Steve Kerr issues message to questioning Warriors fans about lineups

Over Steve Kerr's first five seasons as coach, the Warriors reached the NBA Finals every year and won three titles.

Despite the unprecedented success, certain corners of the fan base have been vocal (on Twitter mostly) in criticizing some of the eight-time NBA champion's rotations and/or five-man combinations.

Kerr was a guest Wednesday on "The TK Show" podcast with The Athletic's Tim Kawakami and addressed that topic during a conversation about ESPN's "The Last Dance" documentary on the Chicago Bulls.

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"Phil (Jackson) was the guy who was never afraid to play anyone in any situation," Kerr said. "So when Warriors fans are up in arms about the lineup that I throw out there, they should really blame Phil because that's where I learned it. (laughter)."

Now that's some funny stuff right there.

The franchise adopted the "Strength in Numbers" mantra the moment Kerr arrived in May 2014, and the Warriors' depth definitely played a part in the team's incredible success from 2015 to 2019.

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Without diving too deep into it, Dub Nation certainly questioned some of Kerr's decisions in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. But we will leave it at that.

As for Kerr's philosophy, this is what he said back in early May:

Steve Kerr: "People don't realize how important those guys are for the overall morale of the team. If you got the guys on the end of your bench fully engaged and invested and they're all fired up and they're cheering on everybody else -- it just becomes contagious."
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) May 7, 2020