With the 2017 NBA Finals slated to start late next week, the Golden State Warriors don’t yet know who they will be facing. Though, the team has a better understanding of who will be holding down the head-coaching duties.
Out since Game 2 of the first round after further complications from back surgery, Steve Kerr is not ready to return to the bench. At least, that’s according to Warriors’ general manager Bob Myers.
“At this point, he’s not able to coach,” Myers said, via the Mercury News. “I wish I could say that he was. I’m sure he wishes he could as well. But that’s where we are. If something changes and he feels better, I’ll sit here — or better he’ll sit here — and tell you. But right now, I can’t say that he’s going to be coaching.”
Associate head coach Mike Brown has done a tremendous job in Kerr’s stead, leading Golden State to a perfect 10-0 record after Kerr himself was sidelined two games into the playoffs. Golden State heads into the Finals with a 12-0 mark and is defeating its opponents by an average of nearly 17 points per game.
Then again, if it is Cleveland that the Warriors have to go up against for a third consecutive year, the presence of Kerr as an in-game coach would be pretty big for Golden State. At this point, that doesn’t seem all too likely.
The backdrop here is also intriguing in that Brown is a former Cavaliers head coach — one that helped lead LeBron James and Co. to the NBA Finals back in 2007. If he were to man the Warriors’ bench as their head coach, that would surely be another interesting storyline to follow.