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The first clue occurred to me several years ago in a conference room at the Warriors practice facility in San Francisco, during a technical discussion about biomechanics and basketball. At the time, Klay Thompson was still rehabbing from a brutal one-two punch of traumatic lower-body injuries that upended his prime and likely shortened the team’s dynasty. When our meeting wrapped up and the room fell into that unique silence that signals that a group is ready to disperse, Ron Adams, the longtime assistant coach and elder statesman of the Warriors, spoke up for the first time all afternoon. “Basketball used to be a two-footed sport,” Adams said. The room locked in. “If you ever watched a John Wooden practice, it was always the same: get to the paint and play off of two feet. Nowadays, the game is a one-footed sport. Most players are making every move off of one foot.” Adams’s observation was basic but profound. He was exactly right. The footwork in basketball is drastically different now than it was a few decades ago.
Nick Friedell: “What I am curious about, specific to these openings, is my old buddy Thibs, Tom Thibodeau. I am curious if he would take an assistant job after all these years. I say that because he is still unbelievably close with Ron Adams. He has a comfort level being out here. Every time he goes through that cycle and changes a job, he always shows up here for a little while, and he has relationships within the organization. Now, whether or not he lands here, I still do not know if he would actually take an assistant job. But for what they need, in getting the defense back in order and in structure, I actually think he would be a perfect fit alongside Kerr for one of those spots.”
How many times have you looked at Looney’s old spot in the locker and gone, ‘Man, I miss that guy’?” Steve Kerr: "Yeah. You guys know my love for Loon — on and off the court. We're gonna miss his screening. We're gonna miss his offensive rebounding. We're gonna miss just how solid he is every day. And yeah — the locker room leadership. You know, Ron Adams told me the other day — he said, ‘Loon might have been the best leader I’ve ever seen in my life.’ And yep, so I agree with that. I think Al will be able to give us some of that same kind of quiet leadership and mentoring in the locker room, and I’m thankful for that. But we’re gonna — we’re gonna really miss Loon."
Anthony Slater: Steve Kerr will not coach the Warriors tonight in Utah. He is in Serbia for Dejan Milojevic’s services. Kenny Atkinson will be the acting head coach. Also in Serbia for the service: Mike Dunleavy, Chris DeMarco, Ron Adams, Zaza Pachulia, Rick Celebrini.
So, on Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City, in front of Valter’s Osteria, the Warriors’ favorite Italian restaurant in Utah, beneath the dark sky last Tuesday, as the red lights of the fire trucks and police cars colored the scene with the hue of danger, Adams hugged Kerr as he cried. “I lean on Ron Adams for so much,” Kerr said of his assistant coach on Monday after the Warriors’ practice, wearing a black shirt with BRATE in white letters across the chest. It means “brother” in Serbian, and it’s what Deki called everyone. “Ron has been a mentor for me, obviously an amazing coach for all of our players and for our coaches. I lean on him for wisdom and I asked him a couple of days ago, I said, ‘How do we go on from here? What do we do?'”
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Shayna Rubin: Steve Kerr says he went to Ron Adams for advice on how to emotionally move on after the trauma. He told Steve to ask himself what Deki would say: “I literally could picture Deki smiling and laughing and saying ‘You motherfuckers need to go and win.’”
“He's completely unselfish,” Adams said. “He doesn't go out feeling he has to score a bunch of points, but he's capable. Now we have a four or five-man who is a point guard. That strength, which he had at an early age, has only gotten better. But his shooting the ball, I'd say his offense in general has really come along, but especially shooting 3-point shot."
Golden State assistant coach Ron Adams is the winner of this year’s Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association.
Ron Adams will on Tuesday receive the Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association. “Ron Adams embodies everything that makes a great coach,” Rick Carlisle, Pacers coach and president of the NBCA, said in a statement. “He is passionate about teaching, has a great basketball IQ, a tireless work ethic, fierce loyalty and a deep love for the game.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr credits Adams for much of the success the team has enjoyed. “He has been amazing from helping shape our defensive identity to giving me ‘head coaching advice,’” Kerr texted to NBC Sports Bay Area on Monday night. “Most of all, he’s a wonderful human being who I love seeing and talking with every day.”
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Monte Poole: Several people have asked about the future of veteran Warriors asst coach Ron Adams. 1-Still in health/safety protocols but feels OK 2- Steve Kerr wants him back 3-Adams, 74, likely will return for his 9th season
Wes Goldberg: Steve Kerr on Ron Adams, who is now in more of a consultant role: "I think Ron is more important for *me* this year than ever. ... As I navigate how to coach this team."
“Ron Adams is our resident – is oenophile correct?”Kerr asked on this week’s “Hoops, Adjacent” podcast. “In fact, when I interviewed Ron to come aboard with the Warriors in 2014, my assistant Nick U’Ren and I took Ron out to dinner to interview him. We ordered a bottle of wine. It was an Italian restaurant. They didn’t have any California Pinots, which is what we were looking for. And the waiter said, ‘You know, if you want, I’ll bring you kind of the Italian version of a Pinot.’ We said great. “So he brings back the wine, he opens it up, he gives Ron the taste – you know, how you swish it around (in your mouth)? Well, Ron became the first person I’ve ever been to dinner with who sent the wine back. On a job interview!”