Five. Here's torn the.
Second.
Lots of NBA players keep one foot in the door after retiring, per some coach, others head to the front office, and others make a career in broadcasting.
It takes a special.
Kind of person to do all of that and do it well. And in this game, that guy is Steve Kerr. I have a very long intro to you, so I'm going to make a quick.
Basketball legend.
Steve Kerr as head coach of the Golden State Warriors, leading the team to four NBA titles as a player equally remarkable three with the Bulls, two.
With the Spurs.
Also front office of the Suns, color commentator for NBA on T and T, and coach of the men's Olympic team in Paris.
Steve, Wow. First of all, that's a lot of hardware. Where do you keep everything?
I don't really display it. I just send a daily thank you note to Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steph Kurry, Greg Pop. That's all I write. I just write a quick text thanks guys, and that's it.
You just practice gratitude and also which is very healthy. By the way, Although I do think you're you are a common denominator obviously, so you have to take some credit.
So we're going to talk about you.
I'll take some.
A lot of small lineup tonight for BOTHO Steve, yeahead, Steve for another trade, just turn around, fought and fired ten points Raham.
After retiring from the NBA in two thousand and three, Steve found his way to broadcasting as a game analyst on T and T. His broadcasting career was interrupted by a stint in the Phoenix Suns front office from two thousand and seven to twenty ten.
So stop take him right away and when he comes up the floor, so.
It flips a club.
Steve's plan was to coach, and that didn't happen overnight, even though it seemed that way. Let's talk about your first coaching job, and you were a star wart, you know, having a great career, broadcasting career, NBA on TNT, and all of a sudden, it's like Steve Carr gets hired as head coach of the Warriors.
I know it wasn't that simple.
What was the backstory of coming out of the booth and onto the sidelines.
I think the backstory was I missed the competition, so I was in broadcasting for four years. Right after I retired, missed the competition, got into management in Phoenix, didn't love the job, wasn't great at it, knew I wanted to coach, and decided to go back to broadcasting and prepare to coach. And I think all those experiences really helped the broadcasting, the playing, the management in Phoenix, and then I just
had a lot of good advice along the way. I was when I went back to TNT after my Phoenix stint, I was visiting with a lot of coaches, asking how I should prepare to get ready for a coaching job, interviews, that sort of thing. So I really spent a good couple of years writing down all my thoughts ideas, what's my philosophy going to be as a coach. So by the time I interviewed with Warriors, I felt really prepared, but I still needed them to give me, give me a shot and take a chance on me.
So did you have a notebook that you kept everything in.
The guy who really gave me the idea was Jeff Van Gundy. We were speaking at a sports conference one summer together. We were on a panel together, and I just asked him, I said, what would you do if you were a me, and he said, think of everything that you're going to do as a coach and write it down. Anything you think of, write it down. And what I did was probably once a week, I would just start typing and thinking of different thoughts and ideas.
And Jeff's point was, before long, you actually have something tangible number one to put in front of a potential employer, but more importantly, you really it's an exercise that forces you to collect your thoughts and figure out kind of who you are and what you would be like, and what your culture would feel like and all of that. So Jeff was a huge help to me. And then I met with a lot of different coaches from different sports. Bill Parcells had lunch. Yeah, yeah, I went to Saratoga.
I was in New York visiting family with my wife, and I was connected with Bill Parcells. I went up and had lunch with him at Saratoga Country Club and it was amazing. I was such a you know, I've always been an NFL fan and Parcels and I couldn't be any more different, but you know, to hear his thoughts on coaching and his ideas, and it was fantastic.
Is there one conversation that looking back in retrospecting like, wow, that guy nailed it and everything.
He said, yeah, yeah, Pete Carroll, I spent three days in Seattle watching training camp. This would have been in like July of fourteen, so after I took the Warriors job, but before I started, and I'd always loved Pete just watching his teams, seeing his energy. You could feel the culture, you could feel the vibe that came through the screen when you watched his teams, and so to get a look at him for three days sitting in on the
coaches meetings. He was so generous with the scrimmages. Were standing behind the huddle, He's like, go get in the huddle, Like, listen to what Russell's saying. You know, was listen to the play he's calling. I'm like, literally in the huddle and Russell Wilson's calling the plays. I'm like, what am
I doing here? How did this happen? But Pete was so great and he spent you know, at the end of the three days, we spent a couple of hours really talking about philosophy and coaching and what coaching is about. And to this day he remains a mentor and a close friend, but he made a huge impact on me.
When he felt ready to take a coaching job, Steve had suitors, including his former coach, Phil Jackson, who at the time was general manager of the New York Knicks.
Well, Phil offered me the job before the Warriors job was a right pretty far down the road, and I was really excited to work with and for my mental you know, Phil changed my whole career. My experience in Chicago really set the stage for everything that's happened since. And just an amazing coach, an amazing human beings. So I was all set to go, but the Warriors job opened up, and I hadn't signed a contract in New York, and you know, here's here's Steph Curry, here's Clay Thompson,
here's this young talented group. And it was really a difficult decision for me by one of my of my good friends, Danny Ferry, who's my teammate in Cleveland in San Antonio. He was GM, I think of it either Atlanta or Cleveland at the time. I think Cleveland. I called him and I said, what do you think and he goes, well, what do you think Phil Jackson would do oh, you know, I said, well, that's a good question.
