Steve Kerr Made The Right Decision by The rANT

 

In recent NBA news, Steve Kerr accepted the head coaching position for the Golden State Warriors. The rANT explains why this was the right choice for the respected Kerr. Read the full article below.

Steve Kerr Made The Right Decision

 Steve Kerr made the right decision to join the Golden St. Warriors over the New York Knicks last week. Yes I know the Knicks have the great Phil Jackson. But lets break down each team to see who had the advantage..

Overall Talent

- Advantage: Warriors

This is a no-brainer, even to the casual NBA fan. The Warriors have the Splash Brothers (Curry & Thompson - combined to shoot 42% from 3 this season); they have a Top 10 PF in Lee (undersized but can literally do it all except shoot 3s); a rim protector in Bogut (when healthy); a Top 5 perimeter defender in Iguodala; and they're almost 3 players deep at each position except for maybe C (when everyone is healthy). Beyond Carmelo (who is an unrestricted free agent), the Knicks don't have very much. They're brittle (only Carmelo, JR, Shumpert & Hardaway played 70+ games this season) and they're old (11 players were aged 28 or older) and other than Carmelo & Chandler, nobody is really considered Top 10 at their respective positions.

Ownership / Front Office

- Advantage: Warriors

Yes the Knicks have Phil.. but they also have the 2nd worst (we all know who's the worst by now) owner in the NBA: James Dolan. Phil brings instant credibility because he has 13 titles (11 as a coach) to his name but he's also a 1st time executive. We don't know who he's going to hire as the new head coach. We don't know who he's going to bring in as FAs. Its too much of a mystery with Phil from an executive standpoint. Now back to Dolan, this is a guy who is pretty much "Big Brother" when it comes to the Knicks.. not to mention he's also very childish. He'll fire you if you criticize the team (Google Marv Albert's falling out). He also banned famous actor Woody Allen from the VIP restaurant in Madison Square Garden because Allen wouldnt go on the MSG channel to introduce / talk about his own movies. There's also the Isaiah Thomas sexual harassment scandal & the rumors of him considering rehiring Thomas last year. Lets go across the country to look at the Warriors. There was issues of ownership firing Mark Jackson after a 51-W season but that is pretty much the only blemish. They also have NBA legend Jerry West as a consultant for the front office (West is the guy responsible for bringing Kobe, Shaq & Phil to the Lakers).

City Market

- Advantage: Knicks

Obviously New York City is a much bigger city than Oakland, California. Madison Square Garden is considered to be the "Mecca" of basketball. Opponents love going to MSG. Basketball is HUGE in NYC. Bigger cities are much easier to attract elite FAs because of the amount of exposure and business opportunities. It makes the coaches job easier because they'll have better players & its easier to sell them the idea of coming.

Contract

- Advantage: Warriors

Knicks offer: 4 years (all guaranteed), no reports on how much money

Warriors offer: 5 years / $25 million (all guaranteed years)

Kerr wanted that extra year (5th year) and got it with the Warriors. The Knicks originally offered only 3 years and stretched it to 4, but Phil (for some reason) didn't want to go beyond that.

Job Security

- Advantage: Knicks.. but not by that much.

The Warriors fired Mark Jackson despite winning 51 games. As stated before, the talent in Golden State is drastically better than in New York so Kerr will need to win & win fast. Had Kerr taken the Knicks job he would've given some time to build up talent. It shouldn't too much of a problem to win now because the Warriors have great assets (talent + draft picks) that they can trade away form elite players in the future. The Knicks have no draft picks and the players they have are too old and their contracts are terrible. The situation RIGHT NOW is better in Golden State but ownership has shown that they are impatient and have a quick trigger to firing great coaches.

So as you can see, this is why I feel like Kerr made the right decision on choosing to sign with the Warriors. New York is a mess right now, has too much mystery surrounding them and has had bad history in the past. In Golden State, the team is maybe 1 player away from being a title contender and Kerr will have his chance to establish his own style of coaching instead of Phil pushing him to run the Triangle Offense in New York.

As always thanks for reading! Twitter: @the_rANT_