole, Comcast SportsNet. How are you?

Good. How are you, Monte?

I want to tap into your Western Conference expertise. You've been following the Western Conference playoffs When you talk to people around the league, or at least when I do, I hear that throughout the seeds that for the most part those first 8 or 9 teams in the Western Conference are all pretty close and they could be 4-5, 3-2. But when I talked to— we talked to Joe Lacob the other day and he said he thought the Warriors should be a top 4 seed, that that was the goal, and they did not get there. Is that a fair goal for you going into the season to think that you should be a top 4 seed, or Is seeding that important going into the postseason?

Well, it's interesting that, that you mentioned that. When I talked to Gregg Popovich, who I consulted during this process, you know, the first thing we talked about was the Spurs. And this was during the Dallas series. And, and he said those exact words, throw out the seeds, it doesn't matter. And Dallas proved that by taking the Spurs to 7 games. The goal, if you're a playoff team, is always to get home court advantage. You want to give yourself every edge. But there's so many variables going in. There's injuries, there's dry spells, there's, you know, factors that are unforeseen. And you have to be ready to face adversity every season. And who knows how that manifests itself. But to me, the goal is not a Together, a strong team that can win, that can play on both sides of the ball, which the Warriors have established, which is very exciting to me, but can have a shot year after year, can be consistent. And that's ultimately what you want. You know, the Spurs, if you look at their success— and I'm not trying to compare us to the Spurs, nobody can compare to the Spurs right now— but they've had years where they've been the top seed and lost in the first round. They've been swept out of the playoffs before. But the consistency, having a swing at the plate year in and year out, that's what we're after here. Some years that might mean we're a 1 seed. Some years that might mean, you know, we slip out of the playoffs altogether. But I think everybody on the management side is, is on board with that vision of we've got a chance to be really good for the next decade. Let's just take a swing every year. But let's, let's be consistent with our efforts.

Final question, and then Bob and Steve are going to do one-on-ones. Larry, you got the mic back there?

Yeah, thanks, Bob. Larry Beal, ABC 7. Steve, good to see you again.

Hi, Larry.

Reunited. Understanding what you just said about the decade-long perspective and blending that with what you mentioned earlier, understanding the pressure of the job from your GM days in Phoenix, This is a unique situation in that 51 wins is sort of the benchmark, and anything less than that is going to be perceived as failure, or getting to the second round. Maybe you can address the fans a little bit, because the aspirations here are extremely high, and with that comes the pressure on a day-to-day basis. I mean, you almost have to win a game yesterday in order to get started here.

Welcome to the sports world. You know, this is, this is the way it is. And as I mentioned earlier, Larry, I mean, I would much rather have talent and expectations than a low bar with a huge rebuilding process ahead. And so I understand the pressure. And the most important thing that I've learned in sports is Owner, GM, coach—that troika—that relationship between those three is critical. And those three—the relationship between those three will determine how you get through those bumps and through the adversity. The fan—the fan base. Look, this is—I've—I've said on the air many times: This is the best fan base in the NBA. The—the 2007. Clinching win over Dallas. I did that game for TNT. It was the best atmosphere I've ever felt in my life as as a as a broadcaster, even as a player. I've never seen anything like that. I want to coach in that environment. I want that atmosphere. That that helps teams win games. If the flip side is you know some some boos, some you know what are you doing? What you know? Do you know what you're doing? Are you, are you gonna, you're gonna win 52 this year? You're gonna win 55? That's all part of it. And if you can't accept that and can't deal with that, then you probably shouldn't be doing this.

I want to thank everybody on NBA TV and CSN Bay Area, people listening on KNBR. Thank all of you. A lot of good questions. We're gonna break down for one-on-ones with Steve and Bob, and we'll see you throughout the summer and obviously into the fall. Thanks a lot.