He said he'd probably go to the town. And I had a couple of other Rick Carlisle Great, you know, president of the Coaches Association, and he called me and he goes, Look, the thing I learned most with coaching, it's all about the players. It's all about your talent. As much as you love Phil, Golden State has the talent. And then the other factor. My daughter was a sophomore at Berkeley, so it was like, oh, I get to
be right in her backyard. And you know, it seems like an obvious decision, but at the time it was. It was very difficult saying no to Phil because he meant so much to me.
Kerr joined a Warriors team that hadn't won a title since their third back in nineteen seventy five, even though they had a brief thrilling ride from nineteen eighty nine to ninety one with Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullen run TMC Partaway.
Mullen now has six.
Owen's Wide opening the right nat part of way, there's the three.
Nineteen.
Nonetheless, the franchise spent a lot of time in the basement of the Western Conference. From nineteen ninety five to two thousand and six, they never broke forty wins and six times failed to win even twenty five games. At one stretch, the Warriors went twelve straight seasons without a playoff appearance.
But in two thousand and nine, with.
The seventh pick in the two thousand and nine NBA Draft, the Golden State Gloriors select Stephen Curry from.
Davidson Town, and two years later.
With the eleventh pick in the twenty eleven NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Clay Thompson from Washington State.
The Warriors, nicknamed the Dubs, started their ascent under head coach Mark Jackson before they hired Steve Kerr in twenty fourteen.
Curry with the black shot.
He tops it with a three response, and I think one of the reasons I got the job, frankly, was I told the Warriors about my experiences in Chicago and San Antonio winning championships and that that's what it took, and that that's what I was going to sell you know that, Hey, we've got this great team. Mark Jackson's done an amazing job the last couple of years. The
defense is great. You know, here are a few adjustments that I would make offensively, but this team is ready to take the next step, and what I learned in Chicago and San Antonio, I think I can implements. Here's a kicker, all right. So I'm like shooting about ninety five for ninety seven percent and I lose every time. It makes no sense.
In the spring of twenty fifteen, I had the chance to focus on one NBA team for my special episode of Face to Face with Hannah Storm on ESPN.
That's it, that's what he does.
So off I went to spend a week with the war in Oakland. Here's some of that special courtesy of ESPN.
Y'all are making him nervous.
This is the thirty foot birdyfoot to win, to win the match.
What makes him such a great shooter the rhythm and the snap of the risk. There's just this kind of relaxed flow to his shot that's pretty rare, and it's starting to piss me on.
One of the things that struck me was how much fun the Warriors were having. They were literally playing horse in practice. There was joy built into all of their hard work, and in the end, their most joyous player and his teammates changed the game forever.
Courry's got it, Curry, I let it go, the three cups up, short, offensive rebound carry again.
It's a great.
Time game. It's amazing.
It is amazing.
What's from the NBA and iHeart podcast This is NBA DNA with me Hannah Storm, Episode ten dub Nation. Before Steve Kerr got to the Bay Area, the Warriors were already a team with major potential.
Clay Thompson and Reggie Williams on his kils and hits the jumper?
How about that?
Rich Organs.
In the twenty twelve thirteen NBA season, they made it to the playoffs for the first time in three years.
Under coach Mark Jackson.
Steph Curry made two hundred and seventy two three pointers during the regular season.
There's the freebet.
It's staff crops of the three?
Why I shot something else?
Isn't it quick?
Smooth?
He and Klay Thompson became known as the Splash Brothers for their ability to sink dramatic three pointers.
Hey Thompson is a.
Three point shooter. Thompson and Steph Curry have thirty five between him. They're nine of seventeen on.
Threes, hurried down, dream On Green was the grit and soul of the team, and andre Iguadulla, the wise veteran.
All the pieces just worked.
Here's Andre You must have seen a pretty clear vision because the Kings and the Nuggets offered you sixty million over four years, and I believe the Golden State Warriors had enough cap space to offer you forty eight million. That's I mean, so you took a twelve million dollar flyer to go to the Bay Area, which is really remarkable.
I've been I played in Phybey for eight years, one year in Denver, and I knew I'm probably on the back end.
Of my rear.
Oh wow, why hold on that that the people up here behind us, guys are yelling, alling off.
