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The Golden State Warriors have had some stark pivoting to do in 2019-20, going from the long road of a deep playoff run that ended in NBA Finals heartbreak to the misery of being a bottom-of-the-barrel team in the league. Steve Kerr, as captain of the ship, has had to handle the morale of this team through the first 62 games of a long season.
Instead of competing for a championship like they have been the past five years, the Warriors aim this season will be to retool and put pieces in place that can aid a core of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson next season, all while they muster a strong lottery pick in the draft — not an easy change to make.
Yet it's been Kerr who has been tasked with reminding players to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As he puts it, the mood between these young players has been a pleasant surprise.
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“You never see people come in here sulking or with a bad attitude,” Kerr told Steve Berman of The Athletic. “If you didn’t see the record, you would never realize that we’re a losing team right now.”
The Warriors might be coming off their best win of the season, a 116-100 win over the third-seeded Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. What was once a routine spankdown of another Western Conference team, is now reason to cheer for a young team that trotted out a slew of G League talent next to Andrew Wiggins.
“It’s a business and jobs are at stake and all that stuff,” said Kerr. “But you got to make it fun. It’s got to be something that we enjoy. I think we all play better when we’re having fun out there as a team and executing and playing for each other.”
Golden State only has 14 wins this season — by far the worst record in the league — but Kerr's ability to manage this team's spirit should pay dividends next season, when those players start to see a core come together once The Splash Brothers are back and healthy.
