When Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was sidelined with back pain during last spring’s NBA playoffs, he got a call from Peter Guber, one of the team’s owners.
But Guber wasn’t calling to pressure his coach to get back on the bench and he didn’t want to talk tactics. He just wanted to talk.
“He’s been very caring and supportive,” Kerr said, standing outside the visitors’ locker room at Staples Center before his team’s late-November win over the Lakers. “He has always checked in on me. So I know how much he cares.”
That short conversation goes a long way toward explaining a management approach that has served Guber well in music, television, motion pictures and, now, sports.