What I wanted at the minimum was to, you know, wake up every day and look forward to going to work. And I can see a sense of joy coming from the Golden State Warriors. You know, I knew the guys really enjoyed playing for Mark Jackson. I knew he was a great motivator. I knew he had his guys on one accord. They felt like they had great collaboration. And I knew I wanted to end my career in a situation like that. I could see the talent there. You know,
that was like Steph Curry's coming out party. You know, he had gotten over the ankle injuries. You know, you're starting to find a stride. You know, he had an amazing series the next series against the San Antonio Spurs. You know, they didn't come out on top, but you know, you can just kind of see it bruin. You can see Klay Thompson coming to his own. You know, I went up against Clay for six games in that same series, and he guarded me a good amount, and I said, oh,
this is the young kid can defend. You know, he's not just a shooter. And with the confidence that Mark Jackson gave him that first press conference, I said, you know, I think we have a real shot at making some noise in this league, not just going making a run at the playoffs. We have an opportunity to do something
above and beyond that. And I didn't mention like championships or you know, how many we win, but I really thought, you know, we can put ourselves in the position where we can realistically think about making a run for it.
In Andrea's first season with the team. They played well, ending the regular season with a fifty one and thirty one record, one of the.
Best Enfranchise history.
They made it to the playoffs and took the number three seed LA Clippers to a game seven in the first round.
The Clippers lead a current C three so already, Curry, let's take in the free shots cras in this series.
Score more for.
It was surprising, very surprising to win fifty one games. I never forget we won the fiftieth game of that regular season and it was a mini celebration. You know, how many organizations in the NBA have the opportunity to win fifty games, and in the Western Conference that's the sixth place. That just shows how competitive, you know, the West has been for you know, the last few decades. So being down a few men going into the playoffs
and our rotation is really six seven guys. We have like seven guy rotation, and we take the Clippers to a seven game series, and you know, you're looking at Lob City as one of the teams, one of the best teams of all time.
They never won a championship.
We got game set coming up to the Los Angeles on set.
And then to see the ups and downs of the season.
Uh, things that you know you never see from the outside looking in, but you understand the NBA culture. You get a feeling of where the organization might be heading. And so the decision was a shock, but when you look back and seeing how a lot of things transpire, you can you can kind of see it coming.
After the heartbreaking lost to the Clippers, the Warriors front office parted ways with Mark Jackson.
We really enjoy what Mark Jackson brought to the table. So it's uncertainty. You know, when there's change, there's uncertainty. And then with Steve Kerr comes in, you're trying to figure out, like who this guy is, what's going to be about, what changes he's going to make. And I think a lot of guys had to open mind when he stepped on into that role, and he's trying to lead us into the next way.
As Jackson's replacement, Kerr was an unproven entity replacing a popular coach, but he had championship credentials, a vision, and a game changing talent in Steph Curry.
Well, he was exactly who I thought he would be on a human level because I had spoken with him a couple of times before, and I knew Dell and I knew the family was amazing, and so he was exactly who I thought he would be as a person.
I didn't know just how good he was. I knew he was a great shooter, but the first few months of the season he was taking the craziest shots, and I mean, you know, dribbling six times, threw his legs around the back, fade away three pointer shots that every coach I've ever had was would be like, you know, what are you doing? What kind of shot is that?
You've got to be kidding me? And it really took me several months to understand the power of Steph's talent and his audacity and how how demoralizing that was her opponent. I was looking at it like that's a bad shot. Then after a while I was like, all right, it's going in forty percent of the time, you know, so that's a good shot. But it was more than that.
It was just the how deflating it was for opponents and how confident and brash he wasn't what that did with the crowd and our team, it was just stunning to watch. I had never seen anything like it.
The girl drop it in the door.
That's pretty play the nine point.
Might at the half.
And then of course there was his splash brother, Clay Thompson, also the son of an NBA player, twelve year veteran Michael Thompson.
Well, I think what made him a great compliment was that he didn't need the ball in his hands. He loved to play off the ball. Steph could could do either. You know, Steph could play on or off the ball, And so it allowed us to have all this movement where you got both guys flying off screens and the defense is terrified and they're chasing both of them, and all of a sudden there's a wide open layup for
someone else. But the other way that Clay complimented Steph was that he was great defensively on the ball, and it allowed Steph to go and guard you off the ball, where he was better, and we could stick Clay on the toughest guy, whether it was you know, Kyrie Irving or Lebron James or didn't matter. Play could guard anyway.
He passed stolen by Irving, Irving on the drive layup block by Thompson, right.
Recovery for and so as a two way player. You know, Clay was just incredible, but the two of them offensively, it was a light show out there.
Hurry with the revel.
Finish inside, here's Andre.
I think it goes beyond basketball. You know, you say guy or some mysterious ways. You look at their backgrounds. You know, you got two guys who grew up in the NBA and the NBA that they grew up in it was you know, it was hard nose.
Uh.
Clay grew up in Portland, step grew up in most of his time in Charlotte, spent a little bit of time in Toronto, where his dad played. And so when you grew up in the NBA household, one thing you're you know, an NBA parent will teach you is to find skills and fundamentals of the game and a big piece of that shooting. And you know every NBA player is like, the first thing you need to teach your kid is out of had a shooting touch.
And dal was a great shooter.
And then Mikey Time someone was a hard nose player who you know was around some great teams. And so you know their kids are going to understand great basketball. But beyond basketball, those two aren't really phased by fame. They aren't phased by the glitzon and glamour, and so the personality that they've grown to be isn't necessarily around like I love basketball for other reasons outside of basketball, Like they weren't forced to play the game. They didn't
have to. They had so many other opportunities in front of them. Basketball wasn't their only option. And so you know, those two loved the game. You see the guys, they understand that they missed five threes in a row, the next was good. That's the confidence that's been breeded in them from growing up in the NBA.
