The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 590 - 8 The Final Puzzle Piece
June 1989
Oakland, California.
I had spent two terrible seasons in Oakland, and by the end of the regular season in April 1989, I sensed that my days here wouldn’t be long.
I had invested a lot in the head coach position, my family had made great sacrifices, and the Golden State Warriors were a team full of talent and skill. I got along well with players like Mu Lin and Richmond; they liked my coaching style—the fast-paced, speed-oriented style of play, and there was a consensus.
However, the Warriors’ results were disappointing; we didn’t make it to the playoffs in the 1989 season. Our defense was always a problem; we lacked interior support and relied solely on the vitality of our perimeter offense to play beautiful games but could not win. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
The new owner of the Warriors seemed to lack some patience; in the summer of 1987, amid awkward negotiations, they terminated their collaboration with George Karl.
Actually, Karl had led them well in the 1987 season; they made it to the playoffs and had a fierce series with the Trail Blazers.
Perhaps the series with the Trail Blazers had impacted Jim Fitzgerald, who had just taken over the Warriors from the Bucks and was eager to produce impressive results.
Right after, they found me. I hesitated, but both Ramsay and Bobby Berman encouraged me to give it a try.
Though the NBA is highly competitive, the coaches help each other off the court. People like Dick Motta, Phil Johnson, Roland Todd, Scott Robertson, and Alex Hannum provided me with knowledge and support on my coaching journey, and I am forever grateful to them.
After discussing it with my family, I accepted the Warriors’ invitation, hoping to embrace some challenges in the head coach position.
It turned out the decision was somewhat hasty. I didn’t meet my coaching goals with the Warriors; we lacked an influential big man, which often made our games very challenging.
Especially once you’ve gotten used to having a player like Ah Gan, coaching a team without him can drive you crazy.
In my three seasons in Portland, I witnessed Ah Gan’s impact on and transformation of the entire team. When I left, only then did I realize how excellent and important he was.
His influence was comprehensive, both on and off the court—in Portland, in some games, you didn’t even have to give orders; he would handle most problems.
It was different with the Warriors. Many issues had to be reiterated, and then the problems would still recur.
Joe Barry Carroll was very talented; in some games, he could perform spectacularly, but those occurrences became fewer and fewer. He needed motivation.
When Ralph Sampson joined the Warriors, he was no longer the past All-America’s best player; knee injuries had destroyed him, and his mere presence on the court was already significant.
My tactical thinking also encountered some issues. The players tried hard to execute them; we could always produce beautiful offense, but we could not capture victories because of the lacking defense.
After the regular season ended, I entered into another round of contract negotiations with the Warriors. Initially, we had signed a three-year contract, and in the third year, the Warriors could decide whether to terminate the contract based on the actual situation.
Fitzgerald brought me into the office and told me the team had decided not to exercise the final year of my contract and thanked me for my contributions over those two seasons.
The fate of George Karl had recurred with me; I thought he must be smirking in Real Madrid, Spain.
However, the difference between me and him was that George Karl, after losing his job, could only go temporarily to the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association), to coach in the Spanish leagues.
And I knew, Portland was still my home; I could go back home.
— Published in 1991 by Adelman in "The Long Hot Winter," excerpt.
Jerry West had considered many candidates for assistant coaches; he had a wide network in the league, having worked together with many players and coaches.
But finding a coach that matched well with Bobby Berman wasn’t easy.
After arriving in Portland, Petrović and Divac were settled into a rookie apartment.
West stayed in a community at Oswego Lake Park— a place where Cheche Vandeweghe and Drexler had lived.
Bobby Berman also lived there; he bought a house, living alone, not far from where West lived.
Every morning, Bobby Berman started his day with a triathlon routine: swimming, biking, and running until noon.
This was a habit formed during his time with Coach Jack Ramsey, and West admired it greatly; he knew an NBA head coach had to have a physique as tough as steel to withstand the enormous job pressure.
In the 1988-1989 season, Bobby Berman had almost single-handedly taken on all the coaching staff’s work.
As he himself had said, he had given everything to basketball, had married the sport, and had no other affairs in his life.
In the afternoons, West would chat with Berman, watching game tapes, exchanging thoughts on basketball.
Incidentally, Berman took West around Portland, sometimes along with Petrović and Divac.
From his repeated interactions, West discovered that Berman was a very unique coach; his coaching philosophy was completely different from most NBA coaches.
