Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had a successful season in his first year as head coach of the team. He led them to a 67-15 record, which was the best mark in franchise history, and of course, the Warriors won the NBA title last year.
Kerr’s coaching style is different and he’s always about putting the five best players on the court, irregardless of their position. Hopefully for the Warriors, Luke Walton will follow the same path that Kerr took because he will be taking care of head coaching duties for the time being.
Following is an official statement from the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors announced today that Head Coach Steve Kerr, who underwent surgery on his back to repair a ruptured disc in late July and a follow-up surgery in early September, will take a leave of absence from the team as he continues with rehabilitation and the recovery process. The length of Kerr’s absence is unknown and will be based on his progress.
“At this point, the most important thing is to make sure Steve is healthy, completely recovered and ready for not only the rigors of a long NBA season, but day-to-day life in general,” said Warriors General Manager Bob Myers. “We don’t anticipate the recovery process will be long term, but as of today we don’t know the exact timeframe. We’ll evaluate his progress daily and provide updates as necessary.”
“After the first two days of training camp, I realized I need to take a step back and focus on my rehabilitation in order to be ready for the grind of another NBA season,” said Kerr. “As I noted last week, my summer was difficult and no fun due to the multiple back surgeries. At this point, I simply want to get healthy and back to my normal daily routine on and off the court.”
Luke Walton, the team’s lead assistant coach, will serve as interim head coach in Kerr’s absence.
And the following from ESPN’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss.
Bob Myers won't speculate on whether Kerr will be back for the start of the season
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) October 1, 2015
For the Warriors, with no clear view of when Kerr will be back, there shouldn’t be much to worry about besides the health of their head coach.
Golden State has a great staff in place currently besides Walton. They have longtime assistant coach, Ron Adams along with Jarron Collins, Bruce Fisher, the man who suggested the series saving plan in the NBA finals, Nick U’ren, and of course, they recently hired Steve Kerr as a player consultant who might be expected to take bigger role in Kerr’s absence.
Following from Yahoo! Sports Marc J. Spears.
Warriors won't be bringing in another coach during Steve Kerr's absence, but there is hope that new consultant Steve Nash can help out more.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) October 1, 2015
Just to clarify, Nash isn’t a coach. He’s just a member of the staff and I’m sure he’s not itching to coach, either. Walton got a well deserved promotion over the summer and despite what many may think of his NBA career, Luke has earned his shot to be at least an interim coach for the time being.
