STEVE Kerr is a winner. He’s a five-time NBA champion player and a four-time champion coach, accolades that have earned him a spot among the Top 15 Coaches in NBA history.
He also knows what it feels like to lose. The Golden State Warriors mentor has already lost twice in the NBA Finals, including in 2016 when they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers that left a record 73-9 finish in the regular season to waste.
And what’s more tragic than losing someone? His dad, Malcolm, was shot twice in the head and killed in Beirut, Lebanon while Steve was on the other side of the world in his dorm room at University of Arizona.
So he knows what it’s like to be in both worlds.
Now at the helm of a Team USA that’s always carrying the weight of heavy expectations, Kerr knows anything can happen.
For him, it’s about embracing the journey and accepting whatever outcome.
Steve Kerr on dealing with Team USA pressure
“Pressure is sort of what you make of it,” Kerr began during the introductory press conference on Thursday, two days before the Americans open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“And to me, we all love what we do. I love coaching and I love the weight or the pressure or however you want to describe competition. Part of being a competitor is embracing the fact that you can lose. That’s the whole point of competing: there’s winning and there’s losing,” continued Kerr, who turns 58 on September 27 and whose mom was celebrating her birthday on Thursday.
“And what goes into that is the effort and the approach, and chemistry, and I love being part of a team. I love what we’re doing right now, trying to build something, and then have something at stake.”
What’s dangling in this World Cup is a gold medal that the Americans had always owned, only to give up in 2019 when they stumbled to their worst-ever finish at seventh spot.
Kerr is focusing on what he can control.
“The beauty of sports is nobody’s going to die,” he said. “We’re going to compete. We’re going to play as hard as we can. We’re going to try to win a gold medal. If we don’t, we understand there will be plenty of criticism and we’re okay with that.”
“But our approach is: this is incredibly fun. We’re unbelievably fortunate to be able to do this and compete, and look back on this the rest of our lives, and know that we did everything we could. We’re putting in the effort. We want to win, but whatever happens, happens and we live with that. That’s part of competition.”
It helps that Kerr has a collection of NBA stars at his disposal, including New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who is tasked to orchestrate Team USA’s offense alongside Tyrese Haliburton.
Like his coach, Brunson has the same mindset in terms of dealing with pressure.
“For me personally, there’s no such thing as pressure,” Brunson said. “I have figured out that as long as I continue to work hard with my game, putting everything I can in my craft, there’s no such thing as pressure.”
“There are different moments. There are situations where the stakes are higher than others, but I have confidence with my work ethic. For the team, we’re going to rely on each other when the moments like that happen, so we’re all we got and that’s all we worry about,” he added.
For sure, their opponents will be worrying about them.
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