As a player and coach, Steve Kerr has crossed many different generations since he first set foot in the NBA world.
Born in 1965, Kerr began his NBA career in the late 1980s until retiring in 2003. However, he never really left the game and has been the Warriors’ coach since 2014. And he is preparing to get his team fit again in the fight for the 2023/24 championship. He is slowly realizing that some of his coaching credentials are a little ahead of his players’ time.
Kerr joined KNBR’s Tolbert & Copes on Monday and shared a great story about a recent time he focused on legendary coach Don Nelson and the widely known fast-paced offense he developed, often referred to as “Nellie Ball.” related.
“My pop culture references are so outdated. Speaking of towards the end [Los Angeles] Lakers [preseason] In that game, the Lakers had 70 points in the first half, so I went to the end of the bench and during the action I said to the guys that were sitting there, “Guys, we’re not facing any of them.” Things that we try to get better. We give it away, we don’t defend anyone. We just try to outdo them. It’s just Nellie Ball. It’s just Nellie Ball.’
“And I didn’t think anything of it. And the next day I got a text from Lester Quiñones and he googled Nellie Ball and took a screenshot of a picture of Nellie Ball and said, ‘I had to look that up.’ “Trainer. That reference went right over my head.” And I thought, “Oh my God, of course it was. These guys weren’t even born when Nellie was training.” So I had to start updating my pop culture.
Nelson first coached the Warriors from 1988 to 1995. Quiñones was born in 2000.
“Nellie Ball” was developed because Nelson wanted to speed up the pace of the game. A simple concept, some might think, but Nelson actually did it. It also proved effective as he is one of the winningest coaches in NBA history.
Even after retiring as coach in 2010, Nellie Ball is still prevalent throughout the basketball universe. But like Quiñones, some players may simply not know there’s a name for it.
But it’s safe to say that Kerr has gotten to know his audience before his next team meeting.
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