Kerr says Michael Jordan won’t play

Count Steve Kerr among those who doesn’t think Michael Jordan will return to the NBA. And that would mean Kerr won’t be staying in Chicago, either.

Kerr, who Saturday became only the second basketball player to have his number retired by the University of Arizona, bases his suspicion on the fact that Jordan has always been so prepared when play begins.

“He prepares for a season as well as anybody, and from all I hear he’s been playing golf and going to the Bahamas,” Kerr said. “Unless he’s working out in a hidden gym somewhere down in the Bahamas, I don’t think he’s really preparing to play.”

Kerr, a free agent, doesn’t expect to re-sign with the Bulls if Jordan retires.

“If Michael decides to retire, I would guess the Bulls would go young and start fresh, and they probably should, because without Michael the Bulls aren’t going to win a championship,” Kerr said. “If that’s the case, I’ll probably move on.”

The long-ago Arizona chant of “Steeeve Kerrrrrr” echoed through McKale Center once again Saturday at the ceremony where his No. 25 was raised to the rafters after Arizona’s 88-86 victory over Washington.

Kerr was at Arizona from 1984 to 1988 and was a member of Lute Olson’s first Wildcat Final Four team in 1988. Kerr’s teammate and the only other Arizona player to have his number retired, Sean Elliott, was on hand for the ceremony.

“Sean was probably more responsible for me being in the NBA than anybody because of what he did for the program because he took us over the top, and I just fed off of him,” Kerr said. “Practically every 3-pointer they showed on the highlight film, Sean was throwing it to me. I owe Sean a great deal.”

In accepting the honor, Kerr joked to the crowd that he was a very bad player when he arrived at Arizona.

“If anyone would have told me then that my uniform would someday be hanging from the rafters, I’d be kind of frightened because I’d figure my body would still be in it,” he said.

Kerr said he finds it amazing that he succeeded so well in college, then had a 10-year NBA career that included three championship seasons with the Bulls.

“I tell people that sometimes I feel like Forrest Gump,” he said.

But Elliott said Kerr’s success is a testimony to hard work and desire.

“It says a lot,” Elliott said. “I’ve seen a whole lot of guys with a ton of talent, but they didn’t have the know-how, they just didn’t have the will, to get it done like he has.”

And don’t be surprised if someday it’s coach Kerr.

“I always thought that someday I’d enjoy coaching,” he said at a news conference after the ceremony. “I’m not sure at what level. I always thought maybe college coaching. We’ll see.”

Maybe at Arizona?

“I’d love to come back here and coach under coach Olson someday,” he said.

Associated Press