AFL 2022: Basketball legend Steve Kerr says Alastair Clarkson played a part in Warriors’ NBA title chase

Coming hot on the heels of Alastair Clarkson’s appointment at the Kangaroos, NBA coaching kingpin Steve Kerr has revealed the role Clarko played in Golden State Warriors’ title.

Four-time NBA championship-winning coach Steve Kerr and AFL coaching great Alistair Clarkson.

Four-time NBA championship-winning coach Steve Kerr has revealed how AFL coaching great Alastair Clarkson provided “creative ideas and thoughts” during the Golden State Warriors’ first round playoff series win over the Denver Nuggets in April.

Just a week after Clarkson said his return to coaching had been inspired by watching the Warriors at close quarters earlier this year, Kerr told the Herald Sun he was delighted to hear this week the four-time AFL premiership mentor had joined North Melbourne as coach.

“I’m thrilled that he’s back coaching the team he once played for in Melbourne and I have no doubt he’s got the energy and the fire to do a great job,” Kerr said of Clarkson’s new role with the Kangaroos.

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Coach Steve Kerr has welcomed Alastair Clarkson’s appointment at North Melbourne.

Clarkson spent several months in the US on a fact-finding mission after his departure from Hawthorn, spending part of his time with six-time NBA champions Golden State and NFL giants Green Bay Packers.

He developed a strong rapport with Kerr — one of the most respected coaches in world sport – and provided some input when embedded with the coaching staff as they planned to negate the influence of Denver’s back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

“Al had a lot of creative ideas and thoughts which really helped me navigate our championship run,” Kerr said.

The Warriors won that first round series against Denver 4-1, before ultimately going on to win the championship 4-2 over the Boston Celtics in June.

Kerr said Clarkson made an impression on the coaching group in his time at the club. The pair have kept in contact in the months since.

“Alastair was wonderful,” he said. “We compared notes every day, shared thoughts and stories and developed a real friendship.

“I think it was helpful for Al to watch our players interact at practice every day and to see how we go about our business. For me it was great to be able to lean on someone who has sat in my seat for many years and enjoyed great success coaching.”

Alastair Clarkson speaks to the media after agreeing to coach North Melbourne in a five-year deal.

Clarkson was spotted in the background of a clip on the NBA’s Twitter account of Golden State star Klay Thompson arriving at San Francisco’s Chase Centre for Game 5 of the first round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.

He had been wavering on whether he wanted to coach at senior AFL level again after departing Hawthorn under difficult circumstances at the end of last season.

But he said his time at Golden State, in particular, stirred his competitive coaching juices.

Clarkson said: “I spent a lot of time with the Golden State Warriors and Steve Kerr … They were starting their playoffs and I was sitting in discussions with Steve and Ron Adams and Mike Brown and Kenny Atkinson and their coaching crew.

“They’re planning a big playoff series against Denver — and they (Denver) had the MVP (Nikola Jokic) on their side — and there was this enormous strategy around how they were going to defeat Denver and negate the influence of this significant player for them.

“I watched that discussion then unfold into training sessions where they needed to go and practice and execute it, then a best-of seven game series … I came back from there so inspired by what Steve was doing, first and foremost, and their success.

“I thought to myself, ‘this is what I do, this is in my DNA’.”

Kerr, who won five NBA championships as a player in his time at Chicago and San Antonio, was last year named as one of the top 15 coaches in NBA history.

He won his first NBA championship as a coach with Golden State in 2015 — coinciding with Clarkson’s fourth flag as Hawthorn’s coach — before taking the Warriors to title wins in 2017, 2018 and 2022.