Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reports that Steve Kerr will officially return to the sidelines for the Warriors for game 2. Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report and the Huffington Post reported he was going to return.
Steve Kerr WILL coach tonight
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 4, 2017
Steve Kerr will coach G2, per source, barring major setback. (Expanding on @ramonashelburne report that he might coach G2 if feeling better)
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) June 3, 2017
(Original story from June 2nd)
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr wasn’t able to finish out the season on the sidelines due to some issues with his back surgery in 2015. Kerr found himself suffering pain earlier this year shortly after the 2017 NBA All-Star weekend. He underwent a spinal leak procedure to alleviate some of his pain.
Kerr stepped aside and allowed associate head coach Mike Brown to take over the head coaching reigns similar to what Luke Walton did for Kerr two seasons ago. But Brown is leading a Warriors team through the 2017 NBA Playoffs and so far he’s undefeated. As the 2017 NBA Finals begin and the Warriors continue to run right through their competition, Kerr’s return could be closer than ever. After the Dubs convincing game one NBA Finals win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, news came out that Kerr was feeling better and actually might be ready for game two.
Following from Chris B Haynes and Marc Spears of ESPN.
“He may coach Sunday. He’s feeling better,” a source close to Kerr told ESPN’s Marc Spears.
Kerr had been feeling well enough earlier this week to be hopeful that he would be able to coach in Game 1 on Thursday, but according to team sources, after he had a bad day Wednesday, he decided it was best for acting head coach Mike Brown to continue leading the team.
Brown urged Kerr to wait until game time to make a final decision about coaching Game 1, but Kerr felt he needed to string together several good days in a row before returning.
However, general manager Bob Myers told ESPN on Thursday that the Warriors are “not closing the door” on Kerr’s return this series and will remain patient to allow him the necessary time to recover, even it happens to occur deep into the series.
Kerr doesn’t want to be a distraction, but the team doesn’t view this situation as such and is committed to seeing the process through.
