Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr previewed his team’s prospects for the 2020-21 season, but he couldn’t help but throw a little shade at James Harden and the Houston Rockets.
“We’re still gonna be the Warriors,” Kerr said, via The Athletic. “We’re not gonna turn into the Rockets and change our offense and have one guy go high pick-and-roll 70 times a game.”
Kerr is likely being sarcastically tongue-in-cheek, though his Warriors have eliminated the Rockets from the postseason four times. Overall, Golden State has won 16 of 23 playoff meetings against Harden’s Rockets since Kerr took over as a head coach.
After a lost season without Klay Thompson (torn ACL) and Stephen Curry (broken wrist) for all but five games, the Warriors limped to a league-worst 15-50 record in 2019-20 after making five straight NBA Finals.
However, Kerr expects his squad to be right back in title contention next season, with a fully healthy roster, more time to implement Andrew Wiggins, and the no. 2 pick in the upcoming draft. For what it’s worth, it remains to be seen what the Warriors intend to do with their 2020 pick heading to the November draft.
Golden State also has a $17.2 million traded player exception and a taxpayer mid-level exception around the $6 million range that they could use to add a contributor in the offseason.
On Wednesday, Kerr also expanded on the Warriors’ expectations for their roster next season — beyond digs at Houston’s 3-point heavy approach. He hinted that some moves could be in the works.
“I think we need to be more athletic, for sure,” Steve Kerr said on Tim Kawakami’s “The TK Show” podcast. “We’re obviously very skilled. But we don’t have an overly athletic team. We’ve lost a lot of bounce and a lot of pop on the wings — even at the center position. (So) right now, we’re not big enough or athletic enough to get where we want to be….We have the draft and we have free agency to address all that stuff. And potential trades.”
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