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00:00I want to start off the show, though, by saying this.
00:02Congratulations to our friend Steve Kerr
00:05for becoming the all-time winningest head coach
00:10in the history of the Golden State Warriors.
00:14And please package up all of your takes
00:17that say anybody could have coached this team.
00:20Take them to the post office, mail them to Siberia,
00:23because I don't want to hear it.
00:24I don't want to hear it.
00:25Congrats to who I believe is probably
00:29the second best professional head coach
00:33in the history of this city.
00:35Second?
00:35Second.
00:36Man.
00:37I still got him behind Bill Walsh.
00:38OK.
00:39And you know, it's a tough call, because it's obviously
00:42two different eras.
00:43And Bill Walsh benefited from things
00:46that normal, modern-day NFL coaches don't,
00:49which is there was no salary cap back then.
00:51So he had a couple of teams that were so super stacked.
00:54And that's just the way the rules were then.
00:56And they benefited from it.
00:58And yet, you look at Steve Kerr, and the rules
01:01are pretty strict.
01:02But he also benefited from a couple of things,
01:05like being able to get Kevin Durant
01:08and add him to a team that's coming off a 73-win
01:10regular season.
01:11So you get one of the two or three best players
01:14at the time in the game to join your team.
01:17And you had a super team.
01:18So yeah, he benefited from that as well.
01:21Also, you know, Steph Curry having a below-market contract,
01:25because he was coming off ankle issues.
01:27So yeah, those things are all equally true.
01:29But the fact that you still have him at number two
01:31behind Bill Walsh, it's a tough call, but I could see it.
01:34Yep, yep.
01:35They both have four, right?
01:36Four rings apiece?
01:38That's accurate.
01:39Yes.
01:40And they both authored, you know,
01:43editions of maybe the best team in Bay Area history.
01:46Like Bruce Boach, you would be a clear-cut third.
01:49Right there.
01:50And I think Boach did almost as much with less.
01:54He may have.
01:54I mean, it's such a different sport.
01:55It is.
01:56It's such a different sport.
01:57But I also, like, I think that one
01:59of the huge pieces of the puzzle for someone like Steve Kerr,
02:03people will go, oh, he had all this talent.
02:05Right, that's actually the challenge.
02:07That's a huge part of the challenge.
02:09Do you know what the chances are that star players and a head
02:14coach spend over a decade together, north of a decade,
02:19win multiple championships, and at the end of that run,
02:23they're still together and they still like each other?
02:26Do you know what the chances of that are?
02:28They're not good.
02:30They're not good.
02:31The managing of egos, the managing of playing time
02:35requests, the managing of this, that, the other,
02:39all that goes into it, especially in the NBA.
02:42You know, Boach really didn't have that.
02:43The greatest player in the Bruce Boach era is like,
02:48it's Buster Posey.
02:50Similar demeanor to Steph Curry.
02:52Right, well, see, I actually don't see that.
02:55How do you mean, similar demeanor?
02:57Super amount of humility compared to the greatness
03:00that they have.
03:01That's fair.
03:02Big time believer in contributing
03:04to the greater good of society,
03:06and Buster does a lot of that with St. Jude and the rest.
03:08And, you know, Steph Curry, of course, does that as well.
03:11And also, from an ego standpoint,
03:14and I don't know Buster or Steph personally very well,
03:16but neither one of them, it seems to me,
03:19has an outsized ego that would kind of burst into the room.
03:23Like, Barry Bonds famously with, what,
03:26three lockers and a Barca lounger.
03:28Oh, yeah.
03:28It's like, the locker room, he took it over.
03:30No, I get where you're coming from there.
03:32Buster's a lot more soft-spoken.
03:34I think both of them are like closet, super fiery
03:38competitors in ways that you don't know.
03:42Steph, I just think, is a much bigger personality.
03:46And then also, for sort of the, like,
03:48getting somebody's you-know-what kind of an attitude,
03:51he lets Draymond do that.
03:53Right.
03:53Buster did it himself.
03:55You know what I mean?
03:56Buster did it himself.
03:57But he also had, you know, when you're the catcher,
03:59you don't have to be as aggressive with it.
04:02You had, you know, Mad Bum out there,
04:04Snot Rockets, and you had, you know,
04:05Kane and Timmy and other bigger personalities.
04:08And when you're the catcher,
04:10you're just kind of the everyday guy who has to be,
04:12you know, kind of a lunch pail, meat and potatoes guy.
04:15I guess the larger point for me is this.
