GM Kerr recovers from early Sun burns

PHOENIX – If Steve Kerr was going to cut back his family time, dump his golden once-a-week TNT gig and give up some of his SoCal morning surf to become the next general manager of the Phoenix Suns, he wanted to make sure he was ready. Not just for the job, but also the lifestyle changes that came with it.

Kerr had already once turned down Suns owner Robert Sarver when he came calling, GM title in hand, midway through the 2005-06 season. But this time was different. Kerr didn’t want to be a broadcaster forever and, though long fast-tracked for a coach’s chair, he had come to embrace the challenge of helping run one of the NBA’s most successful franchises. What he wanted now was someone to assure him he was making the right decision.

Kerr called his good friend, Danny Ferry, for advice. Ferry had agreed to take over the Cleveland Cavaliers in June of '05 after facing the same dilemma: the tug of family life versus his yet-to-be-satisfied competitive hunger and the need to strike a healthy balance between the two.

“Can I do this?” Kerr asked. “Yes,” Ferry said, “you can do it.”

Kerr’s cell phone buzzed with another call, so he thanked Ferry and said he’d get back to him. The next day Ferry

read that Kerr had accepted the position. When Kerr finally called back a few days later, Ferry laughed.

“I said you could do the job,” Ferry told him. “But you hung up before I could also tell you that you shouldn’t do it.”

In the eight months since Ferry’s half-hearted warning, Kerr has received a crash course in the stresses and pressures that come with leading a high-profile, budget-conscious franchise. He surrendered two first-round draft picks and center Kurt Thomas, the Suns’ best low-post defender, in an only-in-the-NBA trade to Seattle just to remove Thomas’ $8 million salary from the payroll. When Shawn Marion sought a three-year extension that approached $60 million last summer, Kerr had to tell him no then watched as Marion publicly requested a trade.

Amare Stoudemire complained about his shot attempts then skipped a practice, prompting Kerr to jet in from San Diego, where he still resides. There was talk of a “peripheral disconnect” between Kerr and Suns coach Mike D’Antoni reportedly related to Kerr’s wish to lean the team’s offense more toward Stoudemire.

“This is a very challenging job,” said Kerr, who admits he probably could have handled the situation with Marion better. “It’s not easy, that’s for sure. I knew what to expect, but there isn’t a guide for a lot of this. You just have to experience it.

“The dynamics of all the relationships in the organization, coaches-players, me and players, can be a little surprising and I’m sort of responsible for all of those relationships working. That’s the real challenge. You have to be a little bit of psychologist, and that’s something I enjoy.”

Kerr wasn’t looking for easy. He needed a challenge, which is one reason why he says he’s liked his new job. Judging from Phoenix’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, he still has plenty of work ahead. Missing Tony Parker and mired in a woeful stretch that had seen them lose 13 of their past 24 games, the Spurs still suckered the Suns into a slow, grind-it-out contest while holding them to a season-low 81 points.

Coincidentally, it was the Spurs, Phoenix’s heated rival and the franchise with which Kerr won the last two of his five championships, who helped nudge him toward the GM’s desk. After Sarver purchased the Suns in 2004, he brought aboard Kerr, his neighbor in San Diego, as a minority investor and consultant. Kerr spoke with Sarver on an every-other-day basis, providing advice, but staying out of the actual decision-making process. Sarver offered him the GM job when Bryan Colangelo left for Toronto midway through the 2005-06 season, but Kerr declined and D’Antoni took on the added title.

After Phoenix’s bitter loss to the Spurs in the second round of last season’s playoffs, Sarver wanted to lighten D’Antoni’s responsibility so he again called on Kerr.

In addition to working for TNT at the time, Kerr also was serving as a columnist for Yahoo! Sports. The day Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended for leaving the bench following Game 4 of Phoenix’s series against the Spurs, he wrote that Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen also should be suspended for doing the same earlier in the game when Francisco Elson became entangled with James Jones. The column angered Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who thought Kerr was misusing his position while also working for the Suns. He told Kerr as much in a harsh rebuke before the next game.

In retrospect, Kerr said Stoudemire “probably should have been suspended” but he also contends that if Diaw, who retraced his steps back to the bench nearly as soon as he left, was going to penalized then Duncan probably deserved to as well. Regardless, Kerr agreed with Popovich and any tension between him and his former coach and team quickly dissipated.

“He said I was wearing too many hats, and he was probably right,” Kerr said. “I was a Suns consultant, a broadcaster and a columnist for Yahoo! I had a lot of stuff going on. After that, I was like, ‘Maybe I should just dive in headfirst now.’ ”

Kerr, aided by David Griffin, Phoenix’s heady vice president of basketball operations, has tried to do that while also maintaining his home in San Diego. He commutes frequently (“I have a lot of Southwest miles”), often staying in a Phoenix apartment on the nights the Suns are playing in town. Not having a full-time residence here, however, has rankled some within the Suns’ organization and Kerr’s relationship with D’Antoni has specifically come under inspection. Both men have downplayed any sort of rift, which Kerr attributes to the public’s belief that he’s a “Popovich disciple” because he played with the Spurs.

“People have theorized that we have philosophical differences, but I don’t want to change this team into something it’s not,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have healthy discussions about what we should do. I don’t want a staff of people that all think the same way. I want differing opinions and I want to generate interesting conversation and new ideas and that’s what we have.”

Suns point guard Steve Nash, for one, says Kerr’s addition has benefited the franchise because its leaders now have defined roles.

“We have a general manager who has been proactive and positive and really allowed Mike to concentrate on coaching,” Nash said. “It’s made our organization deeper.”

The storm clouds that appeared to be gathering over the Suns also had begun to clear. Some of Phoenix’s struggles could be attributed to working newcomer Grant Hill into the lineup then losing him for seven games after he underwent an appendectomy. And even after Thursday’s loss, the Suns’ 33-14 record still stood as the conference’s second best.

“We demand more, so that’s put a little edge on us,” Nash said. “We didn’t have as much fun early on and we’re maybe overly self-critical, but recently we started getting our spirit back and our chemistry and we’re feeling better about ourselves.”

Though there was little positive for the Suns to take from Thursday’s loss, Kerr and D’Antoni have both been pleased with the recent improvement in the team’s defense. Stoudemire has long been regarded as a poor rebounder and one of the worst defenders at his position, but his weakside defense and rotations on pick-and-rolls have been better of late.

“The coaches are showing him clips of broadcaster’s comments, saying, ‘Look, this is what people are saying about you,’ and he’s responding,” Kerr said. “He’s a competitor. Amare loves basketball, but he’s young and he doesn’t have a college background as a foundation and we put him at a disadvantage because we play him at center. But he’s awesome and he’s getting better.”

Thursday’s loss, however, raised the question of whether the Suns’ up-tempo, free-flowing style of play will ever translate into a championship. So far Phoenix is 5-8 against the nine other Western Conference teams with winning records this season.

“Until you win, there are going to be people who say you can’t do it,” D’Antoni said. “But I don’t think there’s any validity to it. I think all teams can win it in any style you play. You just have to be really good at it and do the basics: defense, rebounding and shooting. You do those three better than anybody and you win.”

Kerr’s job is to help put the Suns in position to do just that. Coaching, he said, “still has some allure” for him, but only after his children are out of school. Until then, he hopes to grow into a successful GM.

“For the next phase of my life, the next five to 10 years,” he said, “this makes a lot of sense.”

And if it doesn’t work out? He was warned.