Steve Kerr

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Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr (16453076458) cropped.jpg
Kerr as Warriors head coach in February 2015
Golden State Warriors
Position Head coach
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1965-09-27) September 27, 1965 (age 58)
Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight 175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school Palisades Charter
(Los Angeles, California)
College Arizona (1983–1988)
NBA draft 1988 / Round: 2 / Pick: 50th overall
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career 1988–2003
Position Point guard
Number 2, 4, 5, 25
Coaching career 2014–present
Career history
As player:
1988–1989 Phoenix Suns
1989–1992 Cleveland Cavaliers
1992–1993 Orlando Magic
1993–1998 Chicago Bulls
1999–2001 San Antonio Spurs
2001–2002 Portland Trail Blazers
2002–2003 San Antonio Spurs
As coach:
2014–present Golden State Warriors
Career highlights and awards
As player
As coach
Career statistics
Points 5,437 (6.0 ppg)
Rebounds 1,060 (1.2 rpg)
Assists 1,658 (1.8 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men’s basketball
Representing  United States
FIBA World Championship
Gold medal – first place 1986 Spain National team

Stephen Douglas "Steve" Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American retired professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors.[1] Kerr is a six-time NBA champion, winning three championships with the Chicago Bulls, two with the San Antonio Spurs, and one as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He and Frank Saul are the only two players in NBA history to have won championships with two different teams in consecutive seasons.[2] Kerr shot 45.4% from 3-point range over his career, which is the highest in NBA history for any player with at least 2,000 shot attempts.

On June 2, 2007, the Phoenix Suns named Kerr the team's President of Basketball Operations and General Manager. Kerr helped Managing Partner Robert Sarver buy the Suns in 2004 and became one of Sarver's trusted basketball advisors. Kerr announced his retirement from the Suns in June 2010. Afterwards, Kerr returned as a color commentator for NBA on TNT until 2014 when he pursued a career in coaching.

On May 14, 2014, the Golden State Warriors named Kerr the team's head coach. On April 4, 2015, with a win over the Dallas Mavericks, Kerr broke the NBA record for the most regular season wins for a rookie coach. The Warriors went on to win the 2015 NBA Finals, making Kerr the first rookie coach to win a championship since Pat Riley in the 1982 NBA Finals.

Early life

Steve Kerr is a son of Malcolm Kerr, an American academic who specialized in the Middle East, and his wife Ann.[3] He has three siblings.[4] Kerr spent much of his childhood in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries. He attended Cairo American College in Egypt, the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon, and Palisades High School (now Palisades Charter High School) in Pacific Palisades, California. Often, throughout his childhood, Kerr enjoyed playing basketball at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

His 52-year-old father Malcolm was murdered by the Islamic Jihad (later, elements of Islamic Jihad formed Hezbollah), on the morning of January 18, 1984, while he was serving as president of the American University of Beirut in Beirut.[5][6][7][8] His father was shot twice in the back of his head, by gunmen using silencer-equipped revolvers, in the hallway outside his office.[4][6][7][8] Kerr was 18 years old at the time, and a college freshman.[5] Steve Kerr said: "Before my father was killed, my life was impenetrable. Bad things happened to other people."[3] The Kerr family sued the Iranian government under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.[9] While warming up for a game at Arizona State in 1988, Kerr had to deal with a number of fans in the crowd chanting "PLO" and "your father’s history".[10][11] Though teary-eyed, Kerr scored 20 points in the first half, making all six of his 3-point attempts.[11] Malcolm Kerr to this date has a male dorm facility in his honor located on the AUB campus: the Kerr Hall Student Housing.

Kerr graduated from the University of Arizona in 1988 with a Bachelor of General Studies, with emphasis on history, sociology and English.[12][13]

NCAA career

Minimally recruited out of high school, Kerr played basketball for the University of Arizona from 1983 to 1988. In the summer of 1986, Kerr was named to the USA Basketball team that competed in the FIBA World Championship in Spain. The team was the last American Men's Senior Team composed strictly of amateur players to capture a gold medal. He injured his knee in the tournament, forcing him to miss an entire season (1986–87) at Arizona. After returning to the team, Kerr became a fan favorite due to his leadership and long-range shooting. He helped the Wildcats reach the Final Four of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament in 1988, along with future NBA teammate Sean Elliott, future NBA journeyman Tom Tolbert, and future MLB All-Star Kenny Lofton. He also set an NCAA record for 3-point percentage in a season (114–199, 57.3%).

