Klay describes how Warriors' offense was inspired by Barça originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Steve Kerr played under two of the best coaches the NBA has ever had in Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson, so he had a first-row seat to greatness.
In addition to taking aspects of their coaching philosophy, Kerr also incorporated a wrinkle of an entirely different sport: soccer.
After the Warriors' 123-109 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday at Chase Center, Klay Thompson spoke postgame on TNT's "Inside the NBA," revealing that Kerr takes inspiration from FC Barcelona's tiki-taka style.
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"[Kerr] came in and he had a vision just to keep that thing hot," Thompson said. "I mean, he gave us a perfect example. In FC Barcelona, they call it tiki-taka. It's just kicking the open man and with us, hit the open man. Keep moving. And it just plays to me and Steph's strength so much."
Thompson isn't the only that has discussed Kerr's coaching philosophy as of late. During a podcast appearance in September, Draymond Green talked about his initial reaction to how Kerr wanted the Warriors to play when the 57-year-old took over the job in 2014.
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"When Steve Kerr took over the job, I remember the first training camp, he's like, ball movement, cut, stop standing and waiting for the ball," Green said. "I'll catch the ball at the top of the key, Steph on the wing. And he's like, Steph, cut and it's like, 'No, dude, I'm supposed to pass the ball to Steph right here.' And he said, 'Pass the ball and move without the ball; the ball will find the hands of the people that are supposed to get the shots.'
"We all thought he was out of his mind. And then as we started to do it, then you figure it out and you like, 'Yo, this is actually pretty incredible.' Like, it's ball moving, ball moving, ball moving. Screen roll, it's ball moving, ball moving ball moving. There goes the mismatch, but nobody's really standing. And that's kind of where all this flow offense and all this stuff came."
Kerr's philosophy has resulted in four NBA championships in eight years, and the Warriors aren't slowing down. Golden State is looking for back-to-back Larry O'Brien championship trophies, and with Kerr's style, they are more than capable of winning it all again this season.
