Thread: George Karl closing in on Kings job

from article:

Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried reacted with shock on Twitter to the news of Karl's departure.

He tweeted: "So we lost a GM now a coach what's next!?"

Ty Lawson, who led the Nuggets in scoring with 16.7 points per game, was equally shocked.

"All of this is crazy and unexpected, don't know what to say," he said in a text to The Denver Post.

Karl was named the NBA's top coach after leading the Nuggets, who had the third youngest roster in the NBA, to a 57-win season.

Karl worked wonders this season with a lineup that lacked an All-Star, was beset by injuries to several starters and twisted its way through a brutal early-season schedule in which 22 of the team's first 32 games were on the road.

Relying on an old-school, up-tempo offense and a deep bench that wore out opponents, especially at altitude, the Nuggets led the league in scoring, fast-break production and points in the paint with nary a dominant scorer.

They went an NBA-best 38-3 at home, winning their last 23 games at the Pepsi Center in the regular season and going 24-4 after the All-Star break.

In his time in Denver, Karl is 423-257 in the regular season with three division titles and 21-39 in the playoffs. Karl's 21 straight non-losing seasons tie Phil Jackson for the longest streak in league history.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/93...ch-george-karl

Maybe I am different, but I totally enjoyed watching the Nuggets when Coach K was the HC. They were exciting to watch during the 82 game regular season, and in the 9 years Coach K was the Nuggets HC, they made the playoffs 8 years. To me, that means as much, or more, than not advancing in the playoffs. It was very enjoyable to watch their 82 games each year, rather than watching the MAJOR mess that Management and Shaw now have the Nuggets in.

Ty Lawson is a pretty good player, but if he is your #1 option, there is not a head coach on the planet that is leading that team to a title. He did a great job there with the talent he was given.

As a Raptors fan, I would kill for the last 9 years you had under Karl

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

So MO, is your argument that the nuggets had the talent for deep playoff runs and Karl was the one holding them back? Because if so, I think you are severely overrating the talent of those teams.

Um, no. That's never been my argument. In the NBA, it takes superstars. Denver has never had the star. The closest the team has come is Alex English and Carmelo Anthony. But Karl did his best job to push Anthony and Billups out of town so he could play Andre ******* Miller every night.

Denver needs to blow it up and try to get a Top 10 talent. I would have been fine with Karl staying had they done that, but he clearly wasn't going to accept that type of coaching situation. What they've done since hasn't improved anything. They are stil trying to win with guys who aren't superstars.

Originally Posted by MileHighCrew

As a Raptors fan, I would kill for the last 9 years you had under Karl

Toronto is the second-best team in the east with superior talent to that Denver team, outside of maybe Anthony. Denver was never the second-best team in the west even the year they sneaked into the conference finals. I would love to have a season like what Toronto is doing. Now, that said, the playoffs are a different animal.

I used to watch the Nuggest back in the days of Alex English, Blair Rasmussen, Danny Schayes, Fat Lever, Bill Hanzlik, and a few others. I loved me some Doug Moe. The Nuggets came to the Federal Prison on Quincy Avenue back in the mid to late 80's when I WORKED there for a basketball camp with the inmates and I shot around some hoops with Rasmussen, Danny Schayes, and TR Dunn. I have a picture in the gym with them. It was really cool.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

Toronto is the second-best team in the east with superior talent to that Denver team, outside of maybe Anthony. Denver was never the second-best team in the west even the year they sneaked into the conference finals. I would love to have a season like what Toronto is doing. Now, that said, the playoffs are a different animal.

They are amazing this year agreed, but it was a long time coming. That being said, even as the #2 seed, if the Raptors win 1 playoff series this season is an accepted win both inside and outside the organization according to local media reports.

Karl>Shaw.
I can hardly even watch the Nuggs right now and I don't. Laughing stock with Shaw at the helm. I miss Karl and thought it was huge mistake when we let him go.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

Um, no. That's never been my argument. In the NBA, it takes superstars. Denver has never had the star. The closest the team has come is Alex English and Carmelo Anthony. But Karl did his best job to push Anthony and Billups out of town so he could play Andre ******* Miller every night.