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1983–84 Arizona 28 ... 22.6 .516 ... .692 1.2 1.3 0.3 0.0 7.1
1984–85 Arizona 31 ... 33.4 .568 ... .803 2.4 4.0 0.6 0.1 10.0
1985–86 Arizona 32 ... 38.4 .540 ... .899 3.2 4.2 1.6 0.0 14.4
1986–87 Arizona Redshirt ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
1987–88 Arizona 38 ... 32.6 .559 .573 .824 2.0 3.9 1.2 0.1 12.6
Career[14] ... 129 ... 32.1 .548 .573 .815 2.2 3.4 1.0 0.1 11.2

NBA career

Career Beginnings

Phoenix Suns

Kerr was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the 1988 NBA draft.

Cleveland Cavaliers and Magic

Steve Kerr was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989. He spent over three seasons (1989–92) there, and then part of the 1992–93 season with the Orlando Magic.

Chicago Bulls

In 1993, he signed with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls made the playoffs in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, but without Michael Jordan's presence for all of 1994 and much of 1995, the team could not advance to the Finals. However, with Jordan back full-time for the 1995–96 season, the Bulls set an NBA-record of 72–10 and defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals.

Kerr played a major part of the Bulls' championship victory in the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. In the final seconds of Game 6 with the score tied at 86, he took a pass from Jordan and hit the game-winner. The Bulls won, earning the franchise's fifth title. Kerr also won the 3-Point Shootout at the 1997 All-Star Game.

In the last minute of Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals against Utah, Kerr missed a 3-pointer, grabbed his own rebound and made a no-look pass while in midair to Michael Jordan who made a crucial three-point play, putting them in the lead for good. The play helped Chicago win the game and tie the series at 1. The Bulls won the series in 6 games.

San Antonio Spurs

During the 1998 off-season, Kerr was traded to the San Antonio Spurs for Chuck Person and a first-round pick in the 2000 NBA draft, where he would soon return to the NBA Finals. His timely departure from Chicago gave him a chance to win a fourth straight NBA Title, as the Spurs were just emerging as a championship-caliber team. By contrast, the Chicago Bulls went from first-to-worst, finishing last in the conference with a 13–37 record.

The Spurs made it to the 1999 NBA Finals. It was the first finals appearance in their history, and Kerr won his fourth ring in a row when the Spurs beat the New York Knicks for the 1999 NBA championship. He is one of two people to win four straight NBA titles without being a part of the 1960s Boston Celtics dynasty (the other is Frank Saul, who won four straight with Rochester and Minneapolis from 1951–54).

Bouncing Around the League

Portland Trail Blazers

Steve was traded to the Portland Trailblazers on July 24, 2001 in a 3-man deal. He would remain in Portland for the 2001–02 season, playing in 65 games.

Return to the Spurs

After his brief stint in Portland, he was traded back to San Antonio on August 2, 2002. He supported the Spurs from the bench in nearly every game (75) the following year, in what would be his final season in the league.[15]

Kerr made key contributions in Game 6 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Among those were four clutch 3-pointers that helped eliminate Dallas. The Spurs eventually won the NBA championship that year by beating the New Jersey Nets in the 2003 NBA Finals 4–2.

Kerr ended his career as a dependable bench player who could make jump shots and 3-pointers in critical moments.

Kerr announced his retirement after the 2003 NBA Finals. He played 910 regular season games but started only 30 of them, 20 of those games coming in the 1991–92 season. His career totals are: 5,437 points (6 ppg), 1,060 rebounds (1.2 rpg), and 1,658 assists (1.8 apg). He also retired as the league's all-time leader in three-point shooting percentage for a season (.524 in 1994–95) and career (.454).

