Warriors coach Steve Kerr compared Golden State’s roster depth to that of a popular chain restaurant menu.
Kerr compares Warriors roster depth to popular chain restaurant menu originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
When teams go through a funk and need an energy boost, such as the Warriors during the 2024-25 NBA season, coaches sometimes turn to their youth to provide that spark.
Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody have filled that role when given the chance over the last three years, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis added into the mix last season as rookies, and players such as Gui Santos have given Dub Nation something to look forward to this year.
But it’s not that simple for Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who admitted on 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” how challenging it has been to balance lineups and make difficult rotation decisions given the depth of the roster. He even compared it to the feeling you get when you go to The Cheesecake Factory and are overwhelmed by their massive menu.
“Yeah, I think that’s too simple. I think Gui is a guy who generates a lot of that with his hustle and just the way he anticipates plays. I love playing Gui for that reason. But every game is different,” Kerr said. “With this team, you kind of have to ride the hot hand sometimes — and we’ve got a lot of options. I think that’s probably the toughest part coaching this team, is that I got a million options every night but no clear choices. It’s like you go to The Cheesecake Factory and there’s a thousand things on the menu. I don’t want to go to a restaurant like that. Give me 10 things on the menu. … It’s a headache.
“Obviously I’m just giving you a stupid metaphor, [but] the reality is night to night what you want as a coach is you kind of want to know like, here’s our pattern, these are the guys we’re going to, we’re going to do this night after night, and this year it hasn’t been that way. It’s partly because of injuries, it’s partly because we don’t have clear separation within the group. So we’re kind of mixing and matching from one night to the next. That’s not easy on the coaches and it’s definitely not easy on the players, them not knowing what their role in the rotation will be one night to the next.
“Again, we’re just trying to win each game and every night, it’s very different for us.”
Popular chain restaurant menus. NBA rosters. They’re one and the same, really.
The Warriors reached a new low Monday night when they fell to the Toronto Raptors — a team that at the time had just eight wins on the season — and dropped to 19-20 and 12th in the Western Conference.
From dealing with injuries throughout the season, the cautious approach around a soon-to-be 37-year-old Steph Curry, some inconsistencies from key players and the addition of Dennis Schröder, Kerr has had his work cut out for him.
Of course, this type of adversity isn’t foreign to teams over the course of a season, and Kerr would be the first person to acknowledge that, even shouldering the blame for the Warriors’ struggles this year. But that’s part of the job. And so is making those difficult decisions.
It’s just like when you ultimately make that decision at The Cheesecake Factory. Sometimes you’re content, other times not so much. But when you return, you know whether you’re willing to try something new or stick with what you liked last time. Now it’s on Kerr to finalize those decisions before it’s too late.
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