Steve Kerr credits Ron Adams for identifying the Golden State Warriors' potential for becoming a defense heavily reliant on switching during their first season with the team in 14-15.
“Ron had a pretty unique take on our team,” Kerr said in a lengthy profile on Adams by Ethan Strauss. “He said in our first year, ‘You know, we could be a pretty good red team.’ ‘Red’ meaning switch. He recognized that right away. We, without really knowing it in training camp, naturally evolved into this really big switching team. I thought that Ron saw it before anyone else did.”
Teams across the NBA switch frequently now, but it was still a radical concept in 2014.
“The top coaches frowned on switching because they thought it was lazy defense,” Adams said. “I thought it was the only way you could get the consistent ball pressure that I, as a college coach, wanted. We did have good, uniform length.”