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00:00Out we go to the River Islands guest line for Steve Kerr, presented by Great Clips in sports.
00:05Success is about team effort, and the same is true for your hair. Great Clips. It's going to be great.
00:11Hey, Coach, how are we doing tonight?
00:14Doing well. How are you guys?
00:16We're doing fantastic, man, and glad to have you.
00:19After the way this kind of road trip unfolded, we've got the Steph update.
00:23But the last two nights, Coach, I'd love to hear in your words, while understanding what's going on with the
00:31roster,
00:32how frustrating and disappointing are the outcomes over the last 48 hours?
00:40Yeah, it's frustrating.
00:43We had our chances in both games.
00:46Last night, we absolutely should have closed the game out up eight with a minute and a half to go.
00:51So that one is, you know, really, really frustrating.
00:57But, you know, I also am well aware, you know, we're shorthanded.
01:03And, you know, these teams that you play, you know, whether it's Utah or Chicago,
01:11they're shorthanded, but these guys are all NBA players, you know.
01:15And when you hear a team is tanking, it doesn't mean their players aren't trying.
01:19You know, it just means they've got guys out.
01:23And you could sit, you know, in Utah, they had some young guys out there who played really well
01:30and made a lot of difficult shots.
01:33And we're just at a place where our margin for error is really slim.
01:38And so it's very frustrating, but our guys are playing hard and competing
01:44and giving ourselves a chance every night.
01:47But there's no doubt those two, we needed them and we didn't get them.
01:51So it puts us in a tough spot.
01:53Last night, you were pretty animated as the team came back from 13 down to take the lead.
01:58Is part of that because you have so many young guys who are going through a lot of this for
02:02the first time?
02:05Yeah, I mean, I'm just trying to, you know, really fire the guys up.
02:09We were, I thought, demoralized at times.
02:12You know, last night, the Bulls had a big run at the end of the second quarter.
02:19And I could just feel the air leaving our balloon.
02:22And, you know, without Steph, without Jimmy, I think I have to take on, you know,
02:30more responsibility, just, you know, keeping the guys' spirits up, that sort of thing.
02:35So that's probably what you were looking at.
02:38Steve, I wonder about the approach that Steph has.
02:42When it's a home game and he's there, what kind of role is he taking?
02:47But also behind the scenes, this clearly has to be frustrating him.
02:51So how's he doing and what conversations have you guys had about his potential return?
03:01Yeah, it's always great to have Steph, you know, on the sidelines.
03:04He just has a great way about him and gives guys advice and gives us confidence.
03:10And, you know, last night was great because we'd been on the road, obviously, for three games without him.
03:16So nice to have him back.
03:19You know, as far as our conversations, it's just very matter-of-fact, you know, where he's frustrated.
03:25He wants to be out there for his guys.
03:27And that's obviously been an injury that's lasted a lot longer than anyone thought it would.
03:34And he's dying to be out there.
03:37But, you know, there's not a whole lot that goes into it.
03:40But we're just following the training staff's lead and Rick Celebrini's advice.
03:46And we're just trying to give him the best chance to come back and stay healthy and finish the season
03:54strongly.
03:55Without revealing too much of the background on how you guys do things,
03:59is he at least doing basketball-related activity or is it still primarily training room stuff?
04:08Well, he hasn't practiced yet.
04:10He's getting shots up.
04:11But, you know, this is not, you know, he's not in a place yet where we're saying he's going to
04:20be practicing any time in the next few days.
04:23So, it's pretty methodical.
04:27As you guys know, Rick is as good as they come.
04:30And he's going to be very cautious and make sure Steph gets the right buildup and we go from there.
04:39Steve Kerr with us on Willard and Dibs.
04:41Coach, I want to ask this without sounding like it's a fait accompli.
04:45But the play-in tournament obviously seems like that is in your future.
04:52And if you get out of that and it's San Antonio or Oklahoma City, this is a hell of an
04:59assignment.
04:59But if it is just one playoff series, what kind of value would you all find in that?
05:10Oh, man.
05:11I mean, there's amazing value for everybody if you can make the playoffs.
05:18I mean, number one, that's the whole goal.
05:20That's the whole point of, you know, what we're trying to do is, in Steph's words, you know, play meaningful
05:26basketball.
05:28And organizationally, we pride ourselves on, you know, being a successful franchise and being in the playoffs year after year,
05:36giving our fans a look at, you know, an opportunity to do something special.
05:44And for the young players, it's what it's all about.
05:48So, you want to give those guys a chance to see what it feels like.
05:52And so, we are, you know, we're always going to be aiming for the playoffs and competing and trying to
05:58do everything we can to get there.
05:59And part of the time we have between now and the end of the season is seeing Steph and Chris
06:05Stapps together so you have some information going into the offseason.