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes seasons in which Kerr won an NBA championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1988–89 Phoenix 26 0 6.0 .435 .471 .667 .7 .9 .3 .0 2.1
1989–90 Cleveland 78 5 21.3 .444 .507 .863 1.3 3.2 .6 .1 6.7
1990–91 Cleveland 57 4 15.9 .444 .452 .849 .6 2.3 .5 .1 4.8
1991–92 Cleveland 48 20 17.6 .511 .432 .833 1.6 2.3 .6 .2 6.6
1992–93 Cleveland 5 0 8.2 .500 .000 1.000 1.4 2.2 .4 .0 2.4
1992–93 Orlando 47 0 9.4 .429 .250 .909 .8 1.3 .2 .0 2.6
1993–94 Chicago 82 0 24.8 .497 .419 .856 1.6 2.6 .9 .0 8.6
1994–95 Chicago 82 0 22.4 .527 .524 .778 1.5 1.8 .5 .0 8.2
1995–96† Chicago 82 0 23.4 .506 .515 .929 1.3 2.3 .8 .0 8.4
1996–97† Chicago 82 0 22.7 .533 .464 .806 1.6 2.1 .8 .0 8.1
1997–98† Chicago 50 0 22.4 .454 .438 .918 1.5 1.9 .5 .1 7.5
1998–99† San Antonio 44 0 16.7 .391 .313 .886 1.0 1.1 .5 .1 4.4
1999–00 San Antonio 32 0 8.4 .432 .516 .818 .6 .4 .1 .0 2.8
2000–01 San Antonio 55 1 11.8 .421 .429 .933 .6 1.0 .3 .0 3.3
2001–02 Portland 65 0 11.9 .470 .394 .975 .9 1.0 .2 .0 4.1
2002–03† San Antonio 75 0 12.7 .430 .395 .882 .8 .9 .4 .0 4.0
Career[14] 910 30 17.8 .479 .454 .864 1.2 1.8 .5 .1 6.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1990 Cleveland 5 0 14.6 .286 .000 .000 1.2 2.0 .8 .0 1.6
1992 Cleveland 12 3 12.4 .439 .273 1.000 .5 .8 .4 .0 3.7
1994 Chicago 10 0 18.6 .361 .375 1.000 1.4 1.0 .7 .0 3.5
1995 Chicago 10 0 19.3 .475 .421 1.000 .6 1.5 .1 .0 5.1
1996† Chicago 18 0 19.8 .448 .321 .871 1.0 1.7 .8 .0 6.1
1997† Chicago 19 0 17.9 .429 .381 .929 .9 1.1 .9 .1 5.1
1998† Chicago 21 0 19.8 .434 .463 .818 .8 1.7 .3 .0 4.9
1999† San Antonio 11 0 8.8 .267 .231 .833 .8 .7 .2 .0 2.2
2001 San Antonio 9 0 11.2 .480 .333 .500 1.0 .7 .4 .1 3.3
2002 Portland 3 0 13.0 .429 .250 1.000 1.3 1.7 .3 .0 6.3
2003† San Antonio 10 0 4.6 .636 .833 .750 .3 .6 .1 .0 2.2
Career[14] 128 0 15.6 .426 .370 .876 .9 1.2 .5 .0 4.3

Post-playing career

Television analyst

Kerr in 2013

In 2003, Kerr became a broadcast analyst for Turner Network Television (TNT), offering commentary alongside renowned analyst Marv Albert. During his tenure he performed a segment sponsored by Coors Light called Steve's Refreshing Thoughts in which he brought up interesting facts in NBA history. This segment continued through sponsorship, and is now known as Steve Wonders and is sponsored by Sprint. In the same time period, Kerr also contributed to Yahoo! as an NBA commentator.

He has provided his voice for the in-game commentary of EA Sports video games NBA Live 06, NBA Live 07, NBA Live 08, NBA Live 09 and NBA Live 10 with Albert. He has also provided his voice as a color analyst for NBA 2K12, NBA 2K13, NBA 2K14 and NBA 2K15. He remains a commentator in NBA 2K15 despite becoming the Golden State Warriors coach for the 2014–15 season several months prior to the game's release.

Kerr left broadcasting in 2007 to work as a general manager for the Phoenix Suns, but it was confirmed on June 28, 2010 that he would return as an NBA analyst for TNT starting with the 2010-11 NBA season. Since 2011, Kerr has also called the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship on Turner Sports and CBS, teaming up with lead broadcasters Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg for the First Four and Final Four games, and with Albert in other rounds.

Kerr has been a regular contributor to the website Grantland since 2011.

Phoenix Suns front office

On April 15, 2004, Kerr was announced as a member of a potential group of buyers that would acquire his old team, the Suns, from Jerry Colangelo for US$300 million. He became part of Suns management, acting as a consultant.[16][17]

On June 2, 2007, Kerr announced his departure from his broadcasting position at TNT and his commentating position at Yahoo! to assume duties as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns beginning with the 2007–2008 season.

Kerr in 2008

On February 6, 2008, reports surfaced that Kerr was planning to trade Phoenix Suns forward Shawn Marion and guard Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal, which he did. The Suns were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the first round of the playoffs.

On December 10, 2008, Kerr continued to remake the Suns roster by trading away Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and Sean Singletary to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley, and the Bobcats' 2010 second round draft pick, which was used to draft Gani Lawal of Georgia Tech.[18]

On June 25, 2009, Kerr traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a future second-round draft pick and cash.

On May 5, 2010, the Suns wore Los Suns jerseys in Game 2 against the Spurs as to be united against the controversial Arizona immigration law. Kerr himself compared the law to Nazi Germany.[19]

On June 15, 2010, Kerr stepped down as President and GM of the Suns. Despite stepping down, Kerr still owned a 1% share with the Suns organization that he kept until 2014.

