Steve Kerr

Steve Kerr

No. 4, 5, 2, 25
Guard
Personal information
Born	(1965-09-27) September 27, 1965 Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Pacific Palisades (Los Angeles, California)
College	Arizona (1983–1988)
NBA draft	1988 / Round: 2 / Pick: 50th overall
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Pro playing career	1988–2003
Career history
1988–1989	Phoenix Suns
1989–1992	Cleveland Cavaliers
1992–1993	Orlando Magic
1993–1998	Chicago Bulls
1999–2001	San Antonio Spurs
2001–2002	Portland Trail Blazers
2002–2003	San Antonio Spurs
Career highlights and awards
5× NBA champion (1996–1999, 2003) NBA Three-Point Shootout champion (1997) 2× NBA three-point field goal percentage leader (1990, 1995) No. 25 retired by the University of Arizona
Career statistics
Points	5,437
Rebounds	1,060
Assists	1,658
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men’s basketball Competitor for  United States FIBA World Championship Gold 1986 Spain National team

Stephen Douglas "Steve" Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player. He shot .454 from 3-point range over his career and currently holds the record as the most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history.^[1] Kerr is a 5-time NBA champion, winning 3 straight championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1996–98 and two with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and 2003. He and Frank Saul are the only two players in NBA history who won two championships with two different teams in consecutive seasons.^[2]

On June 2, 2007, the Phoenix Suns named Kerr the team's President of Basketball Operations and General Manager. Kerr helped Managing Partner Robert Sarver buy the Suns in 2004 and became one of Sarver's trusted basketball advisors. Kerr announced his retirement from the Suns in June 2010.^[3]

Early life

The son of Malcolm Kerr, an American academic who specialized in the Middle East, Kerr spent much of his childhood in Lebanon and other Arab states. He attended Cairo American College in Egypt and Palisades High School (now Palisades Charter High School) in Pacific Palisades, California. On January 18, 1984, Malcolm, who was then serving as president of the American University of Beirut, was assassinated by the predecessor to Lebanese Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, in Beirut for which the late AUB president's family filed legal papers against the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2003.^[4]

Basketball career

NCAA career

Kerr was minimally recruited out of high school because he could not jump well and was slower than other point guards.^[5] Kerr played basketball for the University of Arizona from 1983–88. In summer 1986, Kerr was named to the USA Basketball team that competed in the FIBA World Championship in Spain. The team was the last American Men's Senior Team composed strictly of amateur players to capture a gold medal. He injured his knee in the tournament, forcing him to miss an entire season (1986–87) at Arizona. After returning to the team, Kerr became a fan favorite due to his leadership and long-range shooting. He helped the Wildcats reach the Final Four of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament in 1988, along with future NBA teammate Sean Elliott, future NBA journeyman Tom Tolbert, and future MLB All-Star Kenny Lofton. He also set a NCAA record for 3-point percentage in a season (114-199, 57.3%).

NBA career

Kerr was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the 1988 NBA Draft, but was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989. He spent over 3 seasons (1989–92) there, and then part of the 1992–93 season with the Orlando Magic. In 1993, he signed with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls made the playoffs in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, but without Michael Jordan's presence for all of 1994 and much of 1995, the team could not advance to the Finals. However, with Jordan back full-time for the 1995–96 season, the Bulls went an NBA-record 72–10 and defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals.

Kerr played a major part of the Bulls' championship victory in the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. In the final seconds of Game 6 with the score tied at 86, he took a pass from Jordan and hit the game-winner. The Bulls won, earning the franchise's fifth title. Kerr also won the 3-Point Shootout at the 1997 All-Star Game.

In the last minute of Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals against Utah, Kerr missed a 3, grabbed his own rebound and did a no-look pass while in midair to Michael Jordan who made a crucial three-point play, putting them in the lead for good. The play helped Chicago win the game and tie the series at 1. The Bulls won the series in 6 games.