Kirs started his Golden State career by meeting with players one on one before training camp. He even flew to Australia to meet with center Andrew Bogan. He laid out his plan for each player. The trickiest was Iguadala.
That was interesting times because that the previous summer was one of the first times in a couple of years that I was able to get healthy, get some rest and have a complete off season, just let my body heal.
Like I said, that was completing year ten. I believe, Yeah, I think I.
Just finished your tenth year nine or ten, and I had an operation on my quad at tendon and it kept me out of the plan with the World Championship team that summer, and I just let the body heal came back stronger than ever. I had a really good training camp. I never forget it. The training camp was one of the best training camps I had in a while. And I was coming to my own and I was really feeling myself like, all right, I'm probably gonna be
one of the captains. Steph Curry's the guy, but you know, I'm looking to really come on strong and support him as you know, two or three option with what I thought I could bring to the team. And it was just a really good training camp. And I never forget the conversation. Steve went to Arizona. He was coached by Ludosen right, so his words are resonating with me through the entirety of training camp. You know, he has a different vocabulary, a different vernacular, and I picked up on it.
You know, there's you there's a foreign language to verbage in the NBA. I picked up on everything he was saying.
All the drills, I knew all about them. They were at Gludosa's drills or the fundamentals of things, and Steve's big on fundamentals, and I'm really feeling good about the situation, and Steve's explaining it and he's making all the sense in the world, but ultimately he's saying, I need you to make the ultimate sacrifice, which is a tall, a tall ask in the NBA world, because your salary is reflected in your positioning on the team, and so you
want to be team first, but also understanding the business side and you have to maximize your window in time. So it was easy to understand and it was a hard trend, but it was a hard transition. And like you said, you know, things happen for a reason, and the ultimate sacrifice, you know, paid off.
Andre Iguadala, nicknamed Iggy, had started the first seven hundred and fifty eight games of his career, but he would now become a sixth man. That was another decision that you made, having Iggy come off the bench and asking him to do so, which ended up being a brilliant decision. What was it like to have him on that squad and have a really really from the get go buy into pretty much everything you were doing.
Yeah, Yeah, it took It took a couple months. He wasn't thrilled. He wastably mature about it. Yeah. I talked to him about it in training camp. We shared the Loud Olsen connection. We both learned the game from coach Olsen, and so there was an inherent respect. We didn't know each other that well, but we shared that connection. And I think the biggest thing was Andre. It was in his tenth year. He had been an All Star, he had made you know, Max contract, He wanted to win
a championship and the timing was right. We talked about it over multiple conversations, and my vision for him was, if we can start Harrison, it'll make him better, because Harrison needed the the space. And if we do that and we put you on the bench, it'll make the bench better because you can be Armano Ginobili, you know,
our guy who's gonna get get everything said. And I gave him my spurs, you know, experience, and and I think he was willing to try it because it was the right timing and because he was an incredibly smart, mature player who understood. But honestly, it took him a couple of months. He struggles. He had never come off the bench his entire not a single game, and that's a tough adjustment to me. So it took a couple of months, but eventually he really thrived. He was closing games all the time.
Right, So.
What was it that you had to adjust to in a basketball sense coming off the bench?
Really good question. Coming off the bench.
Normally the first guy coming off the bench, you know, the balls in their hands, they're scoring. They're like the primary score other than any other starter, so they really like option three. You know, you got your first two options with your starting lineup, and then you got your role players around that. But usually your six man's the guy coming off the bench to scoring. You know, firepower in all terms of put the ball in the hole.
But for me, Steve wanted me to find the flow and find the flow mint putting the extra pass in the game, making the right reads, you know, giving getting everyone on one accord. We're working on the string defensively, my voice, leadership, and so you know, those things don't show up on the stat sheet. And as a starter, you can kind of feel your way into the game and you can let it kind of come to you. But coming off the bench, you want to get right
to it. But for me, it was going in game set of everyone down, get the ball flowing, and by the time I started to get a good rhythm, it was my time to come back out. Coming off the bench, you know, when you're starting the ball to find you, you'll get a shot here, shot there, the flow finds you.
But coming off the bench, you got to like force it a little bit, especially if you're the number, if you're the scoring option off the bench, being a passing option off the bench, you know you might not get a shot until you know, right before your rotation comes
out midway through the second quarter. And so as opposed to feeling my way through the game getting a couple of shots, like I may not find a shot or two in the first half, and then at halftime, I'm coming in personally like I didn't make an impression on the game, But coming from Steve, he was like, you know, you were perfect for me, Like your minutes were very valuable to me, And I know what he meant, and
he knows that I know what he means. But like, hey, Steve, like I'm on year nine ten, career is coming to an end. Like if I don't put up some type of production for those who are paying folks.
Can see it.
