The Big Show - NBA Insider Report - Scott Howard-Cooper, author and journalist

The Zone Sports Network - Utah Jazz

Scott Howard-Cooper has covered professional and college sports since the 1980s for some of the most prominent outlets in the country, including the Los Angeles Times, ESPN.com, NBA.com and NBA TV, SportsIllustrated.com and the Sacramento Bee, among others.

On Wednesday he joined The Big Show to discuss the NBA Finals as well as his new book, Steve Kerr: A Life.

•The shot to beat the Jazz in Game 6 in 1997 is everything in the big picture of Kerr’s career. I cover it in depth in the book with new context. In a life of terrible moments turning into some of his best — blowing out his knee at Arizona, a practice fight with Michael Jordan, a terrible few months with the Magic that had him considering retirement — nothing tops going from a terrible Finals to the best moment of his playing career. It was the intersection of his life. John Stockton on the court as an opponent after Stockton ruined Kerr’s chances of a Gonzaga scholarship years before, Jeff Hornacek on the court after Kerr had spent years pretending to be Hornacek as part of a practice routine, Jud Buechler there as a connection to Kerr’s beloved Arizona days, Phil Jackson and Jordan as signs of how far Kerr had come to be in that situation at all. Hornacek was a fun interview on that moment. Kerr always believed that basket set up the rest of his life, that it made him enough of a name for TNT to later want to hire Kerr as a commentator and that being hired as a commentator gave him the visibility to remain a candidate for future jobs as a coach or GM. I think he’s wrong, but that’s what he believes.

•Kerr’s name came up at the highest levels of government and in the strangest of roles: emissary to North Korea. An advisor recommended Kerr for the job to President Obama during a meeting at the White House as Obama sought ways to connect with new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Blood drained from the faces of members of the National Security Council in the meeting and the suggestion didn’t gain traction.

•Without anyone beyond his inner-circle being aware, Kerr considered quitting his dream job as coach of the Warriors because of ongoing health issues in 2016. The pain, dizziness and exhaustion from spinal fluid that leaked into his system was that bad. Few realized Golden State almost had to find a replacement.

•The Kerr family sued Iran — and won — near the end of his playing career. Steve was not in favor of the idea, but joined the action to support the family members who were, and missed two games with the Spurs to testify in Washington. Details of Kerr on the witness stand had never been reported before.

•The deal Phoenix General Manager Steve Kerr thought he had in 2009 to acquire Stephen Curry in the draft, a great disappointment at the time, turned out to be one of the best things to happen to him. Coach Steve Kerr won three titles at Golden State with the same Stephen Curry as his star player.

•None of this was ever supposed to happen. His parents were never supposed to meet, he is the first to say he had no business playing at a Pac-10 school like Arizona, on his most optimistic days he thought he could last a season or two in the NBA as a player, and he shouldn’t have become the Warriors coach. Strange path. Fascinating life.