Kerr on Draymond: “He’s the best defensive player I’ve ever seen. I played with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. The modern game demands so much more than it did in the nineties.” On their relationship: “There’s things he’s done that I can never forgive him for, and yet I will do anything for him.”
Interviewer: I’ve heard speculation that Draymond Green, your temperamental forward, might coach one day. He’s fascinating: a second-round pick who doesn’t shoot that well; who isn’t super athletic or tall; whose box score doesn’t stand out; who’s prone to altercations; but who has also been described as the linchpin of some of the best teams in N.B.A. history. How?
Kerr: He’s the best defensive player I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying a lot, given that I played with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. The modern game demands so much more than it did in the nineties. You have to be able to guard all five positions, because there’s so much pace and energy and crossmatches. You race back on defense, you’ve got to guard the guy in front of you. And then there’s the “pick-on” game: the opposing team is going to bring the weakest defender into every pick-and-roll to gain an advantage. Draymond, he can guard any action, any position, any player. And he can also blow up the play behind the play if he’s not involved in the action because of his brain, his speed, his reach. I think he’s no more than six-five and a half—
Interviewer: With a seven-foot wingspan.
Kerr: Seven-one wingspan, incredible strength. He wins every jump ball because he’s quicker to anticipate what’s happening, which means he’s getting to the rotation faster. He’s seeing what’s happening faster. He’s just a step ahead of the other nine guys.
Interviewer: So, a coach?
Kerr: I don’t know that he’ll coach. He definitely has the brain for it. I don’t know if he has the patience. He’s an incredibly passionate, emotional guy, and that passion and energy has frequently gotten him in trouble. And I love him. I think he’s a really good-hearted person with an incredible brain, but if he wants to coach he’s going to have to learn how to control some of that emotion, that desire, and that fire that burns within him, and it’s not an easy thing to do.
Interviewer: You’ve come to blows—
Kerr: Yeah. I mean, people pulling us apart. And in my first five years, we would get into three knockdown, dragouts a year. Part of it was, I just had to show the rest of the team that I’m in charge. You have to do things by a set of standards. It’s a community that you’re building, not just a team—a little society with values and standards and expectations. And then you’re a community that has to police itself. The coach has to demand certain behaviors, certain habits. So then for a long time we had a truce. I understood him so well. He understood me. But this year we had a major blowout in December. He’s such a unique person. There’s things he’s done that I can never forgive him for, and yet I will do anything for him.
Source: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/has-steve-kerr-had-enough