04:18I really feel like Steve Kerr is underappreciated.
04:20I really do.
04:22And it is for multiple reasons,
04:24some of which we've already put out there on the table,
04:27which is the idea that he's always had really great players.
04:32Then again, I listen to the things that I hear
04:35about Steve Kerr through the years,
04:38and they have me scratching my head.
04:41Oh, the Warriors don't develop young players.
04:45They don't?
04:46Well, Moses Moody looks pretty good.
04:48And Jonathan Kaminga looks pretty good.
04:50And Quentin Post looks pretty good.
04:52And Brandon Podjemski looks pretty good.
04:54And I could argue that some of these Hall of Fame players
04:57they have were young players when Steve Kerr showed up.
05:00And they developed pretty good.
05:02Graymon Green wasn't even a thing yet.
05:04So I don't understand the idea
05:06that the Warriors don't develop.
05:07I don't understand the idea
05:09that Steve Kerr hates young people.
05:11Steve Kerr has kind of been in a championship window,
05:15the entire time that he's been here.
05:16Therefore, of course, he's gonna lean on veteran know-how.
05:20The rotations that we've talked about.
05:23It's not that people don't have a point there.
05:25I guess what I see is in another city,
05:29if somebody's won four championships,
05:31ah, let's give them the benefit of the doubt
05:33a little bit more.
05:34Like, I wonder, I don't really know this,
05:36but if I lived in Kansas City right now,
05:39am I throwing nachos at my television set
05:42if I don't like Andy Reid's play call on one third down?
05:45Am I, what do you mean you're handing the ball
05:47to Kareem Hunt on that play?
05:49Isn't there a benefit of the doubt
05:52that should come with this kind of achievement?
05:56And Andy Reid is an interesting comp
05:58because he's got the best player.
06:00Is he not, though, also considered
06:02the best coach in the game?
06:04I think he is.
06:05I think he is.
06:05Yep, yep.
06:06And it's always interesting, I think,
06:09based on market and team and all the rest of it
06:12because, yeah, you can look at Steve Kern,
06:14you can be critical of whatever you want,
06:16but when you look at it, he's won four championships
06:19for a franchise, you and I are old enough
06:21to remember when you didn't even think about the playoffs.
06:25You just looked at the schedule
06:26and wondered when Magic was coming to town
06:29and the other big stars,
06:30because that was the highlight.
06:31You'd have three or four games every year
06:33where it was like, whoa, that was fun.
06:35They did something really cool.
06:36Antoine Jameson had back-to-back 50-point games.
06:39I'll never forget it.
06:41Well, now you sit here and you stamp championships
06:43and playoff bursts and appearances in the finals,
06:46and so everybody starts to take a lot of this for granted.
06:49I just think that we can look at this
06:51on a night-in and night-out basis,
06:53and it's completely understandable
06:55that no matter who's playing, even Steph Curry,
06:57you can get frustrated with Steph Curry sometimes.
06:59Oh, man, another bad pass there in the fourth quarter,
07:02a little loose with the ball, whatever.
07:04Oh, gosh, he's not hitting his threes tonight.
07:05That was a warm-up three.
07:07Why didn't that go in?
07:08Sure, that's the way that a fan watches a basketball game,
07:11but nobody would ever leave the game and be like,
07:15gotta do something about this Steph guy.
07:17You'd never do that, and I understand it's a terrible comp
07:19because Steph and Steve, totally different roles,
07:21and the player's gonna be so much more beloved.
07:25Steph Curry might be the most beloved athlete
07:27in the history of our city,
07:29but sometimes when I look at Steve Kerr,
07:33I do feel like the fan base does not appreciate him enough.
07:38They do not appreciate him enough,
07:40and I could take it to a larger conversation.
07:43I don't think necessarily now's the perfect time for it
07:47because there's a lot of 49er frustration out there,
07:49and it's warranted, but I think that,
07:53and partially it's fair because he hasn't won a ring,
07:57and so that makes it completely different,
07:58but Kyle Shanahan, to me, takes too much junk
08:02for what he's achieved in building a team
08:05that when he grabbed it was really in a bad spot,
08:08like really in the dregs, and he pulled it up,
08:11and it is what it is, and frustratingly,
08:14they haven't gotten over the top and okay,
08:15but I do think we're living at a time
08:18where good coaching in the Bay Area
08:20sometimes is subject to underappreciation.
08:23I do believe that.
08:24Yeah, I would agree with that,
08:25and we have had it pretty good.
