Steve Kerr On Modern NBA: 'Guys Don't Box Out'

[RealGM Wiretap]

Steve Kerr spoke out against the lack of rebounding ability in the modern NBA following the Golden State Warriors' 126-114 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Warriors were outrebounded 57-34 in the loss.

"This is the modern NBA; guys don't box out. It's just the way it is. Every night on League Pass, I see the same thing. Players let guys come in from the weak side, and they think, 'I'll just get the rebound.' It's a disease that's rampant in the NBA," said Kerr after the game.

Kerr added that the lack of rebounding detail is a result of how "most of these guys didn't have a high school and college coach yelling at them for a combined eight straight year."

Kerr continued, saying that modern players also aren't doing the "little things" on the court. 

"Players have never had more skill than they have today in my mind. I'm amazed by the skill level. But the little things, getting back in transition -- every night on TV, I see teams let a guy run past them in transition for a layup. We do it; every team does it. If you did that 25 years ago, your coach would take you out and he wouldn't play you again. Now everybody does it, and as a coach, you can't take everybody out," said Kerr.

Steph Curry added that there is a difference between drilling the rebounding fundamentals in practice and executing them during games. 

"Everybody has a different upbringing in the game. When I was at Davidson, we literally drilled that before, during and after every practice. It's part of just learning the fundamentals of the game -- at this level, maybe it's taken for granted, I guess that everybody has a certain understanding, angles and physicality and what not, but you have to be able to do it."

Via Nick Friedell/ESPN

[jozef]

Front office should put a premium on bball IQ when choosing players.

[Vegeta10176]

Ahh if this is what he sees he should exploit this weakness and drill it into his players.. So Steve kerr wants a ready made product he doesn't want to do the work with what he's got this is crazy for a coach to admit he can't coach..

[GameOver25]

Ahh if this is what he sees he should exploit this weakness and drill it into his players.. So Steve kerr wants a ready made product he doesn't want to do the work with what he's got this is crazy for a coach to admit he can't coach..

Oh please, boxing out should be basic basketball fundamentals. You can coach, yell, preach it as much as you want. If a player isn't willing to put a body on his opponent there's only so much the coach can do. Like he said he can't sit everyone.

[Vegeta10176]

Ahh if this is what he sees he should exploit this weakness and drill it into his players.. So Steve kerr wants a ready made product he doesn't want to do the work with what he's got this is crazy for a coach to admit he can't coach..

Oh please, boxing out should be basic basketball fundamentals. You can coach, yell, preach it as much as you want. If a player isn't willing to put a body on his opponent there's only so much the coach can do. Like he said he can't sit everyone.

The only players you have to sit are the stars to set an example.. You can say please all you want but if you want to be a coach this is your job.. If he benches his stars and says you need to set the example and tells the guy on the end of the bench get out there and box out it will happen..

[nikster]

Ahh if this is what he sees he should exploit this weakness and drill it into his players.. So Steve kerr wants a ready made product he doesn't want to do the work with what he's got this is crazy for a coach to admit he can't coach..

Oh please, boxing out should be basic basketball fundamentals. You can coach, yell, preach it as much as you want. If a player isn't willing to put a body on his opponent there's only so much the coach can do. Like he said he can't sit everyone.

these Athletes are relying on habits and instincts they have spent years if not decades developing, its very hard to enact those kind of changes.

But ultimately what this means is that it doesnt matter that much to the organization, and they dont think it has that big of an impact on winning. If they thought those things mattered they would prioritize them, but both the coach and the front office prefers an extremely skilled player over one thats less skilled but does these little things

[440BB]

This sounds like an excuse for not acquiring players that have those skills. On the other hand, it may be an excuse for a coach riding on some talent but not able to get players to buy in to playing a complete game.

[bballshinobi]

Need to load manage these players after they play 20-23 seconds of defense!

[ciueli]

What Kerr says is interesting, because looking at team offensive rebounding over the past couple of decades, it looks like we are currently at something of an all-time low.

For example, back in 2003-04, The Dallas Mavericks led the league averaging 14.7 offensive rebounds per game. Toronto was the worst in the league with 10.7 offensive rebounds per game.

So far in 2020-2021, New Orleans leads the league with 11.5 offensive rebounds per game, while Miami is last with 8.0 offensive rebounds per game. The worst team in 2003-04 would be better than all but 5 teams today.

There's a lot that be read into these numbers, a huge part of the decline in offensive rebounding is that shooting efficiency has increased significantly over that period of time. Another factor is less value placed on offensive rebounding with the reduction in shot clock, and another is the greater emphasis on preventing transition scoring opportunities by "getting back" on defense (no time to crash the boards for an offensive rebound).

But at some level the numbers aren't showing that guys aren't blocking out, maybe Kerr doesn't understand how difficult it is to "block out" when half the shots teams are taking are from the 3 point line and result in crazy angles and rebounds that come out to the 3 point line?