During the 1998 off-season, Kerr was traded to the San Antonio Spurs, where he spent the rest of his career, except for the 2001–02 season with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Spurs made it to the 1999 NBA Finals. It was their first finals appearance in their history, and Kerr won his fourth ring in a row when the Spurs beat the New York Knicks for the 1999 NBA championship. He is one of 2 people to win four straight NBA titles without being a part of the 1960s Boston Celtics dynasty (the other is Frank Saul, who won four straight with Rochester and Minneapolis from 1951–54).

Kerr made key contributions in Game 6 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Among those were four clutch 3-pointers that helped eliminate Dallas. The Spurs eventually won the NBA championship that year by beating the New Jersey Nets in the 2003 NBA Finals 4-2, led by Kerr, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili, among others.

Kerr ended his career as a dependable bench player who could make jump shots and 3-pointers in critical moments.

Kerr announced his retirement after the 2003 NBA Finals. He played 910 regular season games but started only 30, 20 of them in the 1991–92 season. His career totals are: 5,437 points (6 ppg), 1,060 rebounds (1.2 rpg), and 1,658 assists (1.8 apg). He also retired as the league's all-time leader in three-point shooting percentage for a season (.524 in 1994-95) and career (.454).

Regular season

Playoffs

Post-playing career

NBA analyst

In 2003, Kerr became a broadcast analyst for Turner Network Television (TNT), offering commentary alongside renowned analyst Marv Albert. During his tenure he performed a segment sponsored by Coors Light called Steve's Refreshing Thoughts in which he brought up interesting facts in NBA history. This segment continued through sponsorship, and is now known as Steve Wonders and is sponsored by Sprint. In the same time period, Kerr also contributed to Yahoo! as an NBA commentator.

He has provided his voice for the in-game commentary of EA Sports video games NBA Live 06, NBA Live 07, NBA Live 08, NBA Live 09 and NBA Live 10 with Albert. He has also provided his voice as color commentator for NBA 2K12, NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K14.

Kerr left broadcasting in 2007 to work as a general manager for the Phoenix Suns, but it was confirmed on June 28, 2010 that he would return as an NBA analyst for TNT starting with the 2010-11 NBA season.^[9] Since 2011, Kerr has also called the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship on Turner Sports and CBS, teaming up with lead broadcasters Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg for the First Four and Final Four games, and with Albert in other rounds.

Kerr has been a regular contributor to the website Grantland since 2011.

Phoenix Suns' front office

On April 15, 2004, Kerr was announced as a member of a potential group of buyers that would acquire his old team, the Suns, from Jerry Colangelo for US$300 million. He became part of Suns management, acting as a consultant.^[10][11]

On June 2, 2007, Kerr announced his departure from his broadcasting position at TNT and his commentating position at Yahoo! to assume duties as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns beginning with the 2007–2008 season.

On Feb 6, 2008, reports surfaced that Kerr was planning to trade Phoenix Suns forward Shawn Marion and guard Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal, which he did. The Suns were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the first round of the playoffs.

On December 10, 2008, Kerr continued to remake the Suns roster by trading away Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and Sean Singletary to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley, and the Charlotte Bobcats 2010 Second Round draft pick.^[12]

On June 25, 2009, Kerr decided to trade the 5th all time leading scorer, Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a future second-round draft pick and cash.

On May 5, 2010, the Suns wore Los Suns jerseys in Game 2 against the Spurs as to be united against the controversial Arizona immigration law. Kerr himself compared the law to Nazi Germany.^[13]

On June 15, 2010 Kerr stepped down as President and GM of the Suns.

Coinciding careers

Kerr and Robert Horry, another famous reserve player and clutch shooter, alternated NBA Championships for a decade, and combined to win 12 championships over a 14-year period. Either Horry or Kerr was on the roster of an NBA Finals team from the 1993-94 season through the 2002-03 season, with every one resulting in a victory. Horry's teams were victorious in the NBA Finals in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2007, while Kerr's teams were winners in the NBA Finals in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2003. Each won three titles playing for Phil Jackson-coached teams and two with the San Antonio Spurs coached by Gregg Popovich.

Notes

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com
• Reflections on my time with the NBA's most accurate 3 point shooter at the University of Arizona
• For Steve Kerr, practice made nearly perfect

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Kerr.