Steve Kerr appeared on the B.S. Report with Bill Simmons and had some interesting things to say. Feel free to head over to ESPN and spend an hour with Bill and Steve or read the highlights below:

On Ron Artest’s game-winning put-back in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals…

I wake up at night still thinking about that rebound — I mean, why didn’t it just hit the rim, and taken a normal bounce. I’ve thought about the game constantly, but as far as how that would have impacted my job, I haven’t looked at it that way.

On Ron Artest…

He was fantastic in the last couple of games of the Finals. I just think that Artest is one of the strangest players in the league because in a normal environment, in a normal game, sometimes he doesn’t look that great. He doesn’t make shots, he takes bad shots, he makes weird decisions, but when the game becomes kind of a street fight, especially like Game 7 of the Finals, there’s nobody you’d rather have. He’s just so strong and physical. And like that play he made against us in Game 6 — or Game 5 I guess it was — he just seems to have a knack for coming up with the loose ball, the rebound, whatever it is. He’s a crafty player, he really is.

On whether or not Amare Stoudemire is worth $100 million…

I was on the same page with Robert [Sarver, the owner of the Suns], with our management. We talked about it all year long. We really wanted him back, but if the price was too much though, then it didn’t make sense. And the main reason was because of the injuries. He’s had four knee surgeries, including a microfracture. You’ve seen what’s happened over the last few years with guys like Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal — the guys who come out of high school and play huge minutes right away. Their clock ticks a lot faster and they get to 29, 30, and they really start to slow down. I think you’ve even seen it a little bit with KG and Kobe last year although both guys really turned it on in the playoffs. But because of that, with Amare, I think he’s got a few really good years left in him. You know, years four, five and six though, if he can’t go and can’t produce, now you’re really tied up and locked down with a bad contract and that can be a major problem.

On the Knicks’ current predicament…

I agreed with the plan to wipe the slate clean and to get a fresh start — get rid of all of those bad contracts. The one decision they made that I think may haunt them is the Jared Jeffries trade to clear that last $7 million of room. Because in effect, they may have given away two lottery picks if they don’t play well the next two years, and that could crush them. Because those picks are huge — you get a great player on a rookie contract, it’s enormous.

On how Kobe Bryant compares to Michael Jordan…

Kobe’s probably more skilled, as a jump shooter for sure. Michael didn’t have that kind of three-point range. As a ball handler, probably a little more skilled than Michael was. I think the advantage Michael had was probably physically he was much stronger. He had more of a sheer physical force. And remember, he played in an era where you could put two hands on a guy and maul him and he still did everything he did. Jordan with the rules these days — I don’t know how anyone could even come close to guarding him.

On LeBron’s work ethic…

I don’t know him personally. I do agree with him that his post game could be much better. His shot selection could be better. We’re getting picky here obviously. He has the potential to get better. I mentioned one area, which was kind of moving without the ball and becoming more efficient, and you mentioned the other one, which is getting a go-to move on the block. He is about 270 (lbs.), I think. 6’7″ maybe, I don’t know. If he did have a go-to move on the block, I don’t think there’s anything you can do.

On almost trading Amare to the Warriors for the right to draft Stephen Curry…

We were pretty close. We had something lined up with Golden State where we were going to trade Amare for the pick, Biedrins, Wright and Bellinelli, something like that. The reason was — there was no secret that we were probably going to lose him at the end of the year, and he had come off what was a sub par year for him. We loved Curry coming out of the draft. We had him I think third on the board, so we didn’t even think he’d be there at #7. But we thought he would be Nash’s eventual replacement and kind of our cornerstone point guard for years to come. We had negotiated it. It was something that they were really seriously considering, but they ended up pulling out in the end.

On Danny Ferry…

I think Danny is really, really good. He’s thorough and smart. I think Cleveland was almost held hostage for the last five years, ever since the LeBron contract situation began. They had to constantly prove to him that they were going to everything possible to win a title, and that probably forced their hand into some bad signings, and into some other sort of compromising situations that were tough to deal with. But I think Danny Ferry is a top notch GM.

