With five championship rings and a burgeoning career as an analyst for TNT, there may be few people more capable of dissecting the NBA playoffs than Steve Kerr. The former sharpshooting guard recently took some time to discuss the chase for the ring, one he suspects might be a brief journey for the Nuggets.
Anthony Cotton: Who’s going to win it all?
Steve Kerr: Wow, that’s a tough one. I’m still going to stay with the Spurs, even though they’re not playing that well right now. About six weeks ago, they looked like they were going to dominate the league the rest of the way, then they had the injuries.
I really think it’s wide-open; I think there are four teams in the West that could win it all, maybe even five, and a couple in the East. I’ll stick with San Antonio, but it’s a very precarious pick.
AC: If you’re saying that, it doesn’t bode well for the Nuggets.
SK: If I’m picking the Spurs to win it all, I obviously have to pick them to win the first round. But I think it’s going to be a difficult series – in fact, I think it might be the toughest series that they face. I pick the Spurs in seven, but I think the Nuggets have a chance for the upset for sure. It’s a tough matchup for San Antonio; Denver has four big guys they can throw at Tim Duncan. gives Bruce Bowen a lot of trouble because of his strength.
AC: So it sounds like you think the second half of the Nuggets’ season was legit.
SK: I think so. It’s amazing, the difference in the way they play – they share the ball and move it. Carmelo is so much better now; he’s made the game easier for himself – or I should say George Karl has helped him make the game easier for himself. He’s taking better shots, he’s using his body to get easier shots and get closer to the basket. He’s moving the ball. He was just catching and holding, as George likes to say, for much of the first half of the year, and taking fadeaway 20-footers. With that athleticism and size, there was no reason for him to have to settle for that.
AC: If you’re Jeff Bzdelik, how angry are you right now?
SK: It was a tough spot for Jeff. He did such a great job last year, but he had a lot of things go against him early in the season – the injury to , the fact that Kenyon Martin wasn’t comfortable in the offense yet, Carmelo was in bad shape coming in – Jeff did not catch a break. But that being said, George came in and turned things around.
AC: To an outsider, it seemed like the players knew something was in the air and weren’t playing for Bzdelik. As someone who has been in the locker room, do players know, “Hey, this isn’t going to happen with this guy”?
SK: Yeah, I think that was a factor. He almost won coach of the year last year, but when nothing was done about his contract he kind of came into the year as a lame duck. I don’t think it’s something that the players consciously think about or make choices about; it’s just a feeling. They know now that George Karl is going to be there and be there for a long time. And that does make a difference – it’s hard to explain how; it’s not something that players talk about much. It’s just this subtle momentum that you can feel building or slipping away, depending on the circumstances.
AC: Looking at the East, is it Detroit and Miami and that’s pretty much it?
SK: I think so. I’d be shocked if anyone other than those two ended up in the conference finals. Miami did not want to end the season the way it did – Shaquille O’Neal missed five or six games and they lost a lot of them. They lost the swagger they had.
 |
| Post illustration / Photo by Getty Images |
And then Detroit goes out and runs off 10 wins in a row. A month ago it looked like Miami was the team to beat. Now you might say, “Well, Detroit is the defending champs, and they’re the team with all the confidence.” But the thing about the playoffs is that you build momentum as you go along, and neither team should have much trouble in the first round.
AC: That was one thing I was curious about – the Spurs may have trouble against the Nuggets, while teams like Detroit and Miami can work their way into the playoffs. Is that the preference, or would you rather have a team get in your face right away?
SK: I think the preference is to ease into things a little bit. It’s such a long process, winning a championship – four series that take almost seven weeks – it’s very emotionally draining. The Spurs would have preferred to play almost anybody other than Denver in the first round; this is not something they’re relishing. However, if they get by them, then they’ve got Sacramento or Seattle. They can breathe a little sigh of relief and there’s a confidence – “Hey, we just beat a team that was the hottest in the NBA over the last two months. Now we’re rolling.” There’s definitely a momentum swing in the NBA during the playoffs. If you can win a series, you can really pick up some steam.
AC: You won five NBA championships as a player. Would 1996-97 (when Kerr hit the series-winning shot for the Chicago Bulls against the Utah Jazz) be your favorite?
SK: I don’t really have one. The one moment, hitting that shot in 1997, was obviously the best individual moment, but winning that first title was pretty cool, just because you’d never done it before and it’s a pretty amazing feeling.
AC: In your television work, given the five rings, do you feel players and coaches are more accepting of your criticism?
SK: It’s one of the hardest parts of the job, that and just being exposed – sometimes you’re going to go out there and say something that’s not correct. The criticism of players is difficult but necessary; that’s the job. I try to do it diplomatically. I never do it in a personal way; it’s always basketball-related. Whether guys accept it or not, I’m not sure. I think they do; I haven’t had much anger directed toward me. There’s been a couple of instances where guys were upset with me, but nothing too serious.
AC: Do you still own a piece of the Suns?
SK: Yes, a very small one. I would say I’m a consultant. I know the owner, Robert Sarver, very well. He came into the NBA this year and didn’t know a whole lot about the league. I sort of tried to show him around and introduce him to the right people.
AC: He kind of has had an immediate impact.
SK: He’s had a huge impact, almost all positive. He had a couple of incidents where he let his zeal get the best of him, but he’s very passionate and he’s really inspired the organization.
AC: Are you allowed to work their games, or Spurs games (Kerr retired as a member of the Spurs)?
SK: I have not worked a Phoenix game this year. I would feel comfortable doing one. The Spurs analogy is a good one. I probably did 10 Spurs games last year for TNT; I felt perfectly comfortable doing them. I don’t have a problem being objective when I have some of my best friends playing on the other side. To me, it’s a basketball game and I’m a basketball commentator – I’m going to be objective no matter who’s out there playing.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
