INTRODUCTION Basketball's first coach was a gym teacher James Naismith was working at a school in Springfield Massachusetts in 1891 Naismith was looking for something to do indoors that could keep his students busy And basketball was born Naismith came up with the original 13 rules for the game He spent the rest of his life helping others learn the sport as interest grew More than 125 years later the game has spread across the globe But a coach's goals remain the same They try to help their players improve while also helping them learn to play as a team Some coaches taught lessons better than anyone else in National Basketball Association NBA history Some like Red Auerbach were larger-than-life personalities Others preferred to let their players do the talking like Lenny Wilkens No matter how they went about their job they all found a way to get the best out of their teams
Steve Kerr has quickly become one of the NBA's top coaches 10 STEVE KERR Steve Kerr didn't have any coaching experience when the Golden State Warriors hired him in May 2014 Kerr did however know a thing or two about what it takes to win He spent 15 years as one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA Along the way he was a part of two of the greatest dynasties in modern NBA history Kerr won three championships with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls from 1996-98 and earned two more rings with Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs Kerr retired in 2003 as the most accurate three-point shooter in NBA history Kerr spent time as a television analyst and as general manager for the Phoenix Suns before interviewing with Golden State Kerr had a plan when he went into his job interview He put together a video titled Why I'm Ready To Be A Head Coach Turns out Kerr was right In 2014 he took over a Warriors team that kept falling short in the playoffs even though it had budding stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson on the roster He wasted little time winning over Curry and the rest of the Warriors Kerr encouraged his players to share the ball play defense and let the three-pointers fly The Warriors went 67-15 in Kerr's first season No rookie coach had ever won more games in NBA history He also
helped Curry develop into a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player MVP Golden State beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals in 2015 and 2017 Kerr missed much of the 2015-16 season while recovering from back surgery but the Warriors still won an NBA-record 73 games
