As The Last Dance reviews the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls dynasty, Sam Amick of The Athletic approached former Bulls guard Steve Kerr with a question:
Why didn’t his 2019 Golden State Warriors film a similar documentary?
Kerr’s answer: The Bulls knew 1998 was their last run. The Warriors kept hope all season that Durant would be back.
“You think about our situation with the Warriors, and we didn’t have a final season,” Kerr continued.
Not only that: The rest of the core remains. With Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and additions including young players and Andrew Wiggins, Golden State still has hope of contention.
“We’re trying to keep this thing going. A lot of our players are still here, and we’re trying to rev it back up, so there was no sense of finality,” Kerr said. “If anything, we’re trying to avoid that.”
Highlighted throughout ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series, prior to the 1998 season, Bulls owner Jerry Krause said head coach Phil Jackson would not be returning after that season. Jordan made it clear that if Jackson weren’t the coach, he wouldn’t be either.
So before the team even stepped on the court, it was clear the coming season would be the final time.
As for the Warriors: Nobody knew what was next.
“So having everybody in, inviting the world in and inviting cameras in and saying, ‘Hey, we want to capture the final days of this run,’ it’s like you’re basically telling your players that you believe this is ending, and also you’re violating a principle of the sanctity of the locker room,” Kerr said.
“So it never occurred to me, nor does it now, to do anything of the sort for our team.”
By the sound of that, even without Durant, the Warriors by no means think their window has closed.
