Why Warriors' Steve Kerr enjoyed playing pickup basketball over NBA

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Warriors coach Steve Kerr played in the NBA for 15 seasons from 1988 to 2003.

He averaged 6.0 points and 1.8 assists in 17.8 minutes per game while shooting 45.4 percent from 3-point range.

The No. 50 overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft won five championships -- three with the Chicago Bulls and two with the San Antonio Spurs.

So what was more fun -- playing in the league or casually playing with friends after retirement?

"I actually enjoyed the pickup ball more than the NBA because I was finally the most talented player on the floor," Kerr told K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. "I could actually cross somebody up and get to the rim.

"I’d be like, ‘What just happened?’"

He obviously is kidding. Right? Right?!

Unfortunately, the 54-year-old doesn't play pickup anymore. As he explained to Johnson:

"I retired when I was 37. I picked up tennis and I played a lot, like three or four days a week. And I played pickup basketball every Sunday. And I played basketball all the way until I was about 45. And I was grinding. I was going hard on the tennis court and in pickup. When I turned 43, literally in the same month, each knee kind of ran out of cartilage. And I could feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s no cushion in there anymore.’ I had a scope done by our team doctor in Phoenix. I was GM at the time. I remember thinking, ‘All right, I’ll get a scope. And I’ll be fine.’ I wake up and he said, ‘The scope went well. We cleaned it up. But you gotta stop playing basketball.’ And I said, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you gotta stop playing basketball and tennis. You just don’t have any more cartilage.’ I was devastated. My whole life, I played. There was so much wear and tear from my playing days and my post-playing days. Seven years of flying around the tennis court, my body just wore out.

You miss the feeling of the freedom and the flow and the energy. You start making some shots and you’re running and you get this incredible workout and at the end of the games, you’re just exhausted but in an incredibly satisfying way. And then you go home and throw the ice bags on the knee and watch football or something. I miss that. Now it’s all non-impact stuff — yoga, elliptical. I have to avoid any of the pounding."

Many of us out there (who didn't have long NBA careers) feel your pain, coach.

[RELATED: Why a 'dap' is much more than a handshake in today's NBA]

Try to enjoy that elliptical as much as possible. Perhaps you can mix it up with some swimming?

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