I won't have a job soon, So it's just trying to find that balance too. But like I said, when you get to the finals, and this is what made me a true believer in just really trusting the game, the ball is going to be where it's supposed to be. And that's why I enjoyed the playoffs most. You know, like I can really shine. I knew the ball would do what it's supposed to do, and I could just trust the game, and it always finds those who are who have good intentions.
Green lots it up and another nice pass from Green, who heats the team and assists.
In fact, he's sixth in the NBA.
And assists and Mike. When you commit to Curry like that, it's four on three. I don't think you can trap him on every possession. Green blocks Irving.
You have David Lee, he's you know, integral part of the team and the team has invested a lot in him. And then he gets a hamstring injury during a game in November, and this guy named Raymond Green pops into the starting lineup as his replacement, and pretty soon after that, there's a sixteen game winning streak.
What did he unlock in the team.
Yeah, Draymond was I had no idea how good he was. I knew he was a good player, but I kind of looked at him when I got the job, as you know, he'll be like a you know, Swiss army knife, Like we can plug him in here and there and he can be And David Lee was an all star, so I had David plugged in, you know, starting power forward. When he got hurt, we put Draymond in that spot. And he was so good defensively.
Second round pick by the way, Draymond dreen Is Curry tied up up the top. Green has excellent pree point range.
Nails it.
Oh yeah he does that too.
But also he was so smart on offense. He unlocked a lot of things for us with his ball handling, with his passing, screening, the force that he played with. He was a tornado out there and he impacted the
game in so many different ways. And poor David, I mean, you know, he he gets injured and fifteen games later we're like, I think we're I don't know, thirteen and two or something, and I pulled David aside, and I go, look, this is not your fault, like you've been an amazing player, but we're clicking with Raymond and we're gonna we're gonna stay with him. And David handled it as well as he possibly could. He was great, and he came back and helped us, you know, win games in the finals
and helped us win a championship. But that was, you know, almost the Wealie Pip lou Gerritt moment.
And it's like, you know, that's the obvious comparison. Yeah, here's Iggy.
You know, you've seen a few guys like Draymond in the past, but not at the level of Draymond. Like I'll think about like a Chuck Hayes or even like a Dennis Robin, you know. And I say Chuck Hayes because he used to guard centers and he couldn't bag him down he was so strong. And then I say Dennis Robin because we aren't who Dennis Rodman is and Draymond being kind of both of those guys in turnos He's only six four sixty five.
You can't back him down.
Within his basketball IQ, his offensive ability to pass the ball and make Reed's being a smart player. He just set himself up for his own lane, like we've never seen a lane like Draymond Green.
Got a little while Selen steph reebound in the motion, steph Harry.
Is just highling up the assist.
The Warriors reeled off a sixteen game winning streak and they're twenty one and two. Start to the season was their best in franchise history.
Steph Urry.
So back to back threes for the Warriors in a nice beginning.
So we're talking about coming off the bench.
I mean we're talking about Andre you know, Clay coming off the bench this year, David Lee losing his starting job. I mean for somebody to have the perspective that you do, understanding coming from a world where it is one through twelve, right, understanding that you can come off the bench and change the course of the game and that what you do
can win a championship. How much do you think that your playing experience in that regard impacted the way that you viewed this team, your approach to the game, and what you were trying to sell to the players.
Yeah, I think my playing experience really informed me and helped me connect with the guys on the bench because I had been there and I knew exactly what they were going through. And in a lot of ways, I have a harder time understanding what Steph and Draymond and Clay go through, you know, because they're stars and they have I never played that role, and they have a totally different set of circumstances and pressures that they deal with. So in a lot of ways, I've always connected with
bench guys. But I think, then you guys listen to me because they know that I was one of them, and I will share my experiences with them and remind them of how important they can be and what a crucial role they can play.
The bench became a lethal weapon. By mid January, the Warriors reserves averaged over thirty five points a game and accounted for sixty seven points in a win over Denver. Just after mid season, the Warriors bench ranked first, and field goal percentage in blocks second, and assists and steals top ten in scoring.
You get the idea.
The bench was really, really good, and it allowed Kerr to limit Stephan Clay's minutes, keeping them fresh for the coming playoff runs.
Numbers here to five on three hurried down the lane play for three.
Another factor for the Warriors home court advantage the Oracle Center, the city of Oakland, Dog Nation was in love with their team.
Curry again, there was there was just a buzz in the building that actually I felt even when I was a player and I would play against the Warriors and the Warriors weren't even any good, but there was a buzz in the building because people in Oakland loved basketballers. You know, deep basketball history in the Bay Area, you know, going back to Bill Russell at USF, but you know, going back to the Warriors, you know, with Rick Berry and Al Addles and seventy five. There's always been an
amazing love for basketball. So that year, walking into Oracle every day and the fans sensing that something special was happening, there was just an electricity that you could feel.
