OAKLAND — Steve Kerr wasn’t at the Warriors practice on Monday. Mike Brown ran it again. The team won’t be providing daily health updates on Kerr. They are allowing him to take his time while getting his health issues sorted out.
So there isn’t a firm timetable for his potential return. But this much is clear: Mike Brown will coach Game 1 of Round 2 on Tuesday night against the Jazz and, most likely, beyond.
“The way we look at it is — plan on him not coming back,” Draymond Green said. “That’s the way we’re approaching this thing. We’re not going to sit here and say if we can get to the Conference Finals, Steve may be back for the Conference Finals or if we get to the Finals…Nah. Mike Brown is our coach, we have the rest of our staff and that’s what we’re rolling with. We’re going to hope and pray that Steve gets better and can get back, but at the end of the day, his health is more important than anything. We’re here in support of him. We know how bad he wants to be here and we’d love for him to be here. But he has to take care of what he has to take care of — whether that’s this year or next year he’s back, we’re ready.”
Kerr remains a fixture in coaching meetings and, Brown said, the two have daily phone conversations discussing practice plans, opponent scouting and rotation patterns. Green said the players “know” Kerr is still involved, but Brown is now the voice they hear on a daily basis.
“I think it’s a lot easier to adjust to, oh, Steve’s back on the bench as opposed to play with your mental and wonder ‘Is Steve coming back? When is Steve coming back?'” Green said. “It’s too much. Just focus on what we have here. It’s like a player going down. One guy goes down, other guy has to step up. That’s what you do, adjust to that other guy who gets added to the lineup and play.”
