Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took a swipe at the Houston Rockets and their polarizing style of play while talking about the makeup of his team heading into next season.
While speaking about the revamped roster around the Warriors’ long-standing core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, Kerr essentially told The Athletic that he doesn’t plan on veering away from the gameplan that helped them win three titles in a four-year span. But he also threw that jab at the Rockets.
"We're not reinventing the wheel. We're still gonna be the Warriors," Kerr said. "We're not gonna all of a sudden turn into the Rockets... change our offense and have one guy go high pick-and-roll 70 times a game."
Kerr’s criticism of the Rockets’ offensive leanings comes less than a month after Mike D’Antoni informed Houston brass that he wouldn’t return as their head coach next season. In a 2018 interview with The Mercury News, Kerr spoke glowingly of D’Antoni, calling him "the guy who revolutionized the game."
Despite their rocky departure with the Phoenix Suns where Kerr served as general manager and D’Antoni was the head coach, both guys still respect each other immensely. "He's a great person, a great coach," D’Antoni said. "I have nothing but respect for him." Kerr’s recent comments aren’t an indictment on the offense D’Antoni chose to implement with the Rockets, but rather, the hardwood-pounding, isolation-heavy style that included having "one guy go high pick-and-roll 70 times a game" style of play that he was forced to use with James Harden.
D’Antoni is known as the coach behind the "Seven Seconds or Less" offense, which prioritized ball movement, and a fast pace. Shades of D’Antoni’s game can clearly be seen in the way Kerr has the Warriors operating on the offensive side of the ball. Kerr didn't want to insult the man he revered when telling the world how he really felt about the Rockets, but D’Antoni’s gone—and possibly to greener pastures.
