Steve Kerr sees echoes of the early Warriors in Kenny Atkinson's Cavs

CLEVELAND — If there's anyone qualified to talk about what the Cleveland Cavaliers are doing with the rest of the league this season, it's Steve Kerr and Draymond Green.

The Golden State Warriors started winning championships after Kerr inherited a really good roster and made it great. The rapid pace, the extra pass, the relentless rush of threes; the luxury of multiple playmakers who can dribble, pass and shoot; the nightly stranglehold defensively…

If there was one group of pioneers who pioneered a new way to play in this speed-and-space era, it was Kerr and the Warriors who drove the chariots and settled the land.

Now it's the Cavaliers and their new coach who are putting the rest of the NBA on notice in a similar way the Warriors did a decade ago.

Cleveland set a franchise record with 83 first-half points on Friday and set a team record with a 41-point halftime lead, resulting in a 136-117 victory.

The Cavs aren't just beating teams this season; they destroy them. They are the only team shooting over 50 percent and lead the league in 3-pointers. They are second in three-way betting, have the second-best point differential and are the last undefeated at 10-0, with the league's best start to a season since the Warriors went 24-0 in 2015-16. And they do it with two defensive giants: Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

At some point it's no longer just a hot start or good shooting. There comes a time when a winning streak evolves from coincidence to the fabric of the franchise. That's where the Cavaliers are today.

“I feel like they just beat us with what we’ve been beating other teams with for years,” Green said. “Just the ball movement, guys flying around. They attach great importance to the additional pass. This is a staple for us. Drive, Kick, Swing is what we’ve been preaching for years and they drove us crazy with it.”

It's high praise from someone who has won four championships this way, from someone who recognizes how Kenny Atkinson uses Mobley, just as Green has played in the Warriors' system for years.

That experience with Green and the Warriors is one of the reasons Atkinson was so attractive to the Cleveland job.

Mobley is now playing out of the pocket, similar to what Green does with the Warriors. He is a central attacking point, with one big difference.

“He’s 7 feet tall,” Green said.

Mobley's length on the wing gives the Cavs a dimension that not even Green and the Warriors enjoyed during their dynasty. Mobley's development as a winger solves the problem of playing him alongside Jarrett Allen as two non-shooting bigs clogging the floor.

Atkinson's arrival helped transform Mobley, which in turn transformed the Cavs from a courageous playoff contender to a threatening championship force.

“Clearly one of the best teams in the league,” Kerr said.

The entire squad is back from last year. The only real change involved Atkinson and the coaching staff.

It's easy to make the comparison between what Kerr did for the Warriors when he arrived in 2014 and the way Atkinson transformed the Cavaliers this season after spending three years as an assistant on Kerr's staff , to pull.

“It was a great job, just like mine was 10 years ago,” Kerr said. “Now you just tweak things and see where you can improve around the edges, rather than trying to grow something organically. It’s a perfect spot and Kenny took advantage of it.”

Kerr's greatness extends beyond his players. He made Mike Brown a better coach for the Sacramento Kings because he spent a lot of time immersed in the Warriors' culture. Now it appears to have had a similar effect on Atkinson in Cleveland during his second stint as head coach.

Part of Kerr's greatness is his ability to communicate with everyone on the roster, his skill with stars and the ease with which he includes everyone on his coaching staff, making the culture so inclusive.

“Steve has an incredible ability to understand the mood of the team,” said Atkinson.

It's no secret that Atkinson had difficulty dealing with moody stars in Brooklyn, which is one of the reasons he was fired despite overachieving in his early years with a Nets squad that wasn't very good .

He came to Cleveland with the blessing of Donovan Mitchell and a pre-existing relationship with the likes of Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert from their time together with the Nets. The trust was immediate, the results obvious.

He installed more movement on offense to create a better look. The Cavs began setting up screens near the middle of the court on Friday to loosen up the Warriors' excellent defense and allow for easy lobs to the basket. The Cavs have evolved from a team that relies heavily on pick-and-rolls to a team that can inflict damage on opponents from all corners. They scored 136 points in one evening. Mitchell, their best player, shot 4 of 13 and scored just 12 points. The offense is so versatile they didn't even need him.

“It was a lot easier to guard last year,” Green said. “It’s a lot harder to guard this year.”

Where this all leads remains to be seen. Both the Cavs and Warriors look much different than the teams that have made four straight Finals series.

Green and Steph Curry are still the Warriors' mainstays, but the Cavs have been completely torn down and rebuilt since their last Finals appearance in 2018. They are young, athletic, excellent defensively and can now compete with any team in the league.

Among all the impressive milestones achieved with this start, the Cavaliers have already surpassed 130 points five times this season. It equals the franchise record.

They did it in 10 games.

(Top photo of Kenny Atkinson and Steph Curry: Jason Miller/Getty Images)