08:27If you think about the 49ers and Bill Walsh
08:29and George Seifert took it over,
08:31and he won a ring as well, and even beyond that,
08:33Mariucci was pretty good.
08:35He had a nice little run, and now you mentioned Shanahan,
08:38and he's been really, really good.
08:40He hasn't won a championship in the Giants.
08:41He had three titles with Bruce Bocce,
08:43and now you've got Bob Melvin,
08:45who basically came across the Bay,
08:47and it's somebody that we know and we respect,
08:49and yeah, Steve Kerr, he's been spectacular.
08:52You can be critical, but I just think
08:54that your point is well made about the lack of appreciation
08:59because you can go around to any number of other teams
09:02in the association,
09:03teams that have had multiple coaching changes,
09:06and it's a constant coaching carousel.
09:09Think about the NFL, where I think Shanahan
09:11is the fourth or fifth longest tenured head coach right now
09:15in the NFL, and that's something.
09:17That means you've got somebody who is,
09:20he's at least pretty good,
09:22somebody who's been successful at some level
09:24for the team to want to keep him around.
09:26Yeah, I definitely think that that's a fair point,
09:29but we kind of wonder, where are you all at
09:32on Steve Kerr now?
09:33It's an interesting time to have the conversation,
09:36we think, because A, he did just break the record
09:39with that win over the Knicks,
09:40and B, we're looking suddenly at a brand new
09:45sort of like wing of the era of warrior basketball
09:49because there's been so much angst now for two seasons,
09:53two seasons plus, quite frankly.
09:55It's been so stressful, it's been so frustrating.
09:59One year marred by Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole,
10:02can't win a road game, get ousted by the Lakers.
10:05The following season, Clay Thompson's moping around
10:08for an entire year, and you get embarrassed
10:10in the play-in tournament and don't even make the playoffs.
10:13And then this year starts out,
10:15and house of fire to begin the whole thing,
10:17but then you go into a prolonged period
10:20of more losses than wins,
10:22and everybody's stressing that, oh my gosh,
10:25like the end is actually here.
10:27We just have to sit with that.
10:29The whole Steph Curry thing is over right before our eyes,
10:32and then bang, the Jimmy Butler trade happens.
10:37They're never gonna lose another basketball game again.
10:40Right?
10:40You keep telling me that they probably will, but.
10:43I mean, I think.
10:44Maybe. I think.
10:45Yeah.
10:46But so like obviously this is a time
10:48where nobody's calling and nobody's in the streets
10:53complaining about anything.
10:54Everything is good.
10:56So I don't know, maybe a time to check in
11:00and put the toe in the water.
11:02How are you feeling about Steve Kerr now?
11:06Because he's the all-time winningest coach
11:10in the history of the Golden State Warriors,
11:13and he's won four championships,
11:16and he is architect of a team
11:19that is flying back into relevance.
11:22Yet again, for like the fifth time in his tenure.
11:26And I don't know, man.
11:28I just, for other people that have achieved
11:31similar type things in their sport, in their city,
11:34I think that they're put on a little bit
11:37of a higher pedestal than he is.
11:39Interesting point, and I'm thinking about other coaches
11:42who have done it for a long time.
11:44Popovich and Eric Spolster are the only two
11:47longer tenured coaches in the association.
11:50And I would imagine that in San Antonio,
11:52people aren't calling up and complaining
11:54about Popovich's rotations, right?
11:55Obviously, he's not even there right now.
11:57Right, but more in general.
11:58Yes, I got you.
11:59But more as an abstract construct.
12:03And in Miami, I don't know if people are even that dialed in
12:06on Miami Heat basketball and worried about rotations.
12:09But out here, it's like, yeah,
12:11Steve doesn't like to play young players.
12:13He is, I mean, he sure is now.
12:15This is a great point,
12:16because everybody's, oh, Heat culture.
12:18What about it?
12:20What about it?
12:21You're gonna do it our way.
12:23Okay, because our way works.
12:24Is it?
12:25What the hell have you won?
12:26Like, you're nice, but are you great?
12:29I'll take Steve Kerr's culture.
12:31Yeah, do we ever give him credit for that?
12:33And Ramona had a great comment when she joined us last week
12:35about, like, take care of yourself day.
12:38Like, the easy, kind of easygoing approach
12:41that he takes with his team.
12:42He lets people be them.
12:43Right.
12:44And for a lot of guys, that really works.
12:46And it looks like Jimmy Butler might be one of them.