You know, you look at Steph's commercials nowadays and you know Stephan is dancing, you know his vibes, and when you see the dance and it has the Oakland bop to it, you know, it has an open rhythm to it. And I just said, you know, you talk about the town, the town being on our jerseys the last few there, the last few years being in Oracle. The energy, you know, even playing in the series when I was in Denver,
like I had really good games of Oracle. Just the energy in there, and you know, talking to KD when he came in, he was like, no, this is one of my favorite arenas to play in. It was a basketball arena. The depth perception was perfect, the experience was perfect, and then the fan base, like it was electric in there, and like you just couldn't wait to play at home in ourca, Like it's a shooters gym and you got some of the greatest shooters, and so it was just
the vibe was just there. The community has always been supportive even in their down times, and it could have been a perfect, a better situation in terms of, you know, the culture we built with the team, the fan base, the city, the vibes, you know, the weather.
It was just it was amazing.
On January twenty first, the Warriors established a new franchise record seventeenth straight home wins. Two nights later, on the twenty third, in a game against the Kings at the Oracle, Klay Thompson set a record, scoring an unbelievable thirty seven points in the third quarter.
Forty nine get it to it again. He's gotten it. Wills three.
Kets.
You called that thirty seven point quarter religious experience, I recall, yeah.
It really was. It was. I think it might be my favorite basketball moment I've ever had in my life. It was so bizarre, it was so surreal, and obviously winning championships is amazing, you know, so I'm not trying to diminish the feeling of winning a championship, but the surreal nature of Clay scoring thirty seven points, it was like the fans were involved. They were so it was like everybody was mesmerized it Clays in this trance. Nobody can believe what they're seeing, and it kept going and
going and going in the buzz in oracle. Was it was unlike anything I'd ever felt because it was so unique and so incredibly just unbelievable, Like I know, it just couldn't have that couldn't happen, and yet it did. And then you had Steph running up and down the sidelines, you know, look of disbelief in his eyes. To this day, it's my favorite basketball moment.
And Golden State could switch it up with their so called death lineup replacing seven foot center Andrew Boget with the versatile forward six foot six andre Iguodala.
It looks like a small lineup, but when you look at it on the perimeter, we were a little bit bigger than most teams on the perimeter. Now the league had, you know, we got two prolific shooters and Stephan Clay
changing the game. The NBA's trending towards that anyway, and so you start seeing two small guard lineups where it's like the NFL, you have two running backs where you can have two smaller guys, meaning like a guy that's six ' to one another guy that's sixty three on a four at the same time, where step is really six three sixty four, like he's a big point guard. People may not realize that about him because he's around giants all the time. And then Klay Thompson is six
seven at the two. I remember playing the Boston Celtics and I guarded I was guarding it in one possession. I guarded Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and kg all in the same possession, you know, just switching and all those things. So I had already seen it before, you know, I had already been through that in my career as a defensive guy.
The Warriors had electric moments that season. In March, right around the time I shot the ESPN special, Steph dribbled around four Clippers defenders and step back for a three.
Curry slips the leaf of behind the back fires at track. A spectacular moment, but it's still Longe, just.
Live and I turn around and I'm holding my head like what are you doing? Yes, you know, and then laugh at and that's you know, that's my point. I mean, it just it took some time because he really did change the game. And you know when people say that, it's really it's not hyperbole. He changed the game. He changed what was a good shot, and for great shooters like Steph, and there aren't many like him, but Clay was very similar. A quick transition three, even off the dribble,
had always been considered a bad shot. To that point. Steph changed that play, changed that. It's now the shot you're looking for transition three, Like how quickly can you get the ball up the floor, Because a wide open three, or even a contested three from a great shooter is now a great shot.
The Warriors finished that season with the league best record, sixty seven and fifteen tyme the franchise record for road wins with twenty four. Steph Curry was named the NBA MVP.
It's also particularly special that you're the first player in fifty five years as a Warrior, the Windy Aster. I'm the last one overboard Will Chamberlain. So you're a very special company. So it's my honor and my pleasure to present you Steph Curry with the two thousand, fourteen fifteen Kia MVP Award.
In the playoffs, the Warriors got off to a fast start, sweeping the Anthony Davis led New Orleans Pelicans in round one.
Curry to Green, Green fights Curry, gorgeous steeve seventh assist for Trayvon Green. Such a good passer, Curry.
It's a Green greed drive speed lazer.
They took down the Grizzlies in six games in the second round. The headline from that series ultimately was Curry.
Green weaving, try to get a shot up. No call that way. Curry plays it the other way.
In those playoffs, you had beaten you beat Memphis in six, but at one point you lost back to back. I mean, you had to get back on track. Right, And the real headline from that series was, Steph, it was a sixty two footer at the end of the third quarter in Game six.
Just take us into that moment.
Yeah, so we we had been down to to one and then we won the next two and kind of took control of the series. And we really had control of Game six. We were playing well comfortable, you know, twelve fourteen point lead. That was back in the time when that actually was a big lead, unlike.
Exactly disappear right.
Later.
Yeah, thanks to you, by the way, and Steph, thanks to you guys.
