Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who is contemplating his future with the franchise after a disappointing stretch of seasons, recently had an interview with The New Yorker and spoke about his relationship with Draymond Green, and even Green’s potential as a coach one day.
“He’s the best defensive player I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying a lot, given that I played with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. The modern game demands so much more than it did in the nineties. You have to be able to guard all five positions, because there’s so much pace and energy and crossmatches,” Kerr said of Green.
“You race back on defense, you’ve got to guard the guy in front of you. And then there’s the “pick-on” game: the opposing team is going to bring the weakest defender into every pick-and-roll to gain an advantage. Draymond, he can guard any action, any position, any player. And he can also blow up the play behind the play if he’s not involved in the action because of his brain, his speed, his reach.”
“I don’t know that he’ll coach,” Kerr added. “He definitely has the brain for it. I don’t know if he has the patience. He’s an incredibly passionate, emotional guy, and that passion and energy has frequently gotten him in trouble. And I love him. I think he’s a really good-hearted person with an incredible brain, but if he wants to coach he’s going to have to learn how to control some of that emotion, that desire, and that fire that burns within him, and it’s not an easy thing to do.”
Green has since responded, and while he doesn’t take Kerr’s words personally or as an affront, he does wonder what his career might look like without Kerr’s influence.
“As much as he’s done for me in basketball, a part of me think he’s hindered me in my career and what I could have become,” Green said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “But what he’s also helped me become. Like you got to take the good with the bad, man.
“You know, when I think of who I was offensively as a player and who I became, I think a part of that is due to him. I don’t hold that against him. I’m forever grateful that he still put me in a position to be successful and that I could become Draymond Green despite my offensive role on our team.”
Regardless of whether Kerr and Draymond are colleagues together for another NBA season, it’s imperative to Kerr that he leaves the organization on good terms, regardless of whether it’s this offseason or a future one.
“Whatever happens, it’s going to end well. I know that, because it’s too important not to.”
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.