Steve Kerr is welcoming the new year with open arms, despite a 9-26 start to the season after his Golden State Warriors fell to the San Antonio Spurs in overtime, just hours before they put an injury-mired 2019 year behind them.
Amid the struggles this season, Kerr is looking at the silver lining of coaching a young, inexperienced team in place of the talent-laden roster he was fortunate to have for the past five seasons.
“I enjoy coming in every day and working with these guys,” Kerr said Tuesday night, according to Logan Murdock of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Because they play hard, they play for each other and they care about the game.”
“The first five years were exceptional. They weren't normal, so I try to look at things in a realistic perspective,” Kerr said. “What's happening this year is more in line with what generally happens with NBA teams. You go through a good spell, and maybe you have some tough breaks or whatever, and you take a little bit of a dip.”
The Warriors have taken more than just “a little bit of a dip,” going from title favorites to lottery-bound — a precipitous fall from grace not many were expecting after they signed, then traded Kevin Durant in free agency.
While Golden State was expecting to be without Klay Thompson the majority of the season, Stephen Curry's injury is the one that derailed their season, quickly shifting the focus into a gap-year transition for Kerr and company.