Prior to Saturday’s game vs. the Celtics, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr shared his memories of NBA legend Bill Russell and touched on his lasting impact beyond the game.
MILWAUKEE -- The NBA is renaming it's regular-season MVP award after Michael Jordan, the league announced Tuesday morning, along with honoring past greats for five other top awards that are handed out at the end of the season.
Jordan, regarded as the NBA's greatest player of all time by most, won five regular-season MVPs in his storied 15-year career, second to only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His trophy case is filled with every award imaginable. The tribute easily could be another box checked from a career full of accolades.
Steve Kerr says otherwise.
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The Warriors head coach was teammates with Jordan for four seasons with the Chicago Bulls. They won three championships together, pulling off a three-peat in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Knowing who Jordan was on and off the court, Kerr believes the NBA naming the MVP in Jordan's name is extremely gratifying.
"Oh, I think it means a lot to him," Kerr said to NBC Sports Bay Area. "This is a guy who went to the Finals six times, won six times and won Finals MVP all six times. So, he was the obvious choice if you were going to name the trophy after someone."
Jordan averaged 30.1 points per game for his career, was an 11-time All-NBA selection and was named an All-Star every season aside from his 1994-95 where he only played the last 17 games of the regular season. He was a menace on both sides of the ball, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 1987-88 and was an All-Defensive selection nine times.
His career also came with some stops and starts. For different reasons, Jordan retired from basketball three times. First to pursue a baseball career after the 1992-93 season. He then retired from the Bulls in 1998 after winning his sixth ring. Following a three-year hiatus from playing the game, Jordan returned as member of the Washington Wizards, a franchise he was a minority owner of.
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Even at 38 years old with a three-year absence from the court, Jordan averaged 22.9 points per game. In his final season, at 39 years old, he put up exactly 20 points per game and was an All-Star both of his campaigns with the Wizards. Jordan retired for the third and final time on April 16, 2003.
That's why Kerr sees this as more than another award for his former teammate. Jordan's name not only will be associated with the NBA's best every single season, it also helps serve as a reflection tool for the now 59-year-old.
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"I think as guys get older after they retire, it's a weird feeling to retire from playing," Kerr explained. "There's a sense of loss. You lose what has made you happy for your whole life since you were a little kid, in most cases. You lose your body's super powers. All of the sudden things start to hurt. It forces you to reflect and take on different interests in your life.
"For a guy like Michael Jordan, you can only imagine as great as he was night in and night out, that's a big sense of loss to no longer be able to go out and do that. So I think there is a certain amount of reflection that all of us go through and it's fun to think back to the good times, and it's an incredible honor to have your name attached to something like that."