Four NBA championships. Six NBA Finals appearances, including five consecutive. A Coach of the Year Award. Voted a top 15 coach in NBA history by his peers. Won 70 percent of his 148 playoff games. Set the record for most wins in an NBA regular season with 73.
All in 11 seasons— yet Steve Kerr still doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
Despite his accomplishments rivaling those of coaching legends such as Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, the general public scoffs at anyone who mentions his name with the other greats.
Architect of an Instant Dynasty
Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors have been the gold standard of professional basketball since he began coaching them in the 2014–15 season. Immediately after taking over the team, they evolved from a young squad with a bright future under Mark Jackson to one whose future had officially arrived.
While he has benefited from having all-time great players like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant play for him, Kerr’s consistency, offensive innovation and game-changing playoff decisions get overlooked far too often in NBA dialogue.
Kerr’s offensive system took the league by storm. By combining principles of Phil Jackson’s triangle offense and Gregg Popovich’s motion offense, the Warriors won a then-franchise-record 67 regular-season games and finished third all-time in three-pointers made in a single regular season.
Also, Curry had a massive breakout season in this offense, winning the 2015 MVP Award and setting an NBA record for threes made in a single season with 286.
In just one year under Kerr’s leadership, this team transformed and looked ready to win championships.
And that’s exactly what they did.
In the 2015 NBA Finals, Kerr’s Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games and brought the first NBA title to the Bay Area since 1975. He became just the third coach in NBA history to win a championship in his first season as a head coach, joining Paul Westhead and Pat Riley. Forward Andre Iguodala took home the Finals MVP honors.
But the real MVP of that series was Kerr himself.
The Iguodala Adjustment
After Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals, the Warriors trailed 2–1. They seemingly had no answers for LeBron James, who scored 44, 39, and 40 points in the first three games, and their championship hopes were looking bleak.
Then, Kerr made a bold lineup change that completely flipped the series in favor of Golden State.
He inserted Iguodala into the starting lineup ahead of Game 4 in place of center Andrew Bogut. The move had multiple motives: Slow down James’s production, increase their offensive pace, and force the Cavaliers’ role players to beat them.
This small-ball lineup of Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Green, and Harrison Barnes was Kerr’s solution to the LeBron problem.
Newsflash: It worked.
In Game 4, James posted series lows in points, shot attempts, field-goal percentage, and three-point percentage. The Cavaliers shot 2-for-18 from the field and were outscored 27–12 in the fourth quarter. The Warriors stole Game 4 in Cleveland by a score of 103–82.
This game turned the tide of the series, and the Warriors would not lose another game.
Kerr’s role in winning the 2015 title is not talked about enough when discussing Golden State’s dynastic success. But that was nearly a decade ago. Consider a more modern example of Kerr’s genius.
The “Hack-a-Adams” Strategy
This season, the seven-seeded Warriors faced the second-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. To the young Rockets’ credit, it was a hard-fought series. Coach Ime Udoka tried to combat the Warriors’ now-notorious small-ball lineups by giving extended minutes to center Steven Adams.
After three games and most of Game 4, this strategy seemed to be working. Adams had four blocks and seven rebounds in Game 4, and Golden State was struggling with his dominant physical presence.
Kerr’s solution? Simple: Get him off the floor.
During the fourth quarter, he implemented a plan similar to the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy. Because Adams is a bad free-throw shooter and shot about 53 percent overall in the series, Kerr instructed his team to intentionally foul Adams.
When he realized what was happening, Udoka saw no other option but to remove Adams from the game due to this liability.
Kerr forced Udoka to play right into his hand, and it worked. This brilliant move propelled his team to win the game 109–106 and take a commanding 3–1 lead in the series. And, just like most teams that take a 3–1 lead, the Warriors would win the series and send the second seed home.
Give Steve Kerr His Flowers
These types of series-defining coaching decisions can be found all throughout his playoff career. The greatness of Curry and others may overshadow them, but Kerr is a master of the details.
His offensive schemes, in-game and in-series adjustments, tactical brilliance and sustained postseason success are exactly why he is worthy of being on the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History list.
Steve Kerr is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time and undoubtedly deserves to be mentioned alongside the other legendary coaches in the sport. It’s time for the NBA community to finally start treating him that way.
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