The Warriors have some important decisions to make as the 2022 NBA Draft arrives Thursday night, but their offseason changes will go beyond the players.
Mike Brown celebrated the Warriors' 2022 NBA title during the championship parade on Monday and then headed north as he was formally introduced as head coach of the Kings on Tuesday.
Golden State now faces a similar turnaround as the Warriors try to fill his vacancy.
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Team president and general manager Bob Myers shared what they’re looking for as the coaching search begins, and whether that search is internal or external.
“Steve [Kerr] called me this morning. We just haven't had a lot of time to figure that part out yet,” Myers told reporters Wednesday. “I know he's been thinking about it more than I have, which he should. It's his staff. But he has ideas on what he might do, but he hasn't formalized any of them. He's going to be talking -- you can grill him on that one.
"We've talked about it. We prefer internal because we've done that in the past with Santa Cruz, and we value that process. But last year we went external with Kenny [Atkinson] and Jama [Mahlalela] and Dejan [Milojevic], there's a lot of guys. We'll see. I think he is probably thinking about a lot of those things right now.”
Myers also talked about Atkinson, a top assistant, who too was on the brink of departing Golden State for a head coaching gig before turning down the position from the Charlotte Hornets to stay with the Warriors and chase another title.
Golden State Warriors
Myers said Atkinson is a “great” coach who will help the team for as long as they can keep him in the Bay. But Myers doesn’t think it’ll take long for Atkinson to get another head coaching opportunity.
Kerr called Atkinson his “liaison” and distinguished the biggest difference between him and prior staffs.
“He's very analytically driven,” Kerr said. “And I think the particular with analytics is how you apply it to the court, and you have to sort of figure out how to process information and how it can translate to winning basketball games.
“It's not an easy thing to do. There's so many numbers, and Kenny is one of the rare coaches who really has a great feel for the numbers and how those numbers translate. He's also a fantastic developmental coach. He worked closely with Jonathan all year long. He's so energetic. He's constantly bringing the vibe in practice up. There's just a great energy and joy about him. We're thrilled to have him back.”
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While the love and respect for Brown will always be there from the Warriors and Dub Nation, Golden State is looking ahead in the push for a fifth championship in nine years.