I’ve always thought that Kerr was a thoughtful, well-spoken guy and had high hopes for his tenure as Suns GM. He got off to a rocky start when the Shawn Marion-Shaq trade blew up in his face, but he recovered and quietly put together a 2009-10 Suns roster that had tremendous chemistry and talent. Had they been able to secure that Kobe airball in Game 5, there’s a good chance they would have gone to the Finals, but it wasn’t to be.

Kerr made a point to (twice) mention his interest in getting back into the GM game in four or five years, when his kids are older, and if I owned a team, I’d definitely keep Kerr and that timeframe in the back of my mind.

Brian Windhorst has the details:

In an interview with the The Plain Dealer, Ferry said the decision was mutual after the sides had talks about a new contract earlier this week. Ferry’s five-year deal that he signed when he came to the team in 2005 was scheduled to expire at the end of June.

Ferry will be replaced by top assistant Chris Grant, who has been functioning in the role of a co-general manager for the last several years.

On his Twitter feed, Windhorst wrote the following about LeBron’s possible involvement:

High level sources: LeBron did not play a role in decision, he liked Ferry. This was about power. Ferry wanted same level as in 2005, with the stakes [owner Dan] Gilbert didn’t want to give it. So they parted ways.

It’s very tough to judge a general manager because we’re not privy to all the details of the trades that were available to them. Things get especially murky when the team has someone like LeBron, who seemingly has his fingers into everything.

Ferry did acquire talented players like Mo Williams, Shaq and Antawn Jamison, but the pieces didn’t mesh very well, at least not at playoff time. And it’s not that tough to acquire talent, especially when your owner is willing to open his checkbook in this economy.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Back in the good ol’ days, athletes used to speak their mind when someone put a microphone in front of them. Players would get into trouble for the things they said, so as time goes on, they’ve become more and more careful about not offending anyone. Some guys even hire publicists to teach them how to interact with the media. This has led to virtually all player/reporter interactions to be completely sanitized of any possibly controversial material.

As a former college player, I’ve been interviewed by a few reporters in my day, and watching one of the best (Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan), I learned how to sound like I was saying something when I was actually saying nothing. I did it out of pure fear — I didn’t want Bo waking up the next day to see that his small forward had said something stupid or controversial to a reporter.

While listening to LeBron’s first post-playoff interview the other day [video], it occurred to me that he was talking a lot, but wasn’t actually saying much of anything. There were a lot of platitudes — he needed to get better over the summer, that he loves playing in Cleveland, etc. — but the interview was seemingly absent of honest opinion or revelation.

So here is LeBron’s transcribed interview, along with my translation of what he really said when he wasn’t saying anything…

Opening Statement: Congratulations to the Orlando Magic for an unbelievable, uh, series and, you know, they deserve it.

Translation: Athletes are supposed to say this kind of thing after a competition and even though I don’t wish Orlando any genuine congratulations, people say it’s good sportsmanship to do so, so there you go.

Opening Statement, cont’d: I don’t have much to say.

Translation: I don’t really want to talk to you right now, but I left last night’s game without doing any interviews, so I pretty much have to answer a few questions, or else I’ll look like a total a-hole. So let’s get this over with.

Question: How do you wrap your mind around it today, LeBron? I mean not much time has passed since then.

Answer: Um, I haven’t. I’m trying not to think about it. You know I just kinda want to move on with the situation, and you learn from situations like that. Um, you just try to get better.

Translation: We lost. It sucks. And I don’t really want to talk about it.

Question: Can you compare it to the pain of a year ago?

Answer: Well, you guys know me, you know. I’m just, you know, situation like that is never good for me, but I’ve always thrived in those situations. Um, you know, what happened in Boston, I got better from. You know, I carried that momentum into the Olympics and into this season, and I’m going to carry this same — bad being (?) I call it — you know, and try to get better this offseason and try to bring something better for next season.

Translation: Let me answer your question by not answering your question. I’m not going to compare how much this series loss sucks donkey balls when compared to last year’s crappy feeling. So I’ll just say that I’m the type of guy that’s going to get better from it and leave it at that.

Question: The Spurs year, when you guys lost in four, you said “You know what, they were just better than us. They swept us.” You tip your hat, you knew that. How do you come away from this series?

Answer: This series was very interesting. It could have been easily 4-2 Cavs or 4-0 Orlando. The series was so crazy that I think both teams played well enough to win the series. It’s just so bad that one team had to lose and it had to be us, so two very good teams.

