The relationship between a player and coach is special, but Steve Kerr is extra grateful for his bond with Warriors superstar Steph Curry and the unique situation it has put him in as an NBA coach.
“I’m well aware that the reason I’m still here is because Steph Curry is still here,” Kerr said on a recent episode of the “Glue Guys Podcast.” “And I’m not being modest, I’m just telling the truth. Gregg Popovich is one of my best friends and mentors, and every time we sit down for dinner, he holds up his wine glass and he says, ‘Here’s to Tim Duncan.’
“And everyone toasts to Tim Duncan. I love it because it’s genuine and he’s basically telling us the only reason I — and we — are all here is because the lottery fell our way, we got Tim Duncan. Other people didn’t. That’s how I feel about Steph.”
Popovich was the legendary Spurs coach for nearly three decades, but his success took over the NBA when San Antonio drafted Duncan No. 1 overall in 1997.
Popovich and Duncan built a one-of-a-kind partnership, winning five NBA championships together and really setting the standard for what a special player-coach relationship should be.
Kerr knows he found something similar with Curry.
“If I didn’t have Steph, I would have been like every other NBA coach and lasted a few years, and then gone somewhere else and coached somewhere else,” Kerr acknowledged. “I’m incredibly lucky to have this partnership with Steph.
“He provides this stability and continuity with the organization that just makes everybody’s job easier.”
Kerr is just one of many grateful for Curry.
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