Larry Brown Sports

The Denver Nuggets made a shocking move on Thursday when they fired head coach George Karl. The 62-year old coach had been with the team since 2005. What really made the move puzzling is that Karl was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for the 2012-2013 season back in May.

Karl took the Nuggets to the postseason every year in his eight seasons with the team, though they did lose in the first round of the playoffs the past four seasons. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the issue had to do with Karl’s contract situation more than the team’s play on the court.

Karl was entering the last season of his deal with Denver, which is a situation that has made him uncomfortable throughout his career. Rather than coaching the team under a one-year contract, Karl was likely going to pursue an extension during the offseason. Apparently the Nuggets were not comfortable giving him one and decided it was time to part ways.

At least two players who are currently on the Denver roster, Kenneth Faried and Ty Lawson, were left scratching their heads after the move.

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Washington Wizards fans can tell you that watching JaVale McGee on a nightly basis can be incredibly frustrating. The 25-year-old center has amazing potential, but he makes far too many bone-headed mistakes like this that cost his team. Now, he is a Denver Nugget. And from the sound of it, George Karl is already frustrated with his big man.

“He’s got to understand that lazy and crazy isn’t going to make it work,” Karl told the Denver Post. “We want solid and we want fundamental, and we want spectacular but only when it happens, not forcing the action where sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.”

McGee is a lot of things, but solid and fundamental aren’t two of them. Denver signed him to a generous four-year, $44 million deal last year and at the moment he is coming off the bench. As highlight-reel blocks like this remind us, McGee is one of the most athletic seven-footers in the NBA. There’s a reason Hakeem Olajuwon said JaVale should be dominating the NBA.

But, he’s not. Instead, McGee rotates between SportsCenter’s “Top 10″ and “Not Top 10.” He’s averaging around 10 points per game this season, which is consistent with where he has been for most of his career. McGee could be considered a major underachiever given his skill level, or he could just not have the intangibles a player needs to dominate the NBA as a big man and a post presence. The more games that go by, the more likely it is that the latter is true.

George Karl has not had many good things to say about Carmelo Anthony since the Denver Nuggets traded him to the New York Knicks two seasons ago. Many have painted Carmelo as a selfish player who is unwilling to buy into the team mentality, and Karl has done nothing to change that perception. However, the Nuggets coach recently praised Anthony for changing his game.

“I’ve said I feel that Carmelo is going to win a championship someday,” Karl told the New York Times. “He’s going to figure out that the numbers and the stats sheets aren’t important. It’s the scoreboard and the intangibles that make winners champions.”

Of course, Karl’s latest comments come on the heels of a 15-5 start from the Knicks that has them looking like one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. New York has not lost a game at home and — perhaps most surprisingly — has played tremendous defense throughout the first 15 games of the season. As for the talk about ‘Melo being selfish, Karl says he would say that about any player he coached during their early years.

“I can say that about everybody I’ve coached, except Chauncey Billups or Nate McMillan, in my career,” Karl said. “I can say that about Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp and a lot of great young guys.”

Last season, Karl said he wanted to beat the Knicks badly and that he got sick of all the Anthony talk when he coached him. He obviously changed his tune a bit prior to his team’s loss to New York on Sunday night. Personally, I feel that Karl’s past criticism of ‘Melo has been warranted. If he can learn to share the ball more and be a consistent defender, the Knicks will be a dangerous team for the long haul.

A lot of coaches genuinely dislike their rivals, but many of them would never come out and tell you that. The politically correct things to say are “they’re a tough team” and “they’re always prepared and well-coached,” but we know enough by now to know that George Karl is anything but politically correct. The Nuggets coach is not a fan of the Lakers, and he is not afraid to admit that.

“I can’t deny that I just despise the Lakers,” Karl said Monday according to the Denver Post. “There’s a bigger (description) for it (that I can’t use in public). I’ve been beaten by them too many times. I didn’t expect them to be bad this season, but when they got Steve Nash, I can’t deny I was really upset.”

Karl also added that he sent a text message to Lakers executive Mitch Kupchak telling him he believes he keeps a rabbit’s foot up his — well, you know.

Last season, the Nuggets took L.A. to seven games in the postseason before Kobe Bryant and company prevailed. That was the third time in five years the Lakers have ousted Denver in the playoffs, so you can see where Karl would develop his disdain for the perennial powerhouse. If all goes to plan this season at the Staples Center, he may hate the new-look Lakers more than he ever has.