Translation: I’ve convinced myself that this was a close series, and if anyone tells me otherwise I’m going to stick my fingers in my ears and say “la la la la la” over and over.

Question: Were you tired at all yesterday in that game? Were you exhausted? Did you use too much energy in the first five?

Answer: No, I don’t think so, man. This is the best I’ve felt in a postseason, this late in the season. Um, you know, I guess I spoil you sometimes, going out and doing what I do as an individual, that I’m not, you know, look like I’m tired when I’m not out there scoring 50 and 40 points a night.

Translation: If “tired” is scoring 25 points, snatching seven boards and dropping seven dimes in a Game 6 on the road, then yeah, I was tired. Most guys in the league would give their left nut to post that kind of a line and y’all think I’m tired. Suck it.

Question: In spite of not reaching your ultimate goal do you come away with something to feel good about from this season?

Answer: Of course, it’s not a disappointing season, um, you know, you set out a goal and you don’t achieve that goal, you know, it hurts. Of course it does, but what we did for this franchise, as a team, general manager, and you know, the coaching staff, all those guys — we had an unbelievable season, but, you know, we gotta work a little bit harder. You know, I make sure that I maintain focus, like I have the last few years, and then bring it to next year.

Translation: If you’re insinuating that this whole season was a complete waste because we didn’t win a championship, then no, I guess there isn’t anything good that I can take away from this season. I tend to think that a fantastic regular season and going 8-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs is pretty good, but maybe I’m crazy. After all, no ring equals no success in media-speak, right?

Question: Are you as happy with everything this organization has done as you were two weeks ago?

Answer: I’m great. I’m great. I feel great about this situation, and what’s going on. You want to continue to get better. That’s all you can ask. We got better this season, and I feel that this team will be better next season, um, because every year teams are getting better, and you just don’t want to take a step backwards, and go backwards. We went forward from the Boston series into this year. Hopefully, we can go forward one more time next year.

Translation: I feel about as good as a guy can feel when he posts 38.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, shoots 49% from the field and 75% from the free throw line, and his team still loses in six. How would you feel?

Question: The team is expected to offer you a contract extension this summer — will you sign it?

Answer: Um, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it just yet. You know, I’m just gonna take some time off from basketball and not think about contracts or the game, period. I’m just relaxing with my family and we’ll figure it out once [unintelligible].

Translation: Hell no! Are you crazy? If I sign that extension, then I won’t have any leverage to ensure that Dan Gilbert opens up his pocketbook and that Danny Ferry does everything he can to get me a legit supporting cast so that I don’t leave next summer. Why would I lock myself into a situation when I don’t have to? I’m open to re-signing, but there is work to be done.

Question: Fans always react when something happens, and now the question becomes, you know, does losing this series affect your thinking about playing here long term?

Answer: No, it doesn’t. I’ve always expressed the simple fact that I love playing here. The fans are great, and have always been great. Like I said before, since I was an 18 year-old kid, so losing this series doesn’t affect the way that I will continue to approach the game here in Cleveland.

Translation: Of course it does. Do you think it’s an accident that I’m wearing a Yankees cap for my first post-playoff interview? If we had gone to the Finals and won, then I’d stay. I might even stay if we had lost a tough series against the Lakers because, you know, Kobe has a much better supporting cast, and that would be enough to convince our owner and GM to add another big piece to put us over the top.

Question: After the Boston series last year, you said that you needed to get better. Obviously, you got better this year. Where do you personally and as a team go from here to get better?

Answer: Well, I’ll personally always try to expand my game, and just get better at every aspect of my game. Um, you know, I’ll definitely watch a lot of film and see what I can do better, and be a little bit more efficient, um, on the offensive end and on the defensive end. So, you know, I know that I will try to be a better player, you know, because I just want to be the best. So not too much concerned about myself, and I’m not too much concerned about my teammates either that’s gonna come back because they know how close and how important next year not to take a step backwards.

Translation: I might start thinking about developing my post game, but it’s pretty boring down there. Given my strength, finishing ability and vision, I’d be virtually uncoverable down on the block, but my coach seems to prefer that I get the ball at midcourt and go one on five.

Question: You know the game and the league as well as anybody, what does this team need [unintelligible]?

