The Golden State Warriors haven’t had any problem doing just fine without Steve Kerr. But NBA records broken or not, their head coach, who only led them to an NBA championship a few months ago, is one step closer to getting back to the sidelines.
Kerr had two back surgeries during the offseason, which meant Luke Walton, the associate head coach, presided over the Warriors scorching through the league with 24 wins to start the season before a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. After a day or two to rest, they’re back in action, playing at home, against the Phoenix Suns, trying to get another impressive streak going on and to show that their loss in Milwaukee was just about a bad night of shooting, and maybe injuries (something they hated people mentioning they didn’t have last season) playing a part as well.
Kerr is about to increase is workload, which sounds strange when we’re talking about a coach. But it means being more active in practice, walking around more and simply trying to feel if his back can handle the pressure of an entire game, which is much more than just the 48 minutes on the clock. Kerr and everyone on the Warriors says there is no timetable and that he’ll get back when he feels he is ready, but right now, it’s all about building endurance and testing out his back, which is still bothering him.
Luke Walton won the November coach of the month award in the Western conference for November despite not being a head coach. From how things seem to be right now in term of Kerr’s progress, he has a chance to pick up at least one more award, if the Warriors are going back to their regular form and lethalness. The players? They don’t really seem to care who is sitting on the sidelines. The 3-pointers keep dropping anyway, almost all the time.