Assessing the Coaching Staff at Golden State Warriors for the 2020-21 NBA Season

The Golden State Warriors coaching staff remains intact despite a disastrous season. The only difference is player development coach Steve Nash has moved on and has been replaced by one of his former teammates, Leandro Barbosa.

Barbosa plans to act as a mental coach of sorts as he guides a new crop of players who have joined the Dubs roster.

As far as the other components that make up the GSW coaching staff, that’s where this post comes in handy.

If five rings as a player weren’t enough, Steve Kerr has tacked on three more NBA championships as a coach (2015, 2017, 2018). Interestingly enough, the one year during that four-year stretch where the Dubs didn’t hoist the hardware was the season that Kerr guided the Warriors to a 73-9 regular-season record. Ironically, he broke the record set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team that he was a member of!

With that being said, the respect that Kerr has earned and the accolades he has racked up didn’t mean much a season ago. The Warriors head coach was humbled as Golden State produced the worst record in basketball.

Much like Steve Nash getting pushed up the coaching ranks without any prior experience, Kerr was hired by to be the Warriors head coach in 2014 without ever serving a day as an assistant.

All five of the Golden State Warriors assistant coaches from 2019-20 are back on the sidelines.

The 2009 NBA Coach of the Year has been in the NBA coaching circle since 1997. Mike Brown spent eight seasons as an assistant before getting a shot with Cleveland in 2005. In all, Brown sports a 347-216 career record as an HC in this league between stints with the Cavaliers and Lakers.

One of Kerr’s original hires in 2014, Jarron Collins played for the Suns in 2009-10 when Kerr was the president of basketball operations in Phoenix. In the summer of 2015, after one season as a player development coach, Collins was promoted to a full-time assistant.

Some might say Bruce Fraser is Steph Curry’s “personal” coach, although the man nicknamed “Q,” has evolved into more of an asset on the game-planning and strategic side of the game.

Similar to Collins and Fraser, Ron Adams was part of the original Golden State Warriors coaching staff that Bob Myers formulated in 2014. The 73-year-old defensive specialist got his start at Fresno Pacific before eventually coaching at Fresno State. Adams was part of Jerry Tarkanian’s staff at UNLV in 1991 when the Rebels went to the Final Four. He’s been an assistant in the NBA since 1992.

Not to be confused with professional golfer Chris DiMarco, Chris DeMarco of the Warriors is a young and emerging talent. The product of Dominican University in nearby San Rafael got his start with Golden State as a video intern in 2012. Now an assistant coach and in charge of player development, it’s evident that DeMarco is loved by the players.

Epic moment at Warriors shoot around today. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson dared assistant coach Chris DeMarco that he couldn’t dunk anymore. It took 4 attempts, but the reaction alone was worth it. pic.twitter.com/La5bgrXLrd

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) April 10, 2018

Bob Myers has constructed a tight-knit family in the Bay Area, and therefore, the Golden State Warriors coaching staff has familiarity in place. Steve Kerr can certainly do a better job of motivating his players, but the success of this team hinges on the health of his players.

To learn more about coaching staffs across the NBA, take a peek at the links below.