ambchang
01-15-2008, 12:46 PM
KRIEGER: Nuggets need to listen to old-school Karl
By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
David Zalubowski / Associated Press
George Karl has mellowed some since coming to the Nuggets, but his belief in the tenets of championship play haven't.
Normally, radio interviews don't make great television, but Rome played portions of his radio conversation with Karl because he was so impressed by the honesty of the answers.
In one, Karl called his current Nuggets team the hardest to coach of his career. Considering his first NBA team included World B. Free, his second included Joe Barry Carroll and his third included Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, this got my attention.
While he was known for volatility at each of those stops, Karl's biggest problems came in Milwaukee, where he had the poor judgment to insist publicly that scorers Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell play defense. Generally speaking, star players don't mind coaches insisting on these things privately, so long as they are free to ignore them. Insisting on them publicly is considered disrespectful.
But Karl believes in basketball the way most people believe in God. He will not tolerate sacrilege. When he is defending the values of the game, he doesn't really care whom he offends. Some things he knows in his bones.
He's been a model of decorum since joining the Nuggets, having learned the hard way that players, not coaches, run NBA teams. Still, sometimes he just can't help himself. A week ago, for example, after a blowout loss and a lackadaisical practice the next day.
"I don't think that's very professional," he fumed. "We're not a great team yet. We're not a championship team yet. It doesn't happen by a light switch. It happens by work and preparation and professionalism and togetherness and belief and trust. . . . Sometimes we have (those things) and, unfortunately, sometimes we don't."
A few days later, he was more forgiving, but not backing off.
"I think we've moved in a good direction professionally, but I don't think we're a championship-attitude team yet," he said. "We take too many games with a looseness and a lack of focus. And then we play San Antonio and we're big time.
"So it's kind of instigated a little bit by the team that we play, and that's not good. Setting a standard and a foundation of how you play every night would be better. But I think we've upgraded that."
So I asked about his comment to Rome that these Nuggets are his hardest team to coach.
"We have a lot of All-Star caliber players, and usually, fitting talent together creates ego adjustments," he said. "I think that's where we're at right now. It's just a high-maintenance day a lot of nights. As I keep telling Pop, he doesn't live in the NBA. He's got a low-maintenance deal."
That would be Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who has the luxury of a team policed by Tim Duncan, its biggest star.
"It really comes down to your best players being leaders and taking care of it with peer pressure," Karl said. "The Kevin Garnetts, the (Larry) Birds, the great player who takes care of a guy who's not practicing hard or the guy who's moping about something. The great player goes over and says, 'Hey, that's not the way we do it here.'
"But in general the game has drifted towards, that's the responsibility of the coaching staff. And it gets to be a heavy weight. The truth of the matter that players don't understand is that negative energy, whatever form it takes - being sick, missing practice, injuries, attitudes - drains your ability to be special."
With all their big names and big contracts, the Nuggets are definitely challenged in this area. Allen Iverson has brought dynamic veteran leadership to game nights, but his opinion of practice is a matter of public record.
"A.I.'s pretty good," Karl said. "Every game, he's right there with me. Now, there are a couple practices I wish he'd probably be a little bit better, but I'm a coach. Practices are probably more important to me than they are to them."
Karl cannot help himself. While he preaches the values of the game, much as Larry Brown did, many of his coaching colleagues prefer to avoid the subject in public because it makes life in the locker room so much easier.
Remarkably, the Nuggets seem to be tolerating it. Their teamwork was occasionally breathtaking in a victory over Orlando on Friday night.
"I've got to manage it," Karl said. "It's my responsibility. It falls on my watch. But the truth of the matter is the players have to figure it out. They've got to grow up and become professional. They've got to become more responsible and put the team first. As soon as they walk in that door, put the team first and not their numbers or their minutes or their statistics."
If anyone wants to be offended by this basketball truism, so be it. After all these years, George ain't backing off that one.
[email protected]
By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
David Zalubowski / Associated Press
George Karl has mellowed some since coming to the Nuggets, but his belief in the tenets of championship play haven't.
Normally, radio interviews don't make great television, but Rome played portions of his radio conversation with Karl because he was so impressed by the honesty of the answers.
In one, Karl called his current Nuggets team the hardest to coach of his career. Considering his first NBA team included World B. Free, his second included Joe Barry Carroll and his third included Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, this got my attention.
While he was known for volatility at each of those stops, Karl's biggest problems came in Milwaukee, where he had the poor judgment to insist publicly that scorers Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell play defense. Generally speaking, star players don't mind coaches insisting on these things privately, so long as they are free to ignore them. Insisting on them publicly is considered disrespectful.
But Karl believes in basketball the way most people believe in God. He will not tolerate sacrilege. When he is defending the values of the game, he doesn't really care whom he offends. Some things he knows in his bones.
He's been a model of decorum since joining the Nuggets, having learned the hard way that players, not coaches, run NBA teams. Still, sometimes he just can't help himself. A week ago, for example, after a blowout loss and a lackadaisical practice the next day.
"I don't think that's very professional," he fumed. "We're not a great team yet. We're not a championship team yet. It doesn't happen by a light switch. It happens by work and preparation and professionalism and togetherness and belief and trust. . . . Sometimes we have (those things) and, unfortunately, sometimes we don't."
A few days later, he was more forgiving, but not backing off.
"I think we've moved in a good direction professionally, but I don't think we're a championship-attitude team yet," he said. "We take too many games with a looseness and a lack of focus. And then we play San Antonio and we're big time.
"So it's kind of instigated a little bit by the team that we play, and that's not good. Setting a standard and a foundation of how you play every night would be better. But I think we've upgraded that."
So I asked about his comment to Rome that these Nuggets are his hardest team to coach.
"We have a lot of All-Star caliber players, and usually, fitting talent together creates ego adjustments," he said. "I think that's where we're at right now. It's just a high-maintenance day a lot of nights. As I keep telling Pop, he doesn't live in the NBA. He's got a low-maintenance deal."
That would be Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who has the luxury of a team policed by Tim Duncan, its biggest star.
"It really comes down to your best players being leaders and taking care of it with peer pressure," Karl said. "The Kevin Garnetts, the (Larry) Birds, the great player who takes care of a guy who's not practicing hard or the guy who's moping about something. The great player goes over and says, 'Hey, that's not the way we do it here.'
"But in general the game has drifted towards, that's the responsibility of the coaching staff. And it gets to be a heavy weight. The truth of the matter that players don't understand is that negative energy, whatever form it takes - being sick, missing practice, injuries, attitudes - drains your ability to be special."
With all their big names and big contracts, the Nuggets are definitely challenged in this area. Allen Iverson has brought dynamic veteran leadership to game nights, but his opinion of practice is a matter of public record.
"A.I.'s pretty good," Karl said. "Every game, he's right there with me. Now, there are a couple practices I wish he'd probably be a little bit better, but I'm a coach. Practices are probably more important to me than they are to them."
Karl cannot help himself. While he preaches the values of the game, much as Larry Brown did, many of his coaching colleagues prefer to avoid the subject in public because it makes life in the locker room so much easier.
Remarkably, the Nuggets seem to be tolerating it. Their teamwork was occasionally breathtaking in a victory over Orlando on Friday night.
"I've got to manage it," Karl said. "It's my responsibility. It falls on my watch. But the truth of the matter is the players have to figure it out. They've got to grow up and become professional. They've got to become more responsible and put the team first. As soon as they walk in that door, put the team first and not their numbers or their minutes or their statistics."
If anyone wants to be offended by this basketball truism, so be it. After all these years, George ain't backing off that one.
[email protected]