Steve

Kerr

Kerr has only been the coach for Team USA since 2021, when he took over following Gregg Popovich stepping down. Now, one of his assistants may take over, with Erik Spoelstra mentioned as the “strong internal favorite” to lead the squad during the 2028 Olympics. If Spo is given the job, Team USA will be in good hands and should be able to add another gold medal.

Kerr’s new deal makes him the highest-paid coach in NBA history on an annual basis, and this contract will likely be met with plenty of scrutiny. Golden State is just two years removed from winning the NBA Finals, but the team is 28-26 this season and the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. It’s been a rocky season for the Warriors, but as Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously campaigned in 1940 and 1944, “Don’t swap horses in the middle of the stream.” Golden State will stick with a coach who has the most wins with the team, six championship appearances and four titles.

The Warriors will find out who their opponent is today that stands between them and the NBA Finals. Mike Brown will return to his role as an assistant coach for his final playoff run before taking over head coaching duties in Sacramento.

The keys will remain in Mike Brown’s hands as long as Kerr is sidelined, which is until he gets two negative tests. The Warriors won a close game at home before getting slaughtered in Memphis with Brown at the helm. In order to avoid more 3-1 jokes, Golden State will really need to end this series at home tonight.

The Grizzlies will likely be without Ja Morant and the Warriors will be coached by Mike Brown tonight. Hopefully, this is the only game Kerr will be forced to miss.

Denver is unable to meet the NBA’s minimum requirement of available players (eight) due to COVID-19 cases, hence the decision to postpone Thursday’s game. Whether or not the Nuggets will be able to travel for Saturday’s game against the Rockets has yet to be determined. As for the Warriors, their next scheduled game is Saturday against the Jazz.

Kerr’s staff will be filled out by assistants Monty Williams, Erik Spoelstra and Mark Few. He had been serving as an assistant on Pop’s bench, but will take the head job as the first major move by new USA basketball director Grant Hill. Kerr’s record of success speaks for itself, so this shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

The January 15 meeting between the two teams was postponed due to health and safety protocol issues within the Suns roster. This will now be Phoenix’s final game in the first “half” of its 2020-21 regular season schedule.

“Generally I think it takes three or four weeks for guys to really feel like they’re ready to go,” said Kerr of the abbreviated offseason/preseason. “It’s a shortcut this year, so we just have to adapt. I doubt in two weeks we’ll be ready to have guys play big minutes. So we’re going to probably play a lot of people.” It sounds like the Warriors’ starters will be on minutes restrictions for at least the first few weeks of the season, so expect a semi-slow start if you take guys like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green on draft day. Golden State going deeper into their rotations early could present some early-season DFS opportunities for guys like Jordan Poole and Damion Lee.

With the league not playing in a bubble this time around, this is simply something everyone is going to have to deal with, and there will likely be plenty of major names forced to miss games due to the global pandemic. This is yet another reason why you may want to consider running a roto league this year instead of a head-to-head setting.