The strain of NBA coaching is real. Even some of the league’s most successful coaches age in President-years while on the job, as the energy and passion it takes to bark at refs or call out plays from the sideline is truly just a fraction of one percent of what goes into the gig.

[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says he knows his body and, after one (quite successful) year as head man, knows what it takes to run a team the right way.

Currently sidelined after spinal complications following his second back surgery, Kerr quite nearly promised that he would return to his team in a full-time capacity in an interview with Tim Kawakami at the San Jose Mercury News:

"Can you deal with the symptoms and still grind and have the necessary juice to do the job? That's kind of the question."

I asked him bluntly, was there ever a thought that you might skip this season?

"No, I don't think that way at all," Kerr said. "I think I'll be back. I don't know exactly when, but I think I will be back coaching again this season ...”

Kerr also pointed out that he has “no timetable” to return to the defending champions, who have started the season on a 24-1 tear under interim head coach Luke Walton.

This is a revelation of sorts because while it was once hoped that Kerr would be ready to return to start the season or come back to the job a week or two into the season, some within the Warriors organization wondered if Kerr would even be back by the league’s All-Star break – a window that takes hold nearly two-thirds of the way into the season.

Kerr’s issues aren’t limited to back pain. The two surgeries necessitated a spinal tap which eventually caused perpetual headaches and an aversion to well-lit spaces. Kerr’s playing career saw him working through constant knee pain after an ACL tear suffered in college and back issues later in his career, so he clearly has earned the benefit of anyone’s doubt when it comes to sitting games out due to what could charitably be described as “discomfort.”

It’s a process, Kerr admitted earlier in the season, that is “killing” him. There is hope, if in small measures. From Marc Stein at ESPN:

Warriors general manager Bob Myers, while stressing that there remains no timetable for a return to game coaching for Kerr in the wake of complications stemming from two offseason back surgeries, told ESPN on Tuesday that Kerr plans to be more vocal and active on the practice floor over the next two weeks to "test" his readiness for a full-fledged return to the job.

To outsiders, the nearly-perfect Warriors aren’t exactly hurting for sideline guidance. The team only has that one-loss blemish due to a scheduling fit that saw the team register a fluke injury to Klay Thompson after a desperate late-game comeback from Indiana last week. That win over the Pacers was followed by an exhausting double-overtime win over Boston, and the W’s had to fly over half the country (losing an hour along the way) to Milwaukee prior to its first loss since June (or, technically, April) against the Bucks.

Kerr told Kawakami that, while his team won 83 out of 103 games last season on its way toward a championship, this group could actually improve upon its play as 2015-16. He told his coaching staff as much, and the results speak for themselves.

The fact that the team has appeared to coast successfully on autopilot isn’t the point. Luke Walton is the son of a basketball legend, one of the headier players of his era, and he’s worked under Lute Olsen and Phil Jackson. Ron Adams is perhaps the league’s most celebrated assistant coach, for good reason, and relative neophyte Jarron Collins will be coaching an NBA team someday. This squad, even after losing former associate head coach Alvin Gentry to a leading gig in New Orleans, is lousy with talent.

The squad is not whole, however, without its leader – and the players and Walton will be the first people to tell you as much, even after a 124-103 win. And, even at 24-1 (and needing a 49-8 finish to top the NBA record 72-10 mark set by Steve Kerr’s Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls), the team shockingly does have a little room for improvement. Golden State is still lapping the competition as it leads the NBA in offensive efficiency, but it has dropped from first to 10th this season on the other end of the ball.

Story continues