OAKLAND, USA – Golden State’s Steve Kerr and Cleveland’s Dave Blatt, the first rookie coaches to meet in the NBA Finals since the first one in 1947, took paths through the Middle East to reach the sport’s biggest stage.
And they almost wound up on the same side, the Lebanon-born, five-time NBA champion guard Kerr and 22-year European coach Blatt, an Israeli-American who guided Maccabi Tel Aviv to last year’s Euroleague crown.
Kerr wanted Blatt on his coaching staff before Blatt was offered the top coaching post in Cleveland, taking it only a few weeks before superstar LeBron James decided to leave Miami and return to his hometown club, giving Blatt a superstar welcome to the world of the NBA.
“He just would have been a huge part of what we were trying to do,” Kerr said.
The Warriors went a league-best 67-15 under Kerr on the way to the finals while Blatt’s Cavaliers endured a 19-20 start and some tough times before coming together at mid-season and going 12-2 in the playoffs.
“Steve and the Warriors have had a tremendous season. I’m not surprised in the least,” Blatt said. “It’s just kind of fun and ironic that the two of us meet under these circumstances, as opposed to other circumstances that we could have been together in.”
Kerr, 49, is best known for winning five NBA titles, three with the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan’s 1990s heyday and two more with San Antonio. But Kerr was born in Lebanon and grew up in the Middle East, the son of Malcolm Kerr, who was killed by a militant Islamic group in 1984 while serving as president of the American University of Beirut.
Kerr spent 15 seasons in the NBA with five different clubs, later served as team president of the Phoenix Suns and spent four years as a television commentator before taking over Golden State.
Blatt, 56, played college basketball at Princeton and for Israeli pro teams from 1981-1993, when he retired and turned to coaching, guiding clubs in Israel, Russia, Italy, Turkey and Greece.
In 2012, Blatt coached Russia to a bronze medal at the London Olympics and in 2014 he guided Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague title.
Meeting in an airport
Blatt departed hoping to find a spot in the NBA and his agent set up a talk with another of his clients, Kerr, in June of last year at Los Angeles International Airport.
“We were just two guys that have a great love for the game that have had varied and different experiences but whose paths have crossed in unusual kinds of ways,” Blatt said. “We just sat down and had a great discussion about the game and about the ways that we thought it should be played and about life in general, hit it off just as two people.”
Kerr never imagined he would be seeing Blatt again at the NBA Finals.
“Not a chance. The irony of it all,” Kerr said. “Part of my selling job to David was, ‘Hey, we’re going to be pretty good. You join our staff, that will give you an opportunity for a springboard for a head coaching job within the next year or two.’
“Two weeks later he’s head coach of the Cavs and a couple weeks after that he’s got LeBron, and everything changed from there and here we are.”
(READ: Curry says no cakewalk to crown with Irving out)
Kerr and Blatt found they were kindred spirits in basketball terms.
“We definitely bonded in our conversations over our shared philosophies,” Kerr said. “The game is not that complicated. There’s different styles you can play, but I always admired the way his teams played.”
And Kerr was watching when Blatt was getting the blame for the Cavaliers’ early struggles.
“I thought just the way he has handled everything, the way they righted the ship, weathered the storm, he handled it well,” Kerr said. “It’s one of the big reasons why they’re here right now.” – Jim Slater/Rappler.com
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