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Warriors’ Steve Kerr takes leave of absence

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San Jose Mercury News

OAKLAND, Calif. _ Warriors coach Steve Kerr is taking a leave of absence as he focuses on rehabilitation after two offseason back surgeries, and according to the team, the length of his time away is unknown.tmpplchld Kerr, in the season after leading the Warriors to the NBA championship, lasted only two days of training camp before consulting with general manager Bob Myers and stepping side temporarily.tmpplchld “Steve is such a perfectionist that he didn’t feel like it was fair to the team to not be here at 100 percent,” Myers said, adding he was hopeful Kerr would be back for the Oct. 27 season opener but did not know.tmpplchld “I think he realized pretty quickly, ‘I need to have more energy. I need to feel better to do my job, and I don’t have that right now.’ “tmpplchld Assistant coach Luke Walton will serve as the interim head coach after recently being promoted to lead assistant.tmpplchld Kerr, who turned 50 this week, first tweaked his back during the NBA Finals. He needed surgery in late July to repair a ruptured disc and then needed a follow-up procedure early last month after experiencing complications.tmpplchld Kerr said at the start of camp that he would likely need to take a backseat, but would otherwise be fine and added, “I did not have any fun this summer, which was unfortunate given that we just won the damn title.”tmpplchld The weariness could be sensed during interview sessions and on the court as well.tmpplchld “The first two days of camp, he was flat energy-wise,” center Andrew Bogut said. “He didn’t really have a chance to stay on his feet long. He was sitting down every 10 minutes, so we knew he wasn’t right.”tmpplchld Myers said he anticipated Kerr would get some distance from the team before getting on the phone with players and staffers. Myers added that Kerr would be welcomed at practice to observe if he wanted to do so.tmpplchld “At this point, I simply want to get healthy and back to my normal daily routine on and off the court,” Kerr said in a statement.tmpplchld “I think a lot of it has to do with he expects so much of himself that when he felt like he couldn’t give the team what it needed, he had felt like it was best to step back and recover and then come back at 100 percent rather than be depleted and feel like he was shortchanging the players,” Myers said.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)tmpplchld Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld

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