06:08How eager are you to actually see that combo play out here before the end of the season?
06:15Yeah, I mean, it's easy to envision, you know, how powerful the combination can be.
06:21Just given the spacing that Chris Stapps provides, you know, it's not just a three-point threat.
06:30It's the range and it's how quickly he gets it off.
06:33And Steph with space is obviously pretty lethal.
06:38So, Chris Stapps can't wait to play with him.
06:42And I know we want to get Steph out there and get a really good look.
06:46And the good news is Chris Stapps is back and he's feeling well.
06:51And it looks like we've got a chance here to, you know, to get them both on the floor and
06:58to get a good look at it.
06:59Do you see Chris Stapps' role evolving?
07:03Even while Steph is still out, as he kind of builds up his stamina and whatnot, do you see him
07:09starting?
07:09Do you see his minutes going up?
07:13For his minutes, we'll go up.
07:15And I think what we're kind of experiencing right now is, you know, trying to figure out the best combinations.
07:23You know, is he best with Draymond, without Draymond?
07:27Can we play Al and Chris Stapps together?
07:32You know, we've got to experiment and give him minutes and give him a look with different groups and go
07:41from there.
07:41But I would definitely like to play him more.
07:43A little bit of Twin Towers vibes last night, Steve.
07:47Four blocks for Al, four for Porzingis.
07:49Did you have to kind of pinch yourself and say, am I really watching a lawyer team?
07:55All right.
07:56We're not used to that around here.
07:59No, it's great.
08:01You know, Al is playing at such a high level now.
08:04And it's really exciting to see that.
08:07And the block shots, rebounding, the post-ups, presence in the paint.
08:14It's really great.
08:16And Chris Stapps just adds to that.
08:17So, you see what we're trying to accomplish here.
08:21And we just kind of see, you know, how healthy everybody is and really get a good look at it.
08:27Steve, you had some interesting comments after the game last night with regard to Draymond and that foul.
08:33And, you know, maybe he was a little cold coming in off the bench.
08:36I wonder if you could take fans through, particularly in a fourth quarter, how you go about deciding to deploy
08:44Draymond.
08:47Well, I think what's tricky right now is that every game is different.
08:52You know, without Steph, without Jimmy, it's literally game to game.
08:56Who's going to finish, you know, in the last five minutes?
09:01You saw last night, we went away from Draymond and Brandon.
09:06The group that was out there with Pat, Gary and Al, LJ.
09:11I mean, they were rolling.
09:13And so, we're going to stay with whatever group is working.
09:18So, that may involve Draymond, it may not.
09:22And this is very different, obviously, than anything we've done over the last 12 years.
09:28Draymond has always been in that closing lineup.
09:31But given where we are, given we're without Steph and Jimmy,
09:35we have to think more about, you know, scoring and, you know,
09:39who's going to take on the offensive burden, how the game is going, all that stuff.
09:43And we just have to ride with whoever's hot.
09:47And that's what we did last night.
09:50Yeah, and I put Draymond in late for a defensive stop.
09:53He hadn't been out there for, you know, probably a good 45 minutes of real time, you know.
09:58And that's a tough situation to be in, to go in cold.
10:03And so, it wasn't an easy spot for him.
10:05But he knows he can't foul in that situation.
10:09He's got to make Smith make a fadeaway 22-footer to tie the game.
10:16You know, it's just, he knows he made a mistake and it happens.
10:21But, you know, going forward, I still trust him.
10:24I mean, he's Draymond Green.
10:25The guy's won a million games for us and he knows what he's doing.
10:30You mentioned the hot hand.
10:32You had four guys with 17, but the one that strikes me is the aforementioned LJ Cryer.
10:37So new to the league and then he gets to the foul line and he misses a pretty big free
10:42throw.
10:42But that's about the only bad thing he did.
10:44How was he post-game knowing that that free throw might have kind of sealed the game for you?
10:52Well, that's just part of the game.
10:53I mean, if you look at the last minute and a half of regulation, there were probably six or seven
11:00plays that we'd love to have back.
11:04And, you know, a free throw, a missed free throw is just part of it.
11:08He made three of them, you know, like under pressure for a guy who's on a two-way contract in
11:12his rookie year.
11:14So, I love LJ.
11:15I think he's really a clutch player.
11:17He's an excellent shooter.
11:19You can see he's strong.
11:22He's active defensively.
11:24And he's unafraid.
11:26So, I think he's going to be a good player for us for a long time.
11:30It's probably a situation that you guys are quite unfamiliar with, I would think, Steve,
11:35which is that when you're trying to protect the lead and you know you're going to have to do it
11:39at the free throw line
11:40and you don't have Steph, you don't have Jimmy, you don't have Clay, you don't have Jordan Poole,
11:45you don't have all of these guys, is there a strategic approach?