But what I remember is Memphis and they were good. They were tough, you know, physical team, Zach Randolph and Marcasol. They were started to pound us inside and they cut the lead I think to six near the end of the third and there was it was was it a jump ball? It might have been a jump ball in our on our end of the court. You know, there's
only a couple of seconds left. And Steph, who was the only person I had ever known who took every half court shot, you know, every three quarter shot like never. You know, most guys in the league they wait that extra half second, like I don't want my shooting percentage to Steph didn't he didn't care, and he would take every half court shot and in this case, it was a three quarter court shot. And I just remember the
wind getting knocked out of the Grizzlies stomachs. You know that the whole arena went silent, and it went from six to nine or seven to ten, something like that, and I don't think they ever threatened again. That was the key shot. And man, what an amazing moment.
After Memphis, the Warriors dispatched James Harden's Houston Rockets in five games in the Western Conference Finals.
It was hard going again, Fines Curry's quick release on the three as got it, I lost it again.
There comes Egadala all alone.
The Doves advanced to their first NBA Finals since last winning the title in nineteen seventy five, facing Lebron James Cavaliers, sparking a fierce rivalry that would play out over the next.
Three NBA Finals.
What do you think in the end, you spoke about the death lineup, But how did you guys? What was the biggest challenge that you overcame and why do you think you overcame it and were able to win those finals and do so on the run.
Well, Lebron was just so good still is, but you know, right in his prime, coming off multiple championships in Miami Force of Nature. I think the reason we won was because we had an incredible roster and what Bob Myers built and Joe Lake of our organization, you know, the foundation that they had built gave us multiple defenders so much versatility that we could kind of play any style.
And when you combine that with the character and the quality of our our players, our people, steph and Clay and Draymond, Andre, all these guys who were so committed to winning, Andre making the sacrifice to come off the bench, the players adapting and adjusting to whatever decisions we made in the playoffs. They were all in. Everybody was all in.
And the ability to bring Andre back into the starting lineup, put him on Lebron James, you know, take Clay off of him, take Harrison off of him, let those guys free. It changed everything. But you can only do that if you have an incredible roster and great character, high character players, and we had that.
After Golden State fell behind two to one in the series, Kerr went to the death lineup right away, giving Iggy his first start of the season, replacing Boget in Game four in the.
Finals, when you know, Cleveland was beating us to one and we were struggling to score and we needed to change change things up. And you know, the irony of going to Andre and saying, okay, we need you to start again and having him not only thrive but become Finals MVP. It was kind of like, Okay, this is validation that sacrifice works, you know, and you know, the guy who made the main sacrifice for the team gets
Finals MVP. Like every coach's dream is for something like that to happen because it's validation for what you're trying to sell to the group all year long. So that was an incredible moment.
Games Spins, pivots stripped stolen by Igodala. Here's Curry, Andre Igodala with another fine defensive player. That leads to it easy two points another feet inside of Curry.
So you go to the NBA Finals, you match up against the Calves, You're matched up against Lebron James.
You guys, are they have they have a two to one lead.
I mean at that point Lebron was like averaging forty one points through three games, so kind of take me through the adjustments. In game four, here comes the death line up at you in particular because you had, you know, the toughest job out there.
Well, I think it was game three where we lost but we found something in the second half. We something and we had we went on the run. Now we didn't complete the run and we didn't win the game. But I think, you know, you play hard every minute of the way for a reason.
You know.
That's why I'm not too upset by teams who still try to execute and run their plays even if they're up big in the games. You know, as long as you're not trying to run up the score, but you're trying to execute, you get something out of every minute. I tell young guys, go in the game, finish the game as hard as you can. Like something might click. You know, you might hit the right shot at the right time. Coach might see you're always ready and put you in the game next game. So in that moment,
we saw something. And my friend Clark Miyasaki, who I saw right after the game, and we were talking. He was in Cleveland, and I said, man, I think we found something. I think we got ball.
Buober Agadala hesn't been to shoot now, Curry not and HiT's the three pointer. The extra pass for.
Megadala cannot give them any ass pace.
Bigadala left open, makes a joke and knocks down the shot.
And we saw someone with that small lineup that it was like, okay, they don't have a threat offensively under the basket, which enables us to go small.
And so we saw something there.
In game four, we knew we had it, and we knew we were you know, we go back home and win it, and then obviously you have three two just you know, the toss up of a game six and trying to close them out.
The lineup was the death of the Cavaliers.
The Warriors won the last three games and their first NBA championship in forty years.
Rebound Curry and the dream season is now complete.
The Golden State Warriors.
Are the twenty fifteen NBA champions.
Did you have any sense when you beat the Cavaliers for that first title that this was something that could happen again and again? What was your initial reaction upon winning the title and then how soon did it take you to start thinking, listen, we can we can run this back. This is this is really something special because
you had been a part of that Bulls dynasty. I mean you understood, you know, you had been with the Spurs perennial contenders, so you know, I'm pretty sure you could recognize a very special squad when you saw it.
