A lot of things fell in right place at the right time before the Warriors won their first chip in 2015, Steve Kerr was one of them.
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Back in 2014 when Steve Kerr took over the job of leading the Golden State Warriors team as their Head Coach, they were already a championship calibre team. Former coach Mark Jackson developed a winning culture which wasn’t there for a long time.
They had a first-round exit in the 2014 playoffs against a Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan but the following year which would be Kerr’s first year in the club they would go all the way to win the NBA championship which would be the club’s first in 40-years.
That would be the first of their four championships in the next eight seasons in which they will appear in six NBA Finals and become the NBA’s first dynasty after the Bulls and the Spurs. But none of that would have come true had Kerr taken the job with New York Knicks where his former coach Phil Jackson was the General Manager.
Steve Kerr was close to signing with the Knicks because of Phil Jackson
In an interview with John Stewart on his Apple TV podcast “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” Kerr had a lot of friendly back and forth with the former Daily Show host who is one of those famous heart-broken Knicks fans who has been frustrated for a very long time.
Both of them talked about how the 5x NBA champ with the Bulls and the Spurs joined the Warriors when he also had the chance to join the Knicks where his Bulls coach Phil Jackson was managing things and wanted him for the HC role.
The advice from his other coach friends helped him out. One, in particular, stood out, who advised him to do what Jackson would do if he was to choose between a Knicks and a team with talents like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
The man is now one of the most decorated players turned coaches in the NBA. Only Phil Jackson and Bill Russell have more championships than him as a player and coach combined.
