Sports fans in the Bay area have a lot to feel good about lately. Over the past few months, the Giants won yet another World Series, San Francisco green lit a gorgeous new arena, which thankfully no longer resembles a toilet, and their Golden State Warriors are currently the best team, record-wise, in the NBA.
Sitting at 19-2, the Warriors are in the midst of the best start of their 69-year franchise history. They’ve now won 14 straight games, and it’s hard to imagine the boyish grin of rookie coach, Steve Kerr, getting any wider.
With Wednesday night’s win over Houston, Kerr became the first rookie coach in NBA history to win 19 of his first 21 games. After the contest, he was asked what the feat meant to him, to which he replied, “It means I’m the luckiest coach in NBA history because I inherited a team that was already really good.”
There’s some obvious truth to that, but it’s also the humble, “correct” response, and it understates the strides Kerr’s been able to make with Golden State, especially on the offensive end.
The Warriors’ have fielded elite defences for the past few seasons. Last year they allowed the third-fewest points per 100 possessions in the league (99.9); this season, they’re allowing the fewest (94.5). It was the team’s offence, or lack thereof, that needed addressing when Kerr took over, because under former coach Mark Jackson, the Warriors never seemed to actually run plays. Instead, they’d have Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala or whoever’s turn it was that time, just sort of dribble around until the shot clock wound down, then hoist up a shot. When you have arguably the best shooting backcourt in NBA history—a luxury Golden State possesses—that’s not necessarily the worst operating procedure, but it’s unsustainable in the postseason.
In Jackson’s three years as head coach, Golden State’s offence finished in the league’s top 10 only once, wrapping the 2012-13 season in 10th. Steve Kerr, on the other hand, is the product of offensive gurus Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, having suited up for both legends during his 15-year playing career.
As a coach, Kerr seems to have bought into Popovich’s philosophy more than the Zen Master’s. It shows in the way this year’s Warriors zip the ball around the perimeter and into and out of the paint, and in player’s off-ball movement. The ball rarely sticks. They trust the system to create shots and they’re being rewarded. As a team, Golden State is shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from three—the second- and fourth-best marks in the league, respectively. They’re also tied for second in assists per game (25.7) and their offensive rating (107.3) is currently good for sixth. When the Warriors are really clicking, they look downright Spurs-esque, Popovichian.
Kerr has also been stable with his rotations. He’s rolled out the same starting five of Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Draymond Green, Curry and Thompson in 19 of their first 21 games—the only blips being two games Thompson and Bogut were held out of with injuries.
Not only does that steadiness help build confidence and continuity among the starters, it gives the bench guys a clear idea of how and when they’re needed.
Take Marreese Speights for example. Speights has played for four different teams in his six-year career. He spent last season with Golden State, but was never a key cog in Mark Jackson’s reserve units. This season he’s found his niche. He’s averaging career highs in points per game (12.5), player efficiency rating (25.2) and true shooting percentage (.579). He’s always been a valuable role player, but this season is the first in which it seems like the man in charge actually appreciates that value, and it’s paying off for the Warriors.
It’ll be interesting to see how Kerr integrates David Lee back into the rotation when the nine-year vet is fully healed from the hamstring injury that’s kept him out of all but one game (seven minutes played) this season. Lee returned to practice this week and is expected to be available to suit up sometime next week, but, in the not-broken-don’t-fix-it line of reasoning, you’d have to think Kerr will bring Lee off the bench for some scoring punch with the second unit. At least at first.
The true test of whether Kerr indeed qualifies as “the luckiest coach in NBA history” will be whether his players, particularly Andrew Bogut, can stay healthy. The Splash Bros. get the hype (warranted because they’re awesome), but Bogut is the ultimate glue guy for this team. When he’s been on-court this season, the Warriors’ offensive rating is an outrageous 113.5; when he sits, it drops to 105.5. The effect is mirrored on the defensive end: with Bogut on the pine their defensive rating jumps from a stingy 93.6 to an average 100.6.
The big Australian has had trouble staying healthy throughout his career. Over the past five seasons (including this one), he’s played just 196 of 349 total games. That means he’s missed 44 percent of his possible games in that span, not to mention playoff absences. He left Monday’s game in Minnesota and sat out against the Rockets on Wednesday with knee tendinitis. He’s expected to play against Dallas on Saturday, but tendinitis of any kind 20 games into the season doesn’t bode well for the Warriors.
This team has proven they’re as legitimate a title contender as any in the league. Now it’s just a matter of whether the basketball gods will keep smiling down on them, whether Kerr will still be rocking the boyish grin and citing dumb luck in a couple of months or changed his tune.