Kerr is on the Bill Simmons podcast

[fordronken]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2864045

 

[Austin Zonie]

recap?

 

[azirish]

Opened with discussion of his early years with the Cavs.

Not easy to leave broadcasting (less pressure).

Knew had to deal with luxury tax coming in. Have to maintain core. Kurt good player but not in core. Very difficult decision.

League has to be fiancially viable. Keep owners from outspending each other. Makes it happen. Every team can be competative. Model works.

Interesting at trade deadline - 9 or 10 teams at or over. Dump players.

"As a fan, luxury tax is no fun." But not have teams move from city to city.

Referred to Knicks (add contracts without reference to chemisty).

"Did not want to log on to ESPN to see being blasted".

"Nash sees angles from soccer and hockey in passing". Takes guts to make changes.

Rules cut down on physical play, but added speed etc. on the team. Jordan now, unstopable. He never seeme to wear down. Brought it every night.

Chemistry. Has have a pecking order. Over stated in Phoenix. Thinks has good chemistry. Feels great about this team.

Can have one, maybe two loose cannons. In xome cases, actually can help.

Compare Jordan and Duncan. Jordan tough on teammates. Duncan too hard on himself. Total focus on winning for both.

Pippen should be in the Hall of Fame. Did everything and great teammate. Cared about game. But emotional. He was really the point guard in the triangle. Great defensive perimter.

Kobe great, but had it all right away. Jordan had to work and grow before to the top.

Thinks Ruban Patterson would fit on Celtics. KG needs a couple of guys to take pressure off him. Good for league.

Atlanta is going to be good.

Wasted energy worrying about whether could have won it. Have to keep the core together. Feel good about where are. But West is very good.

Maybe Nash wanted to win too much. Grant can take pressure. Diaw in "great shape". Need to take pressure off Nash.

European championships later. Boris admits he was not in as good shape as should have.

 

[Cheesebeef]

i love that KT wasn't part of the core, even though he was a starter in the biggest series/most difficult series we would have faced all season.

 

[OldDirtMcGirt]

i love that KT wasn't part of the core, even though he was a starter in the biggest series/most difficult series we would have faced all season.

KT was definitely not part of the core. He's a great roleplayer, don't get me wrong, but that's it.

 

[Cheesebeef]

KT was definitely not part of the core. He's a great roleplayer, don't get me wrong, but that's it.

great role players are part of the core. or at least a championship core.

 

[fordronken]

great role players are part of the core. or at least a championship core.

So if you're in the rotation, you're part of the core? I think if he'd asked Steve Kerr if he was part of the Bulls core, he would have said no.

The Suns core is Nash, Marion, Amare and Barbosa. I think that's it. Everyone else is hugely expendable.

 

[cly2tw]

So if you're in the rotation, you're part of the core? I think if he'd asked Steve Kerr if he was part of the Bulls core, he would have said no.

The Suns core is Nash, Marion, Amare and Barbosa. I think that's it. Everyone else is hugely expendable.

So, Bowen was not core to Spurs? If yes, then Kurt wasn't either. But IMO, Kurt was not the core to the Suns-show team but definitely core to playoff core against Spurs, however Kerr spins it.

 

[Cheesebeef]

So if you're in the rotation, you're part of the core? I think if he'd asked Steve Kerr if he was part of the Bulls core, he would have said no.

a) Kerr was never a starter on any of those Bulls team, as opposed to KT who was a starter until he was hurt two years ago and was a key player for our toughest matchup. There's really no comparison between the two.

b) you do realize that even though I don't really believe there's a comparison between the impact KT makes on a Suns team that hasn't won jack, with a matchup nightmare they can't get past, you do realize that Krause/Jackson knew they needed a version of John Paxson on their Bulls 2.0 championship team.

The point is - yes,maybe he was a role player, but he was a role player that was NEEDED to win a title and like Kerr replaced Paxson, NO ONE is here yet to replace KT and we're basically sitting back on our heels hoping a guy doesn't retire or decides to go with us. That's reactive management - something I expect out of the Cardinals, not the Suns.

The Suns core is Nash, Marion, Amare and Barbosa. I think that's it. Everyone else is hugely expendable.

for a team that hasn't won jack and had serious depth problems last year, I think it's pretty arrogant to believe everyone else is expendable, especially if that player who's been cast off hasn't been replaced.

 

[devilalum]

great role players are part of the core. or at least a championship core.

Shawn Marion is the greatest role player ever to play the game.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Shawn Marion is the greatest role player ever to play the game.

eh, i give it to Rodman because his level of play wouldn't fall in the playoffs and he was a role player who actually helped teams win titles (probably because his game didn't fall in the playoffs).

