How Team USA’s Yin and Yang Coaches Kerr and Spoelstra Balance Each Other originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
LAS VEGAS – If opposites truly do attract, the U.S. men’s basketball team has the perfect pairing on your coaching team on head coach Steve Kerr and assistant Erik Spoelstra.
Kerr, 58, won four NBA titles as head coach of the Warriors behind a philosophy centered on his four core values: competitiveness, mindfulness, compassion and joy. The last of the four, joy, may be what he rates highest on his personal pyramid.
Spoelstra, 53, won two championships as head coach of the Miami Heat while turning “Heat Culture” into what appears to be its own religion. The Heat’s mantra that was painted last season on their court during the first NBA tournament of the season is a promise to be the “hardest-working, best-conditioned, most professional, selfless, toughest, meanest and nastiest team.” .
Joy is not part of the Heat equation. Their euphoria comes from the triumph of knowing that they are always one percent physically and mentally stronger than their opponent.
“Being coached by Steve, I would say, is a little more laid back,” Heat star and Team USA member Bam Adebayo told NBC Sports Bay Area on Tuesday after his final day of training at UNLV . “Especially compared to someone like Spo. Spo is very intense.
“That’s just his nature. He is very intense. He is a savant when it comes to studying basketball. So I would just say that Coach Kerr’s laid-back nature is definitely something that stands out.”
Both coaches won a combined six NBA championships as head coaches and reached the NBA Finals 12 times, making six trips each to basketball’s biggest stage. They are two of four current head coaches named as the league’s 15 greatest coaches of all time as part of the NBA celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2022.
But neither Kerr nor Spoelstra should be in this position to begin with.
Kerr wasn’t a top recruit coming out of Palisades High School before becoming a star at the University of Arizona. Spoelstra was selected to Sonny Vaccaro’s famous Nike All-Star camp after catching his eye by standing out at Jesuit High School in Oregon, but had to play for his hometown school at the University of Portland, where he was named Freshman of the Year of the West Coast Conference. in 1989. The two undersized point guards took different paths in their professional playing careers.
Although Kerr’s career began slowly as a second-round draft pick who would go on to be a key member of the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls, winning five championships – three with the Bulls and two more as a member of the San Antonio Spurs – Spoelstra went undrafted and played two years professionally in Germany with TuS Herten. This opportunity also led to his first coaching experience, leading the club’s local youth team.
No matter the differences in style, the goal of being the last team standing and hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy is the same for Kerr and Spoelstra every year. Kerr was crowned champion in his first chance as an NBA coach. Spoelstra worked his way up from the dark corners of the Heat’s video room to years as an assistant coach and is now revered as one of the best basketball minds to teach the game.
The Yin and Yang of the two as coaches could not be clearer. The same can be said of their friendship, which was born thanks to the invaluable time they spent together. US national team coaches off the court.
“The most important thing is that we spend a lot of time outside of practices and games to spend with each other, get to know each other, talk about our families, talk about other interests — all the things that really matter,” Spoelstra says.
Joy vs. be the cruelest team in the NBA. Compassion vs. Always prove to your opponent who is tougher.
Wearing his plaid Vans dating back to the late 1970s and enjoying the beaches of San Diego whenever he can makes Kerr look outwardly carefree. He’s also the same person whose temper ran rampant as a kid on the baseball diamond, the basketball court and everywhere else. Someone can be a fierce competitor, ready to break a clipboard at the sight of a lazy defense, and also preach to his players to play free and easy in the huddle.
Spoelstra sees someone who can balance both perfectly. In the eyes of the players and coaches, that’s Kerr’s greatest gift.
“Steve is our connector,” Spoelstra said. “And he has an incredible superpower of making people feel valued and also keeping the perspective that we are going to be very serious and take the responsibility of representing the United States very seriously. But we can also have a lot of fun on the side.
“I really liked that aspect.”
Smiles will be seen around Spoelstra this summer on the sidelines of Team USA. Kerr will deliver stern reminders to the NBA’s elite. There will be laughter, there will be frustrations, and the two will continually exchange ideas. Each can be misrepresented about how they conduct their business.
Both will bring passion in ways only they know how, balancing each other to proudly call themselves Olympic champions after years of doing so in the NBA.
