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How Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr Found A New Way To Reach His Team

This article is more than 6 years old.

If you lead a team of any kind, take note of what Steve Kerr did.

When you can't reach your players, when you need their buy-in, let the team members run the show for a bit. Put them in a position to lead. Enable them to take full ownership for how things are going to go.

As head coach of the Golden State Warriors Kerr has had remarkable success. The team has claimed two NBA championships in the last three years. This season the Warriors are on pace to set offensive records and they own the best record in the league.

But those stats haven't mattered much lately. During the last month, the Warriors haven't been their win-all-the-time selves. They dropped three of four games as January turned to February. After their lone win in that stretch, Kerr said his players were "dying to get to the All-Star break." 

Following that sloppy 119-104 win over the Sacramento Kings, Kerr said he failed to bring the team together. "I tried to regroup them, but I never did regroup them. They won tonight on talent and shooting the ball. That's all," he said

Kerr had decided to turn operations over to the players a couple days before the game against the Phoenix Suns. On game day, Andre Iguodala led the shooting session. JaVale McGee helped run the team film session. During the game, Iguodala, Draymond Green and David West led team huddles while Kerr and the coaching staff stepped aside.

" It's their team. I think that's one of the first things you have to consider as a coach. It's not your team , it's not [general manager] Bob Myers' team, it's not [owner] Joe Lacob's team -- although I'm not going to tell Joe that.

"It's the players' team, and they have to take ownership of it. And as coaches, our job is to nudge them in the right direction, guide them, but we don't control them. They determine their own fate and I don't feel like we focused well at all the last month, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. I thought they communicated really well together and drew up some nice plays, and it was a good night for the guys."

Kerr had thought about having the assistant coaches run the game. He didn't because the messages they would send would be too similar to his own words.

"Just having to count on each other, and not hearing my voice -- which sort of sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher or parent or whoever's voice that is. At this point, that's what I sound like to them. So, they needed a different voice."

Kerr's moved worked. The Warriors beat the Suns by 46-points, 129-83.

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