From Sam Smith at Bulls.com:
When Steve Kerr was playing for the Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs, hitting dramatic game winning shots that clinched the fifth title for the Bulls in 1997 and got the Spurs to the Finals in 2003 as they went on to win the championship, he never had to buy dinners he was so popular in the communities.
Now it seems like Steve Kerr needs a food taster.
“Nobody likes to be ripped,” says Kerr, the general manager of the up and down Phoenix Suns. “For me, I’ve received death threats. It’s not fun. I’m not nervous someone will follow through. I refuse to believe that in the world of sports. But that’s the way it is. The flip side is you win and everyone says you’re a genius and you’re great. What you have to try to do is filter out all that stuff. All it does is cloud your judgment.
“I learned early on as a player,” says Kerr. “When I was in Chicago trying out for the team, I was playing great and knew I’d made the team. I picked up the paper and someone had written I was probably going to get cut. It unnerved me. It’s why you have to focus on the job and try to avoid the other stuff.”
Still, if you are Kerr or any of a dozen or so top team executives, all basically former playing stars who were celebrated and admired, life gets a lot more complicated. Kerr may have been one of the most popular players in the NBA in the last 20 years, open with the public and media, charitable and convivial, an everyman you could identify with who made big plays at big moments.
Now in Phoenix, where the Suns are going through an expected transition that happens to all teams after a good run, the NBA is abuzz in rumors that Amar’e Stoudemire will be traded. It’s hardly a sure thing, though there have been numerous reports of the Suns in exploratory talks. But for the first time in his life, Kerr is condemned in the media. Internet blogs scream with anger.