 

[Dr. Jones]

Atlanta is going to be good.

Way to drive down the value of that pick Kerr. Great job.

 

[devilalum]

eh, i give it to Rodman because his level of play wouldn't fall in the playoffs and he was a role player who actually helped teams win titles (probably because his game didn't fall in the playoffs).

If Marion had been on those teams instead of Rodman they still would have won championships.

 

[devilalum]

The Suns core is Nash, Marion, Amare and Barbosa. I think that's it. Everyone else is hugely expendable.

I'd say everybody else is replaceable but not expendable. All the great Bulls teams had servicable big men to compliment Jordan and Pippen. They seemed to change every year but they never just let them go without a replacement.

 

[Cheesebeef]

If Marion had been on those teams instead of Rodman they still would have won championships.

that could be. although I doubt the Bulls would have won all three - Rodman at least got in 4s and 5s heads which was a big part of the Bulls getting over on Kemp, Mailman, Zo and Shaq. Those guys would have murdered Shawn as a 4 on those teams and there was no place for him as a 3 with Pip there.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I'd say everybody else is replaceable but not expendable. All the great Bulls teams had servicable big men to compliment Jordan and Pippen. They seemed to change every year but they never just let them go without a replacement.

exactly - not to mention this team hasn't won jack and doesn't have the best player of all time on it.

 

[Mainstreet]

Atlanta is going to be good.

I think Bill Simmons was trying to play up the value of the Atlanta pick while Kerr of course was trying to be diplomatic. I think Simmons wanted to get Kerr to put a high value on the Atlanta pick (which would have been a slap at Atlanta) and he refused to do so. As I recall Simmons probed this issue with Kerr several different ways but Kerr refused to bite other than to say Atlanta is going to be good. So yes, Atlanta is going to be good but Kerr refused to play the how good game.

Also the worrisome thought entered my mind that Kerr might be slightly evasive because the pick could be used as a tradable commodity.

 

[azirish]

All of this is irrelevant. The real problem with the interview was that Simmons did not ask any relevant followup questions such as how the Suns hope to replace what KT contributed. He didn't even ask who makes up the core.

Most of the interview was just dumb. I'm not sure, but it seemed like he asked more stuff about the Celtics than about the Suns. Even Kerr seemed put off by this tack although he was very polite.

The only areas of interest included a discussion of Nash. Other than the old stuff about his vision and passing angles, he noted that Nash is not afraid of tough passes which is why he gets turnovers but also a lot of assists. More significant was an explicit statement that Nash tried to do too much and they hope Hill and Diaw will take some of the pressure off Nash.

He said that Diaw is in great shape and that Diaw admits he was not in proper condition coming into camp last year. He mentioned there is a shorter gap between Eurobasket Championships and training camp this year.

The list of unasked questions would fill volumes.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Atlanta is going to be good.

.[/B]

you forgot to finish that sentence, "so we're gonna trade that pick for some cash to help our FLEXIBILITY!"

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

So if you're in the rotation, you're part of the core? I think if he'd asked Steve Kerr if he was part of the Bulls core, he would have said no.

The Suns core is Nash, Marion, Amare and Barbosa. I think that's it. Everyone else is hugely expendable.

would say bowen is part of the spurs core? he's a role player in a similar role to kurts. and who the hell cares about "the core" . . . they can keep rolling out that line with the "FLEXIBILITY" and if it makes us worse, it's just that . . . making us worse.

 

[azirish]

you forgot to finish that sentence, "so we're gonna trade that pick for some cash to help our FLEXIBILITY!"

That whole section was on-the-fly notes, but I don't remember him saying that.

Actually, it was Sarver who made a big deal about keeping the pick. What Kerr did mention was that sometimes teams unload players near the trading deadline, but did not sound encouraging about picking anybody up at that point.

 

[elindholm]

If Marion had been on those teams instead of Rodman they still would have won championships.

Highly unlikely. What position do you think he'd play? The Bulls were undersized as it was; they got by because Rodman was such a tenacious interior defender and rebounder.

 

[elindholm]

Come on, guys, don't argue about who is or is not "in the core" when we haven't even defined what that's supposed to mean. It's just another version of the whole "superstar" debate.

 

[SunsTzu]

Come on, guys, don't argue about who is or is not "in the core" when we haven't even defined what that's supposed to mean.

Seems the Suns feel the core is who ever is currently on the team playing the most minutes. Kidd, Marbury and JJ were all part of the "core" until they were no longer on the team.

 

[elindholm]

Seems the Suns feel the core is who ever is currently on the team playing the most minutes. Kidd, Marbury and d JJ were all part of the "core" until they were no longer on the team.

Okay, well by that definition, Thomas is no longer part of the core.