Head coaching career

Golden State Warriors (2014–present)

On May 14, 2014, Kerr reached an agreement to become the head coach for the Golden State Warriors, succeeding Mark Jackson.[20][21] Kerr coached in the 2014 Summer League for the Warriors. During the 2014–15 season, the team's offense employed elements of the triangle offense from his playing days in Chicago under Phil Jackson, the spacing and pace of Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, and the uptempo principles Alvin Gentry used in Phoenix when Kerr was the GM.[22]

After the Warriors won their 14th consecutive victory over the Houston Rockets, it was announced on Twitter that Kerr became the first coach to start his career with a 19–2 record. This beat out Al Cervi and his 18–2 start with the Syracuse Nationals. On December 10, 2014 Kerr became the first NBA rookie head coach to win 21 of his first 23 games.[23] Kerr was named the head coach of the Western Conference team for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game after Golden State had the best record in the conference.[24] On April 4, the Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks 123–110 to clinch home court advantage throughout the playoffs and Kerr got his 63rd win of the season to become the winningest rookie head coach in NBA history, passing Tom Thibodeau and his 62 wins with the Chicago Bulls in the 2010–11 season. In the NBA Coach of the Year voting, Kerr was runner up to Mike Budenholzer.

The Warriors ultimately finished with one of the best regular seasons in NBA history, and the greatest in the team's 69-year history. Golden State ended with an overall record of 67–15, becoming the 10th team to win 67 or more games in a single season. It was the first time the Warriors had ever won as many as 60 games in a season; their previous high was 59 in their last championship season of 1974–75. The Warriors also ended with a 39–2 home record, which is the tied for the second best home record in NBA history.

The Warriors were first in defensive efficiency for the season and second in offensive efficiency, barely missing the mark that the Julius Erving led Sixers achieved by being first in both offensive and defensive efficiency. They became the first team in NBA history to have two win streaks over 15 at home (18 and 19) and broke a franchise record with 67 wins.

In the opening round of the playoffs against the New Orleans Pelicans, Kerr led the Warriors to their first four-game playoff sweep since the 1975 NBA Finals. Afterwards, the team surpassed the Memphis Grizzlies (4–2, in the second round). Down 2–1 in the series, Kerr made an unconventional adjustment in Game 4 to leave the Grizzlies' Tony Allen open and have his defender, center Andrew Bogut, guard the interior. His strategy was lauded after Allen, Memphis' best wing defender, was benched and limited to 16 minutes after missing wide open shots.[25][26][27] The Warriors then defeated the Houston Rockets (4–1, in the Western Conference Finals) to achieve the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years.

The Warriors faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals. Kerr and rival coach David Blatt were both in their first season as NBA head coaches, and this was the first time a pair of rookie head coaches faced each other in the NBA Finals since the NBA's first year of existence, in 1947 with Eddie Gottlieb of the Philadelphia Warriors and Harold Olsen of the Chicago Stags competing.[28] After the Warriors went down 2–1 to Cleveland, Kerr started swingman Andre Iguodala in place of Bogut, jump-starting their stagnant offense for a 103–82 road win that evened the series. It was Iguodala's first start of the season. After the game, Kerr admitted to lying to the press in response to pregame questions about potential changes to his starting lineup.[29] The Warriors went on to win the championship in six games, defeating the Cavaliers 4–2 in the series to give Kerr his sixth championship and first as a head coach.

After the first two days of the defending champion Warriors' training camp, it was announced that Kerr would end up taking an indefinite leave of absence in order to rehabilitate his back that had been causing him problems after the 2015 NBA Finals.[30] Around this time, assistant coach Luke Walton would take over Kerr's coaching duties. Kerr would miss the entire month of October (including the preseason), and is currently projecting to be out of commission until at least February 2016. However, the entire season will be credited to Kerr, since he still takes part in practices and is still available for halftimes[citation needed]. As of November 30, 2015 the NBA is considering crediting Luke Walton with the current 2015–2016 win-loss record for the Warriors as Kerr still is away with an illness.[31] Kerr said "I think it's ridiculous," when asked about getting all of Walton's wins.[32]

Coaching record

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win-loss %
Post season PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win-loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Golden State 2014–15 82 67 15 .817 1st in Pacific 21 16 5 .762 Won NBA Championship
Career 82 67 15 .817 21 16 5 .762

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 [1]
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ ., New York Times
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Steve Kerr, basketball-reference.com, accessed March 20, 2010.
  15. ↑ [2], basketball.realgm.com, accessed May 16, 2015.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

  • Career statistics and player information from NBA.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). and Basketball-Reference.com
  • Career statistics and player information from WNBA.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). and Basketball-Reference.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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Preceded by Phoenix Suns General Manager
2007–2010		 Succeeded by
Lance Blanks

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