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The pursuit of a third straight title is bound to be the Golden State Warriors' most challenging one to date, but head coach Steve Kerr is going back to his foundational roots in order to make it happen.
Mindfulness, compassion and competition have been three of the four core values that Kerr has asked his team to exhibit since taking over the mantle in 2014, but just as important is the first of them all — joy.
Kerr has been a strong believer that to play your best, you first must have fun — making that the primary and single most important value he expects from this talent-loaded roster.
Even general manager Bob Myers has seen the adjustment from the players, having to gear up for what's expected to be another long road for this team in 2018-19.
“This offseason, I think people went away more than ever,” said Myers, according to Connor LeTourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle. “I would talk to other GMs over the last couple of weeks, and their players are in working out. Part of me thought, ‘Why shouldn't our guys be here?’ But I think it was healthy. It's been four years for a lot of them of a pretty short offseason.”
Kerr has been a Zen Master of sorts, taking over the long-known nickname of his former coach Phil Jackson, who knew just what buttons to push with each of his players to reap the very best of them. Jackson, a very complex man of intricate theories, can also be very simple to understand, much like Kerr in this instance.
“I know it sounds simple, but the goal is going to be to enjoy this journey this year — all of it, the highs, the lows, the in-between,” Myers said. “If you enjoy going to work and you're talented and you're in a good culture, hopefully good things come of that.
“Steve's a great captain to lead us in the right direction. He's got a great pulse of what the team needs.”
Boots back in the saddle, Kerr will have to steer this horse back to familiar lands, but taking a very different route while departing from the same starting point that started it all — the joy for the game.
