Smart has Warriors Moving in Positive Direction

Sean Deveney - SportingNews.com

Keith Smart has Warriors moving in positive direction Keith Smart has been here before. In 2003, after the Cavaliers canned head coach John Lucas, Smart took the reins as the interim head coach for the final 40 games. It didn't go well. Smart said he spent most of his time focused on pleasing everyone -- ownership, front-office people, a very enigmatic group of players -- rather than establishing himself as a coach with a system and a style of play. Thus, he wound up with a ragged team that went 9-31 under his watch.

It's been seven years (all spent as a Warriors assistant, through three head coaching changes), but Smart is back in charge. He got the Warriors job under odd circumstances, being named the coach on media day as the Warriors' new ownership group nudged coach Don Nelson aside. Smart's contract was called a "multi-year deal," but it turns out, he is signed for just this year, with next year being the team's option.

In a way, then, Smart is again an interim -- he is coaching to keep his job. But this time, he is taking a different approach. "I am not looking at it like I am a short-term guy and I need to prove myself," Smart told Sporting News. "I never carried myself that way here. When I coached those 40 games in Cleveland, I tried to do things a certain way -- not my way. I tried to keep this guy happy, I didn't want to make this other guy mad. You can't run your team that way.

"Now, I am coaching my way. I am not coaching to keep the GM happy or the owners happy or the players happy. I know what I want, and it is either going to work or it isn't. If it works, I am confident I will have a job."

When healthy, things have worked pretty well for Smart and his team, which entered the year having won just 55 games over the last two seasons. They've been missing star forward David Lee for the last six games, losing five of them, which has taken some of the steam out of a 6-2 start.

Still, there is something rare about this Warriors team -- it has a distinctly positive vibe, a happy locker room and a coach who does not seem to approach each day with the enthusiasm of an undertaker.

Smart is quick to credit guard Monta Ellis (25.5 points on 49.3 percent shooting) for the revitalization of the team's attitude, because Ellis spent the summer focused solely on improving his game. He worked with assistant coach Stephen Silas, built a training room and basketball court at his home in Memphis and showed up for the season willing to lead and instruct his teammates, rather than be the pouting and aloof star he was last year.

On the eve of the season opener, Ellis told Smart he was going to have a birthday party in San Francisco, which naturally raised the coach's eyebrows. No coach wants his team out partying before any game, especially not the first one. Ellis smiled and said, "Coach, it's not that kind of party." Smart showed up, and almost the entire team was there.

"It was great for chemistry," Smart said. "These guys really like each other. But best of all, as a coach, it was over by 9, and everyone went home and went to bed."

Smart himself deserves credit for getting the Warriors' attitude heading in the right direction. To be fair to Nelson, the Warriors suffered the second-most injuries of any team in the last 25 years last season, but even with those injuries, players lost faith in Nelson's odd rotations, his lack of a defensive mindset and the amount of accountability he was demanding from players.

Smart has changed that. Just after getting the job, he pulled each player individually into his office and asked their permission to coach them how he needed to coach them, even if he had to be harsh with them.

"Every one of the guys said, ‘Yes,' immediately," Smart said. "Now, as we are going through and something goes wrong, I can say what I need to say and not worry about anyone's feelings. Because we have that agreement. I am not going out there yelling at everyone. I give them love when it is time for that.

"The way I look at it, I have a spoon, and on that spoon, it might be salt and it might be sugar. They both look the same. I want my players to get a little of both -- but I want them to never be quite sure which one it is going to be."

Of course, once the season is over and his contract is up, Smart can't be sure whether the franchise is going to give him some sugar or some salt. But that's OK with him -- he can take comfort in knowing that this time, at least, he is doing things his own way.

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