Steve Kerr can only hope to accomplish half of what Gregg Popvich has done in his career. After five NBA titles, three coach of the year awards and 971 wins, Popovich will go down as one of the best coaches to ever roam the sidelines.
Kerr is in his first year with the Warriors and without knowing that he was a rookie head coach, you would assume he’s been doing it for years. Kerr already looks like a better fit than Mark Jackson and that’s after seven games.
Popovich is one of Kerr’s mentors and according to Jordan Ramirez, he is impressed with the job he’s done so far:
Pop: “They’re really moving the ball well and Steve’s done a great job instituting his system. It’ll take time.”
— Jordan Ramirez (@JRAM_91) November 12, 2014
You know you’re doing something right when Popovich praises the job you’ve done. The Warriors offense is vastly improved from last season and that’s why the Warriors are a dark horse pick to get out of the Western Conference. In order to so, you must first go through the defending champion Spurs. Turning the ball over the way they did won’t get the job done and coach Pop acknowledges that:
Pop (cont): “The turnovers are killing them. The same thing happens to us. If we turn it over like that we lose.”
— Jordan Ramirez (@JRAM_91) November 12, 2014
Take care of the ball and the wins will follow. The Spurs play smart basketball and understand that turnovers not only cost you that possession, but they usually lead to fast-break points. Doesn’t take a rocket science to see that the Warriors are killing themselves by turning the ball over.
The offensive system is working and the Warriors as a whole are smart enough to take care of the rock. They are leading the NBA in turnovers and hopefully they can show some improvement against the Nets on Thursday night.
Let’s not anoint Kerr as an offensive genius, yet. As of now, the Warriors had a higher Offensive Efficiency last year than they do this year.