Steve Kerr played for Phil Jackson for five seasons.
Over the last four years, the Warriors' head coach has implemented some of things he picked up from the "Zen Master."
"One of the things that I learned from Phil was how important it was being funny watching game film, editing stuff in from movies," Kerr explained in the most recent edition of The California Sunday Magazine. "Nobody I had ever played for had ever done that, and, to me, that was such an effective way of getting a message across. When you could tie together the point you’re trying to make on the basketball floor with a humorous message coming from a movie — when the message is clear and it carries over to what you’re trying to teach — you’re not having to either kiss up to the player or criticize them.
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"You’re just telling them something, but you’re using humor. I thought that was part of Phil’s genius, and it’s something that we try to employ all the time. It’s a lot easier to do now, too, because you’ve got modern technology, and three or four people are in the video room."
Some examples of Kerr using movie clips during film sessions have trickled out over the past couple of seasons.
Kerr provided a great example when talking to Jackson for the magazine profile:
Golden State Warriors
"Last year, we came down on a two-on-one, and Draymond Green had the ball. Steph Curry runs to the 3-point line. Draymond has a dunk if he wants it, because the defender runs to Steph, but Draymond passes up a dunk and throws it to Steph, and Steph misses the 3-pointer. I’m looking at my coaches like, 'What the hell are we doing? Just please take the 2-pointer.' So what are my options to tell Draymond? How are we going to do this creatively? What we decided on the next day at practice was to show a video on playing blackjack. It was about splitting 10s, and the audio says, “Never, ever split 10s. Why would you ever give up a winning hand just to try to get two better ones?'
The message from the video was so obvious. The guys loved it, because they all like to play cards. They got a good laugh out of it, and Draymond laughed. That was to me the kind of stuff I learned from Phil — that there are different ways to get the message across, that if you’re creative enough, then they’re not going to get sick of your voice and they’re not going to get sick of you saying the same things over and over again."
Pretty sure that this is the play Kerr is referencing:
And Kerr is right -- you don't ever split 10s, even if the dealer is showing a six.
Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller