Dejan Milojevic—From Serbia to the Golden State Warriors
Steve Kerr: He was a head coach in Serbia for eight years, so he sat in my seat. He knows exactly what I'm dealing with night after night. Decky’s amazing. He's been a huge addition for us.
I first heard of Decky through Kent Lacob. Kent had gotten to know him and he told me about him and he said, “Hey, there’s this great coach in Serbia.” So the following season had some changes in our coaching staff, decided to interview Decky. I immediately saw what Kent was talking about. He was so great to be around, but at the same time he had this amazing basketball background, both as a player and as a coach. It made so much sense for us to bring Decky in.
Dejan Milojevic: It was really about should I, should I stay? The challenge of NBA and working with the best people, not just basketball-wise, but person-wise. We had really great guys and coaching staff, so that's why I came here.
Steve: He's been so valuable for me in the last couple years. It’s been great to watch Decky develop as a coach, as he's gotten more comfortable with the language, with the culture, with our group. The guys love him. The players love him.
Kevon Looney: I learned a lot from Decky, especially about finishing different angles and different things like that. He’s a undersized big man and I don't want to say, “I'm undersized,” but we kind of had the same approach. I’m not always above the rim. He wasn't an above-the-rim player, so there’s different angles, something that I really learned about from him. And then about offensive rebounding is something that I was always pretty good at, but I didn't have really a science to it. It was just something I was just doing. And he had me looking at the real details to improve. I think those details really just take me to the next level.
Dejan: We coaching staff, we are working as a group. We have these meetings with the front office, with everybody, when we make together’s goals. I'm the guy who try to execute goals for the bigs, but the other coaches who work with different players are trying to execute. But the thoughts are joint thoughts.
Steve: One of our core values is joy. I mean, we really value the feeling of coming to the gym every day and being excited to see one another. When you have a group of people who like being around each other, fun to be around, who share information, who aren’t fighting each other to try to climb the ladder, who are just trying to collaborate and win, and having fun while doing all that, that's what it’s about. And Decky embodies all of that. He loves the game. He loves people. He loves to laugh. And every day at our meetings he brings this joy and this positivity that is infectious.