Answer: Um, I don’t know. I think, guys just gotta be more, um, work a little bit harder. I don’t want to sit here and sound like GM and say what we need, uh, because if we win the Orlando series and we win the Finals then there’s nothing that we do need. So I’m not going to sit here and make it sound like we need something, because we don’t. We just gotta dig a little bit deeper next time.

Translation: Hell yeah I know what we need, but I don’t want to sound like a prima donna and try to play GM through the press. We need a big guy that contain Dwight Howard in the post and we need another scorer on the perimeter, preferably a versatile player with some size. We also need an offensive playbook with more than two plays in it.

Question: When this season started, was this team geared to play Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals? Were you guys focused maybe too much on them and Orlando caught you by surprise?

Answer: Orlando is just a team that we haven’t been able to play well against. Out of all the teams in the Eastern Conference, you know, Orlando was probably our worst matchup, um, because we couldn’t match up with them. Like I said, two very good teams but Orlando had caused us the most problems out of any Eastern Conference team in the league. We never geared towards Boston. We gear towards whoever we’re going to play. Orlando is a very good team and a very bad matchup for us.

Translation: We can’t figure out the Magic and had we played anyone else in the Eastern Conference Finals, I’d have a big smile on my face right now.

Question: Have you talked to Dwight? I mean, you didn’t shake hands with anyone last night, but have you talked to him to congratulate him or no?

Answer: Um, no I haven’t. I sent him an email last night to congratulate him, but one thing about me, guys, that you gotta understand. It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them. I’m a winner, that’s not being a poor sport or anything like that, but somebody just beat you up, you’re not going to congratulate them on beating you up. That don’t make sense. That don’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor and that’s what I do. Don’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.

Translation: Even though the rest of the world considers shaking hands after a series to be good sportsmanship, I just can’t bring myself to do it because I’m used to winning and don’t like to lose. You see, I’m such a competitor that I hate losing so much that I can’t bring myself to shake my opponent’s hand. It’s not that I’m a poor sport, but when I don’t get my way, I just take my ball and go home. That’s not being a poor sport, is it?

Question: How close is this team to winning a title?

Answer: We’re close. We’ve still got room for improvement. Whenever you don’t win it, you’ve got room for improvement, so I’m gonna use this offseason to prepare myself for another long season next year, um, and you know, we’re gonna get better. We’re gonna be a better team.

Translation: Talk to me in a few months. Danny Ferry has some work to do.

All due respect to Denver’s Mark Warkentien, who won the 2009 NBA Executive of the Year Award, but Orlando GM Otis Smith deserves the honor. This is the problem with how the league hands out these awards at the end of the regular season — there’s no way to take the playoffs into account. Granted, it’s a regular season award, but in that case, wouldn’t Danny Ferry deserve it for pulling the trigger on the Mo Williams trade, which led to an All-Star nod for the guard and a 66-win season? Mitch Kupchak also deserves mention for his theft of Pau Gasol (now a year and a half old) along with mining Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown from other team’s benches.

Of course, Warkentien pulled arguably the best in-season move by sending Allen Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, which gave the Nuggets the toughness and defensive intensity to go from a Western Conference also-ran to a legitimate contender. I didn’t like his decision to give away Marcus Camby last summer in a salary dump, but in his defense, his signing of Chris Andersen offset that loss. Still, it would have been nice to have Camby on the roster against the Lakers, but there probably wouldn’t have been enough minutes for three centers. Warkentien rolled the dice that Nene was ready to explode and that Andersen could bring energy, rebounding and shotblocking off the bench, and it worked out, for the most part. Warkentien also signed Dahntay Jones, who eventually turned into (sort of) a starter for George Karl, and re-signed J.R. Smith.

Now let’s take a look at the job Otis Smith has done (from HoopsHype):

June 7 2007
Released head coach Billy Donovan and named Stan Van Gundy head coach.

February 19 2009
Traded forward Brian Cook to the Houston Rockets for guard Rafer Alston. Traded center Adonal Foyle and guard Mike Wilks to the Memphis Grizzlies.

