Steve Kerr: Initiation Into The NBA Under Cavs’ Lenny Wilkens

Steve Kerr: Initiation Into The NBA Under Cavs’ Lenny Wilkens (Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via TheSportsFanJournal.com)

With possibly the exception of LeBron James, most successful NBA paths don’t usually begin with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For new Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, however, Cleveland was the optimum place to start a storied career.

Under the tutelage of Hall-Of-Fame head coach Lenny Wilkens, Kerr had the benefit of learning the strategy of the game that would later serve as a blueprint for winning in the NBA.

While it can not be understated that having later stops playing for “Zen Master” Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich certainly assisted in his maturation, Wilkens and a really good Cavaliers team helped propel Kerr towards even more successful results.

A TRADE TO A TEAM ON THE VERGE

Though most don’t remember, Kerr actually was drafted and played his first season with the Phoenix Suns 28 years ago after a storied run at the University of Arizona.

After an uneventful 1988-89 rookie campaign, Kerr was traded to the Cavaliers to join the up-and-coming Eastern Conference squad under then-coach Wilkens.

Kerr not only had a Hall Of Fame head coach at his disposal, but also a squad of “player-coaches” he could utilize to develop and learn the game at the professional level.

Teammates like Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, Mark Price, John “Hot Rod” Williams, Craig Ehlo and Larry Nance were some of the most cerebral players in their day and formed a formidable presence that helped Kerr on and off the court.

The Cavaliers had put the soon-to-be-champion Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, on the brink of defeat just one season earlier and were ready to take the next step.

Even with a team full of NBA stalwarts already in place, however, Kerr still managed to log the 5th most minutes on the team with 1664 in 78 games played. He was getting used to life as an NBA player.

The ability to rely on the Cavalier veterans as Kerr got used to the NBA daily grind, though, was immeasurable and Kerr began to develop his game at a quicker pace than the average rookie.

Kerr showcased this as he led the team that year with an impressive .507 clip from beyond the three-point arc.

WHAT WILKENS THINKS OF KERR AS COACH OF THE WARRIORS

In a recent interview with 95.7 The Game, Wilkens had nothing but the utmost confidence in Kerr’s pending tenure with the Dubs.

“Steve is a smart guy. He’s been around the game. He understands it. He knows the kind of work it’s going to require,” Wilkens said, “I think he’ll make the adjustment and I think he’s smart enough to know, you surround yourself with strength. You put some people around you who know as much about the game as you do, or more, and then it will show your true knowledge.

“There’s a little adjustment period but you’re talking about a young man who’s smart enough to make those adjustments.”

UTILIZING WILKENS’S KNOWLEDGE

There was to be no better mentor as coach than Wilkens for Kerr. Whether as a player or player-coach, Wilkens was an astute scholar of the game and had been successful at every stop.

From his days a player with the St. Louis Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers and Cavaliers, to his head coaching experience guiding the Seattle Supersonics to their only title in 1979, Wilkens knew how to win.

He hadn’t succeeded because he had been a star player or had numerous star players when he had coached, though, he’d succeeded because he knew how to get the best out of a player in a role that helped the team overall.

Wilkens discussed this in a recent interview with Academy Achievement looking back on his magnificent career.

“Players have to understand what their roles are, how they fit in. You have to learn to communicate with people and I think that respect is a two-way street,” Wilkens said, “If you want it, you’ve got to give it. I felt like if you show someone how to have success, they want more of it.”

It was his team-first principles that helped Kerr find his niche that would later lay the groundwork to being a great communicator.

“So, find ways to help people,” Wilkens added, “I felt if you put yourself on a pedestal as a coach and if you’re not reachable, touchable, how can you communicate then? And so, I felt that these principles really worked, and they bought into them, and we became a very good team.”

Kerr would later be traded to Chicago and eventually San Antonio, where he would win a bevy of titles and learn even more under Jackson and Popovich.

Getting his introduction to the game with Wilkins and the Cavaliers, however, would be just a crucial as those later stops to shaping who the Warriors have as a coach today.

[NOTE: Poor Man’s Commish contributed to this report.]