11:48How do you decide who you want to essentially send to the line at that point?
11:54Well, you just go with the numbers, you know.
11:57We tried to put our best shooters on the floor at the end and LJ is one of them.
12:03You know, we had Al out there.
12:05We had Chris Dobbs.
12:06So, you just put your best shooters on the floor and, you know, again, to me it was not, it
12:14really wasn't about a missed free throw.
12:16You know, it was two fouls.
12:17You know, Al fouled on the three-point shot.
12:20So, a couple of fouls.
12:22We had a really unfortunate play when Al was posting up.
12:25I thought he got fouled.
12:27The defender pulled his arm and knocked him off balance.
12:30So, a tough break there.
12:31Guy had a good look at the rim and, you know, literally every one of these plays had to happen,
12:36you know,
12:38for us to lose that game.
12:39And, unfortunately, it was one of those nights that seemed to happen a couple times a year
12:44and you usually get a couple that go the opposite way in your favor as well.
12:50So, you just got to move forward and try to tighten things up.
12:55What did you see from Brandon Pajemski last night or maybe not see from him that had him,
13:00and I say limited because he still played 27 minutes, but we're kind of getting used to him playing more
13:05minutes.
13:07I saw Pat Spencer out there having a hell of a fourth quarter.
13:12Yeah.
13:13It had nothing to do with Brandon.
13:15It just had everything to do with Pat and that unit that got us back into the game and took
13:20the lead and gave us a chance.
13:22So, it's just, you know, that's all part of it.
13:24Coach, are you flexing maybe a sort of a new coaching muscle for you?
13:30And here's what I mean by that.
13:32You know, when you're coaching veterans and they're all sort of championship tested,
13:39there's this idea that the coach just has to manage egos and still have to do the basketball stuff.
13:45But now, I mean, you're dealing with, as you just said, you're dealing with a bunch of two-way contracts,
13:50players who have not been in this before, and you're dealing with more losing than you guys are used to.
13:55So, how does this compare to some of your previous years?
14:00Kind of what's fun about coaching every year is just totally different, and you have to adapt and adjust.
14:05And obviously, we were really lucky for...
14:12Steve, did we lose you?
14:16We just came back.
14:18All right.
14:18All right.
14:19Okay, start the whole interview over.
14:21Go ahead, Coach.
14:23I was just saying, we had, you know, every year is different as a coach, and you adapt and adjust.
14:29So, I enjoy it.
14:31I'm having a great time this year.
14:33I'd love to win those games and get into the playoffs, but it's all a great challenge,
14:39and I love our guys, and we just got to keep plugging away.
14:43Speaking of coaching, and not any action today, and I'm sure tomorrow you'll gear up for what's going to be
14:48another tough road trip.
14:50How do you go about getting especially some of the younger, inexperienced guys ready for a pretty daunting stretch you
14:56have coming up?
14:58Yeah, we do have a tough stretch.
15:00Obviously, Minnesota at home, and then we move forward, you know, to the road with a bunch of good teams.
15:08So, all these games are great for our young guys.
15:11You know, they're learning every day, you know, on game nights, but also, you know, film sessions.
15:18And we just keep moving forward.
15:21Steve Kerr with us on Willard and Dibs, 95.7 The Game, as he is every single week.
15:26Hey, Coach, did you catch up after the game at all with what happened with Bam out of bio last
15:31night?
15:33I saw a little bit of it before our game started.
15:36You know, I had my TV on in my office, and they said he had 43 at halftime.
15:41And so, at that point, we were all following it, and I didn't see much, if any, of the second
15:50half.
15:51But, yeah, what an incredible performance.
15:54Well, I also want to dig in a little bit.
15:57You know, Washington's coach said afterward, he's like, this turned into kind of not a real game.
16:02It sort of became the thing that everybody was doing, which was trying to get, bam, a lot of points,
16:09as opposed to play just kind of a basketball game.
16:13What's your take on that?
16:14You've been in this situation before, for example, when Clay had 60 through three quarters.
16:21Yeah, the one I really remember was when Clay broke the record for three-pointers in a game.
16:26It was in Chicago.
16:27And I think he had 13, he had tied Steph, and we were starting the fourth quarter.
16:34And I think we were up 20 or 25, and it was really awkward, you know.
16:41And our whole team was begging me to keep him out there, and so I did.
16:46And he launched three, like, the first three trips down.
16:51And it felt weird.
16:52It didn't feel right.
16:54And fortunately, he made the next one, and I got him out of the game.
16:59And then I apologized to Fred Huiberg, who was coaching the Bulls at the time.
17:04And he totally understood.
17:06But it is an awkward situation, and I know exactly how Spoh was feeling.
17:13He was probably uncomfortable with what was happening.