Yeah, I think you know, we weren't sure we could do it during the season, but you know, I was trying to convince the guys that we could. Once we did, my first thought was, we can do this again, because my experience with Chicago and San Antonio was once you know you can do it, in some ways, it's easier to do it the next time. You have a deeper sense of confidence and on a level of trust of
each other. Now, the flip side is it's exhausting. There's there's kind of this sweet spot where I think, this the year after you win the title, that's your best shot to go in another one because you're on this high. You have this amazing confidence. But once you start stacking season after season on top of one another, it gets
physically and emotionally so exhausting that it gets harder. So I thought, ironically, I thought our best shot will be next year We're gonna win next year too, Like I really believe that it could have.
Been a lot of these guys, but there can only be one.
MVP, and andre Iguodala made history.
And this year's MVP is a player who didn't start in a single game until these Finals. This year's Bill Russell MVP, andre Iguodala.
You are named Finals MVP, the first player in NBA history to win that title without starting a game during the regular season.
What did that mean to you?
I think I was more just shocked and just overjoy winning a championship. And I think that's the greatest joy when you win a championship is not knowing what the hell was going on or what to do after the buzzer goes off, Like you know, I saw that step through the ball in the air, and I don't know, my mind went to follow the ball and catch it, and I remember like three or four teammates were like hugging me and chase me around, and I'm like, get off me, and I'm running around.
I don't know which way to go, and I'm like, no way this is happening.
You know, you spend your whole career two of days, three days in the summer, you know, going through you know, the nonsense of the things you have to deal with being a professional athlete, the traumas of things, you know, all the things you're dealing on and off the court, and the ultimate goal of being a champion is a lot harder than people can understand. It's some people never get to the playoffs.
You know.
Some guys never get an opportunity to you know, get to the second round or even just even look at the finals. And I never had the opportunity to look at the finals and for us to you know, do what we did. Uh, the game planning and sacrifice. The MVP was just chising on the cake. Like I wasn't expecting it. I was really surprised, you know, Bob Myers let me know, and I really didn't not hurt them, but and I wasn't thinking about it. I'm like, all right,
that's cool and all. But we just won a championship. So it was really really about the team.
As you look back on the Warriors and the multiple titles, and that tag dynasty certainly applies to Golden State. Is that something that you envisioned at the time that you won that first title?
Yeah, well, I mean after you win the first one, I think our group was special when we understood, you know, the opportunity that was ahead of us, and we're a very competitive group, and so we wanted to prove that the first time wasn't the Fluke Steward again. You know, once you get to my age, once you get there, it's like I don't want to go anywhere else but here. You know, your splash brothers, who are you know now they want to really make their mark on the league.
Like all right, we here.
You know, we're the top two guar combo in the league and we're going to stay here for the next ten years. Then you got like dre Mine is like always the doubted one and he has a chip on his shoulders, but at the same time like being who he is. It's a perfect scenario for him to really be who he naturally is and can really express himself in a manner where that takes his game to a higher level.
Like you don't want to get in his way.
You know, you got a guy like that, you don't want to try to tain for lack a better word, him, You got to let him be who he is in order for him to really go out there and produce at the level that he's done his entire career and creating his own lane. And then, like I said before, Harrison Barnes, young guy. You know, he's trying to build his own lane as well. And then the bench we had was just amazing. You know, myself, Sean Limison and I have been playing basketball against each other since we
were eleven years old. Wow, So so we go way back, and you know what he went through in his career and coming back and then he was really a staple and his fabric is really built into the cough of the culture that we built.
Barbosa was amazing for us.
You know, we just had everyone looked out for one another, and you know, it's really hard to build teams and culture like that.
Here's Steve.
I've been incredibly lucky. And obviously with the talent too. I mean, you know, to coach Steph Curry and and Raymond Clay and Andre and all these guys, I mean, it's I was set up for success.
Under Steve's leadership, the Warriors have won four titles and made six trips to the NBA Finals.
In hindsight, it's obvious with the talent, and then as you coach and you realize, oh wow, I don't have nearly as much control as I thought I might. You know, when you really get into coaching and you realize that you know how powerless you can be. And then the other thing is guys like Steph Curry are once in a generation human beings. There's there's so few. Tim Duncan
was very similar to Steph. And you know Pop, when I have dinner with Pop, when he has dinner with anybody, he starts every dinner with a toast to Tim dunt To.
This day, you're kidding, no matter what the context.
Context, Poorzwan. He goes, here's Tim Duncan, and it's Pop's way of saying, you know, we are all so dependent on the character and the talent of our best players, and that's coaching in the NBA. And he was so lucky to have Tim. Tim allowed him to have this run that he's been on. And I would say the exact same thing about Steph. So we're lucky.
Next time.
On the final episode of NBA DNA, David Storm and The Inside Stuff. NBA DNA with Hannah Storm is a production of iHeart Podcasts. The NBA and Brainstorm in Productions. The show is written and executive produced by me Hannah Storm along with Julia Weaver and Alex French. Our lead producer and showrunner is Julia Weaver. Our senior producers are Peter Cauder, Alex French, and Brandon Reese. Editing and sound
design by Kurt Garn and Julia Weaver. The show's executive producers are Carmen Belmont, Jason English, Sean t Tone, Steve Weintraup, and Jason Weikelt