H/T Game On!

After being completely dominated by Andrew Bynum and the Lakers on Sunday afternoon, Nuggets coach George Karl was understandably frustrated. His team had just lost Game 1 by a score of 103-88, and Bynum tied a playoff record by blocking 10 shots. According to Karl, however, the Lakers center did so illegally.

“(Bynum) was playing nice illegal defense,” Karl said in his postgame press conference according to ESPNLosAngeles.com. “He zoned up good. I think we got one illegal defense (called against the Lakers). I saw about 30.”

Bynum was indeed called for a defensive three-second violation late in the third quarter, but that was it. As long as the defensive player is “actively guarding” an opponent — or within an arm’s length of them — it is technically not illegal defense. Karl complained to the officials several times but failed to change their minds.

“It just isn’t going to be called,” Karl continued. “We know it’s not going to be called. It’s just not a thing that’s called. We play too fast sometimes and we don’t let the call happen and then other times, the action creates the vision of the referees. (Bynum) was sensational defensively. Pau Gasol was good out front and they did a great job protecting the basket.”

Karl later added that the Nuggets would not have won even if the call was made more, and hes right. The Lakers blocked 15 shots as a team, and it’s unlikely the officials missed 15 illegal defense calls. Denver has to find a way to overcome L.A.’s size if they want to hang around in the series.

Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The Knicks have been the most exciting team in the NBA to watch since Jeremy Lin exploded onto the scene, but how far can they ride the momentum train? The biggest concern at this point is the return of Carmelo Anthony. If Anthony and Lin can coexist, the Knicks could be in for a successful run this season. After Monday night’s loss to the Nets, New York is 0-for-1 since Carmelo’s return. Whether or not they can put it together over the course of the next couple months and become a championship contender remains to be seen, but Nuggets coach George Karl doesn’t expect it to happen.

“The thing I don’t like about the situation is all this stuff is happening with very little practice time,” Karl said during an interview with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN Radio Sunday. “So you’re kind of meshing different personalities and different people on the court, and you’re going to have to do it on the job, in the game situation, and that’s how you’re going to have to do it. That’s not the easiest thing to do from a coaching standpoint.

“I don’t think they’re going to get out of the bottom half of the draw, so I think they’re going to draw one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference (in the playoffs). I’ll be honest with you, I think it’s going to be very difficult for them this year to put the pieces together to figure out how to beat one of those top three or four teams.”

That isn’t going to please Kenyon Martin, who recently blasted Karl for talking about his former players. Karl’s opinion, however, is one that is shared by a number of people around the league. Teams like the Bulls and Heat have at least a full season of playing together under their belts. Come playoff time, that experience goes a long way. Jim Boeheim believes Carmelo will have no problem at all playing alongside Lin, so we will have to wait and see while the cobwebs clear. If Melo wants to hog the spotlight in a way that many have accused him of doing in the past, the Knicks will have trouble come playoff time.

George Karl has been adamant about the fact that he is more relaxed this season. Now that the Nuggets are without a true superstar, Karl has more control over his locker room and a team that is more willing to buy into his philosophy. With a record of 17-15, Denver has exceeded expectations through the first half of the shortened season. One of Karl’s former players, Kenyon Martin, feels that the Nuggets coach should stop talking about what a hassle his former players were.

“Man, listen, George needs to keep his mouth shut, first and foremost,” Martin told Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick. “Melo don’t play there no more. So Karl shouldn’t be commenting on Melo. If George was such a great coach, then Melo would want to stay. He wouldn’t want to leave.

“If the organization was ran right, he wouldn’t want to leave, so it ain’t Melo. With Melo, not one time when he was there did he bring that in the locker room when all that stuff was going on. Not one day. Everybody made it a bigger deal than it had to be. That’s a good kid. They act like this kid was a cancer, like he came in there and destroyed the locker room and made everybody hate him. No, it wasn’t nothing like that man. And it bothers me for people to be talking about how he’s a selfish player and he has to defend himself.”

Melo may not have discussed wanting a trade in the actual locker room, but there was no question the issue became a cloud over the organization. Karl said this season that he grew tired of the whole situation with Melo last year, but who wouldn’t? It can be almost impossible to do your job as a coach with a disgruntled superstar on the team. In a certain sense, Martin is right. Karl needs to let it go and focus on the team he has now. That doesn’t mean Carmelo was completely innocent, either.

H/T Pro Basketball Talk