17:17But when you have the whole arena and the whole team begging you to keep a guy out there, it's
17:23tough to say no.
17:24And obviously, everybody wanted him, you know, to get the record or, you know, to pass Kobe, at least.
17:31So that's a tough spot as a coach.
17:34You don't want to cross the line of sportsmanship, but you also want to appease your team.
17:40Yeah, that one kind of devolved into a, we're going to foul you so we can make sure we get
17:44the ball back.
17:45And then they started triple-teaming him in the backcourt because he was approaching 80.
17:49Oh, wow.
17:50He shot 16 free throws, Bam did, in the fourth quarter alone.
17:54Miami committed nine fouls, Washington 11, 20 fouls and a quarter, Steve.
17:59How about an 80-foul game?
18:00Can I get you interested in an 80-foul game?
18:04Wow.
18:05I didn't know that.
18:06I didn't get to see it, but, you know, I can imagine.
18:10It must have been a little strange.
18:13Steve, do you remember or do you know what your own career high is?
18:19Yeah, 24.
18:20Okay.
18:21Please take us into the conversations on the bench.
18:24Were you begging your coach, let me cook?
18:30Yeah, I don't think that happened.
18:35I don't think anybody was that excited about me getting to 25.
18:41What do you remember about that game, though, Steve?
18:47You know, it was one of the rare times in my entire career that I was starting.
18:52I think I, in 15 years, I'm guessing I started 20 games or less.
18:59So I hardly ever, you know, I was always a 20-minute-a-night guy.
19:04And I was playing for Cleveland.
19:07And the guy in front of me was Craig Elo.
19:10You remember Craig?
19:11Sure.
19:11Yeah.
19:12Yeah, and he got injured.
19:14And so I started for about 10 straight games and got to play 35 minutes
19:19and got hot a couple games.
19:20And, yeah, that was a fun stretch.
19:22Yeah, the penultimate game of the year.
19:24And you guys got the win, too.
19:26So that's kind of fun.
19:28The actual answer, Steve, is 30.
19:30You started 30 games, which has me thinking about number 30,
19:33who's having a birthday, and he's turning 38.
19:37Do you remember how much you averaged a game when you were 38?
19:43I was lighting it up every Sunday afternoon at the Rancho Santa Fe Middle School.
19:49That's exactly right!
19:50When I was 38.
19:51I had you for 36 a game on the blacktop.
19:54Yeah, you were out of the game at 38,
19:56which makes me wonder about your thoughts about how good he still is
20:01as he approaches 38.
20:03I know.
20:04It's pretty incredible, isn't it?
20:06I thought, you know, earlier this year before this current injury,
20:11I mean, I couldn't really tell the difference between Steph now
20:15and, you know, Steph from three or four years ago.
20:17It's just amazing what he's been able to do just, you know,
20:22with his body and his skill and keeping himself in rhythm.
20:27It's just stunning at his age to see what he's accomplished.
20:31I know you guys are flying to New York on Saturday,
20:33but in general, do you guys do anything for birthdays as a team?
20:40We always celebrate birthdays with, you know, videos and a cake,
20:44and, you know, we celebrate everybody's birthdays.
20:47But, you know, there might be a team dinner.
20:50I don't know.
20:51We haven't decided yet.
20:53Coach, I want to allow us and you to leave us with this.
21:00Look, the roster is depleted.
21:03I think you've explained all of this.
21:05At the same time, you're well aware there's a hell of a bar
21:09that has been set by your organization.
21:12Therefore, when there are struggles,
21:14the fan base doesn't always kind of maybe take it the way you want them to take it.
21:20What is your message right now to the fans who are impatient and frustrated?
21:29Well, you know, this is all part of it.
21:32I mean, I've probably told you this before.
21:36Phil Jackson used to say basketball is a metaphor for life and vice versa,
21:41and it's true.
21:43You go through ups and downs and everything in between.
21:46I think the beauty of what we've been able to accomplish
21:49and what we're trying to do is just in the quest, in the journey itself.
21:56And we're fighting and we're going to continue to fight.
21:58And I look at everything over the last 12 years
22:01and I couldn't be more proud of the organization and the group.
22:05And we're going to get some guys back.
22:07Hopefully we get Steph back in the next couple of weeks
22:10and we're going to give it another run.
22:11And that's the whole point.
22:14Year after year, you keep giving yourselves a swing at the plate
22:17and play meaningful basketball and see what you can do.
22:20And I know we're going to have some exciting games
22:24and an exciting finish to the season.
22:26And we'll see what we can accomplish.
22:28Coach, appreciate you as always.
22:30We'll talk to you next week.
22:32We'll see you on Friday night.
22:34Right on.
22:35See you guys.
22:35Thanks.
22:36Okay, you got it.
22:37Steve Kerr with us right here on Willard and Dibs.
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