Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr features prominently in promotional material for ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” but he feels that some of the other players on that Chicago Bulls team should have gotten his spot instead.
Appearing this week on ESPN’s “The Lowe Post” podcast, Kerr spoke on the megahit documentary series about the 1997-98 Bulls squad that he was on and said that Toni Kukoc or another teammate deserved a promo spot more.
“I’m almost embarrassed, I see these graphics for ‘The Last Dance,’ these promos, and they have Michael [Jordan], Scottie [Pippen], Dennis [Rodman], Phil [Jackson], and me,” said Kerr. “I understand it, the reason I’m on there is because I’m the one who’s famous because I’m the coach of the Warriors, and so people recognize me, and maybe people wouldn’t recognize Toni Kukoc or Ron Harper or Luc Longley. Maybe their faces wouldn’t mean as much to a young generation because this was 22 years ago.
“But that should really be Toni, I think, on that photo, on that promo because he was an incredible player,” Kerr added.
The promo in question can be seen below:
Don’t forget to tune in.
The Last Dance on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/UJxMFGqv9c— Damonte Ranch Basketball (@DamonteHoops) April 20, 2020
While Kerr hit the shot that clinched Chicago’s fifth title in 1997, the versatile point-forward Kukoc was probably the more important overall player to those Bulls teams. Kukoc started for them while Pippen was recovering from foot surgery to start the 1997-98 campaign and finished the year third on the team in scoring behind only Jordan and Pippen.
Kerr does have a point though that marketing the documentary to a younger generation was probably a consideration, but he would at least like to see the other, less-heralded members of that Chicago team get their due. In any case, the documentary is already shattering records after just two episodes, so ESPN’s marketing strategy is clearly working.
H/T NBA Reddit
