Stephen Curry pronounced himself willing to move on from the Golden State Warriors after the abrupt termination of the coach he credits with helping to stabilize his now All-Star career, but the 26-year-old sharpshooter adds he remains hugely perplexed by it all.
Despite leading the team to the franchise’s first 50 win season in nearly two decades and the organization’s first back-to-back playoff berths in just as long of a period, the Warriors parted ways with affable coach Mark Jackson within 72 hours of the team’s first-round, season-ending ouster from the Western Conference playoffs.
Golden State has now hired Steve Kerr as his replacement in an act Curry terms as a “semi-quick hire” that still resonates as a “kind of a shock to him and his teammates.” Curry added “there’s no sugarcoating it. It was a weird, expedited situation that we didn’t see coming. And guys are human.”
All of which serves to say no one can know for sure just how well Curry or any of his other teammates will take to Kerr or, more to the point, the reality of having, more or less, been completely ignored by management when it came to having a voice in determining who should serve as their leader.
“He embodies what I know is good around here with the Warriors winning and that kind of feel,” Curry reflected of Jackson, also an ordained minister. “It was a lot different in my first few years.”
In the 48-year-old, first-time coach Kerr, the Warriors doled out $25 million over five-years to secure what many feel is essentially the great unknown.
Curry adds he and Kerr have already spoken several times on the phone and being the professional that he is he is willing to give his new coach every chance so that their team might continue to grow and build. But as for particulars no one knows for certain what will be, not even with a roster that includes a core of Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, David Lee and Andrew Bogut.
“As long as we’re focused on winning and taking advantage of the roster we have and the opportunity we have with this window to try to continue to get better, I’m just looking forward to next year,” said Curry. “At the end of the day, all of the guys in the locker room are trying to win. I know Steve Kerr has that mentality and that mission as well. I haven’t lost faith.”
Yeah, but it seems fair to say it’s definitely been shaken.