Denver needs to blow it up and try to get a Top 10 talent. I would have been fine with Karl staying had they done that, but he clearly wasn't going to accept that type of coaching situation. What they've done since hasn't improved anything. They are stil trying to win with guys who aren't superstars.

Following the 2010-11 season, Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, Marcus Camby and possibly Chauncey Billups were going to be free agents that were likely to go elsewhere. With Denver planning to go younger, Anthony decided that he did not want to be a part of a rebuilding process. So he pushed for a trade to New York to avoid a rebuild and to also take advantage of the major marketing opportunities in the city.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/3/1...knicks-nuggets

NO ONE will convince me that it was Coach K who pushed Anthony out of Denver. He did not have SOLE say so on who the Nuggets kept, got rid of, etc.

AND NOW, in regards to Coach K pushing Chauncey out of town:

Nuggets apologize to Billups after trading him

from article:

"I want to offer a personal apology to the Billups family," Kroenke said. "They mean the world to me personally, and I know that Chauncey means everything to Denver. And when I say Denver, I mean just Denver basketball on every level. He is Denver basketball. He was a high school star here, he was a college star here, he was a professional star here. It was an incredibly tough decision to include him in this trade."

Added Ujiri: "It was hard. This trade took this long because of Chauncey. We tried every way not to include him in this trade. It's one of the most difficult things. What a great professional, what a great person, what a great family. He will always be welcome in Denver, and he knows that."

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_17457034

AND

Nuggets executives Josh Kroenke and Masai Ujiri made a heartfelt public apology Tuesday to Billups and his family. They admitted they tried desperately to keep Billups out of the trade that Anthony forced Denver to make. But in the end, Kroenke said, “we came to the realization that in order for us to maximize our return, we had to make the trade bigger (and include Billups).

http://blogs.denverpost.com/nuggets/...ut-trade/4540/

It was NOT Coach K driving the bus in regards to the trade - Anthony was the one driving the bus. He was in his last year of his contract, and would not commit to coming back to the Nuggets. It was either trade him, or lose him to free agency

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

What the Broncos have done in the last three years has only been accomplished by 7 teams in league history. What the Nuggets did under Karl? Yeah, not so much.

It's a stupid comparison.

In his time in Denver, Karl is 423-257 in the regular season with three division titles and 21-39 in the playoffs. Karl's 21 straight non-losing seasons tie Phil Jackson for the longest streak in league history.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/93...ch-george-karl

I feel this is a major accomplishment

I think you're a little naive on how much power Karl demands in an organization he's coaching in.

If they wanted Billups they would have kept him instead of issuing some lame apology and they would've ponied up the money to keep Anthony if they wanted to try to duplicate the conference finals run.

Carmelo Anthony played the game, and won.

The four-time All-Star got his wish Monday night, being traded to the New York Knicks in a nine-player deal with the Denver Nuggets that continues the amassing of star players in major markets.

The deal ends a seven-month saga in which Anthony and his representatives controlled the process, leaking his desire to be moved to New York last summer and consistently making it clear that Anthony would not sign a three-year, $65 million extension offer that the Nuggets had on the table. Nor would he sign the extension if the Nuggets traded him to the New Jersey Nets, the team that tried long and hard to acquire Anthony with a variety of trade offers, involving three teams, four teams, multiple first-round picks and rookie forward Derrick Favors.

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/feature...anthony.trade/

If they had wanted to keep Melo, they would have paid him. True, Melo played the game and got his money. I wish it had been in Denver.

Don't tell me Karl didn't sign off on that, and he likely hand-picked Lawson and Gallinari.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

If they had wanted to keep Melo, they would have paid him. True, Melo played the game and got his money. I wish it had been in Denver.

Don't tell me Karl didn't sign off on that, and he likely hand-picked Lawson and Gallinari.

Or they could have offered him max contract and he still choose NY. ie. Chris Bosh. I was hugely jealous of the way the Nuggets handled Melo after watching Bosh go for nothing.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

Um, no. That's never been my argument. In the NBA, it takes superstars. Denver has never had the star. The closest the team has come is Alex English and Carmelo Anthony. But Karl did his best job to push Anthony and Billups out of town so he could play Andre ******* Miller every night.

Thats the most insane thing i have ever heard. Melo was leaving with or without karl.