So, in the last two years, Smith has 1) locked up his two cornerstones (Howard and Nelson) to long term contracts, 2) traded for the versatile Lewis, who wreaked havoc in the Cleveland series, 3) found two starter-quality perimeter players in the draft (Lee) and free agency (Pietrus), 4) found a couple of hard-nosed rotation guys in the draft (Gortat) and free agency (Johnson), 5) pulled off a deal for Rafer Alston when Nelson went down, and 6) found a guy to coach them all up (SVG) after Billy Donovan left the franchise at the altar.

Smith might be a victim of his own reputation. Prior to Lee, he didn’t do well in the draft (Fran Vasquez and Travis Diener in 2005; J.J. Redick and James Augustine in 2006; Reyshawn Terry in 2007), fell for Darko Milicic’s potential in 2006, and traded away Trevor Ariza in 2007.

Bill Simmons writes:

Did Otis Smith plan on this? When he overpaid Lewis, was he thinking, “I need to find a shooter to spread the floor for Dwight?” Was he thinking, “I am going to revolutionize basketball and I need Lewis to help me do it?” Or was he just like a drunk guy at an auction throwing out some insane dollars to make sure he won? I am leaning toward the third scenario, and here’s why: Smith basically gave away Trevor Ariza for Brian Cook and Mo Evans last year. Does Cook make any sense for this ’09 Magic team? Of course not. Does Ariza? Of course. That’s what makes me think Smith stumbled into it. Revolutionary basketball geniuses don’t throw cap space away or give up building blocks for no reason.

I think I’ve written this about fifty times over the past three weeks, but the Magic are built in the same mold as the Hakeem Olajuwon-era Houston Rockets in that they have a dominant big man (who is good enough to command a double team) and have surrounded him with a bunch of shooters. Where the Magic lineup differs from those Houston teams is at power forward, where Lewis’ sharpshooting has replaced Otis Thorpe’s strength and rebounding. The Rockets surrounded Olajuwon with three shooters, while the Magic have gone one step further and have surrounded Howard with four.

Orlando can get away with this because the league is getting smaller. True centers are a rare breed, and power forwards are going from 6’10″ or 6’11″ rebounding/post-up beasts to 6’8″ or 6’9″ versatile forwards with a face-up game. Simmons says this is a result of expansion (and a dilution of the overall talent), but it has more to do with the infusion of international players (who prefer to face up) and a tightening of the amount of contact that defenders can lay on the dribbler. In short, the power forward has become a perimeter player, and other than Dirk Nowitzki, Lewis is about as good of a perimeter power forward as there is in the NBA. (Kevin Garnett, David West, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Antawn Jamison and LaMarcus Aldridge are all power forwards with face-up games, but none of them stretch a defense quite like Nowitzki and Lewis can.)

In all honesty, I still think Smith overpaid for Lewis. I don’t know that there was another team in the running, but at that price tag ($110 million), I doubt it. Lewis should be getting $11-$13 million a season, not the $16-$21 million he’ll be making over the next five years. Still, you can’t argue with the results. The Magic are in the Finals and Lewis is a big reason why.

As for Ariza, which is Simmons’ trump card, let’s not forget — the guy couldn’t shoot a lick when he was in Orlando. He developed his long ball in L.A. and that is one reason why he’s flourishing there. Smith knew he needed shooters at every position other than center, so he wanted a swingman who could play some defense, get to the rim, and be a threat from long range. Ariza was capable in the first two areas, but while in Orlando he showed no signs of becoming a decent three point shooter. Smith went out and signed Pietrus, who was able to (sort of) cover LeBron one-on-one and nail 47% of his threes in the series (and 35% on the year). He’s also athletic enough to get to the rim when he’s crowded on the perimeter. Pietrus is what Smith wanted Ariza to be.

Besides, Simmons should take it easy on Smith. Remember when his favorite GM, Danny Ainge, passed on Brandon Roy in the ’06 Draft so he could acquire Sebastian Telfair from the Blazers? They can’t all be beauties. Ainge went on to win this award in the 2007-08 season. And Cook…on the surface, he didn’t look to be as bad of a fit as he turned out to be. He has size and can shoot it, so Smith might have seen a potential Lewis, Jr. on the horizon. Besides, he turned Cook into Alston after Nelson went down, which was key in getting the Magic to the Finals.

So, even though he didn’t have a splashy move like Iverson-for-Billups, Smith deserves this honor, at least in my book.