Larry Brown Sports

The Nuggets lost to the Jazz at home on Sunday, 106-96. Denver head coach George Karl has a theory as to why. When a team loses in the NBA the excuses usually range from a lack of focus to turning the ball over too much. Karl, however, believes that beating a certain team from South Beach on Friday had a lot to do with Sunday’s loss.

“I probably blame it on our NBA cool,” he said according to the Denver Post. “We thought we were cool after kicking Miami’s butt, and we got embarrassed. The NBA game does it quite frequently. If you think you’re better than you are, or think you’re cooler than you are and you don’t think you have to put in the hard work to win games, you get embarrassed. We got embarrassed.”

He may have a point.  Everyone wants to beat the Heat — especially a young team like Denver that is looking to silence the critics and prove they can win games without Carmelo Anthony.  That being said, I’m not sure how embarrassing a loss in game 13 of an NBA season can be.  It’s a long year, and I doubt anyone thinks the Nuggets are pathetic for dropping an early-season game to the Jazz.

If I beat a team with a guy who says stuff like this and does stuff like this, I’d probably take a couple days off too.

Chest bump to I Am a GM for sharing the story with us

Last season, the Nuggets lost Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks. The move left the team without star power, but Denver still finished the season with an impressive 50-win total. The Nuggets lost to the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs, but head coach George Karl remains excited about this year’s team despite its lack of a true superstar.

“I think, I hope, as I am preaching to the team is the Denver Nuggets is going to be out being a team” Karl said in an interview with KKFN in Denver that Sports Radio Interviews shared with us. “It has nothing to do about individuality and basically screw all the guys out there that think you gotta have a superstar to win a championship. I’m just not into the hype. … I’m excited because if Oklahoma City is the darlings of the NBA and we are not that far from them.”

Denver recently inked Nene Hilario to a five-year, $67 million deal, so he is obviously someone who is being paid like a superstar that they think they can build a contender around. With a mix of young players like Ty Lawson and veterans like Danilo Gallinari, the Nuggets should be far from a punching bag in the Western Conference.

Teams with superstars generally succeed in the NBA — especially in a seven-game playoff series.  That being said, a superstar can emerge over the course of the season.  If Chris Paul went to the Lakers the Western Conference picture would be a bit clearer, but instead he was traded to the Clippers which should make them a contender as well.  Karl is a good enough coach to keep the Nuggets in the hunt and lead them to the playoffs once again.

If you’re scratching your head right now thinking that’s a pretty bold statement, you’re not alone. When you think of the best teams in NBA history you immediately think of the Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, and maybe the dominant 76ers or Bucks. But you probably don’t think of the Seattle Sonics.

Former coach George Karl thinks you should.

Karl was on hand for Sonics night at Safeco Field in Seattle Friday night and he joined Dave Sims in the broadcast booth on Root Sports. He was asked for his standout moment in Seattle and mentioned his ’95-’96 Sonics team.

“Playing in the championship round in the NBA Finals against Chicago and Michael’s team. I thought our team and their team should be in the Top 20 teams in NBA history even though we didn’t win a championship. They won 73 games and we won 64.

If Nate McMillan would have been healthy I thought it would have been a very equal series. The opportunity to play in the Finals is an honor and a privilege — it’s amazing how few people get to be in that situation.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

To refresh your memory, first it was Spurs coach Gregg Popovich who bashed the Pau Gasol trade, saying there should be a trade committee that must approve deals. Pretty much anyone who’s seen the Lakers play since Pau (long as you’re not a Lakers fan) has to be upset with Memphis for giving up Pau for nearly nothing. Count Nuggets coach George Karl as one still in disbelief over the trade, as he mentioned to ESPN in an interviewed aired during the Nuggets/Spurs game Friday night:

“I’m with Pop on the Gasol trade. [The Nuggets media relations director] told me about the trade, I said ‘the league can’t let that happen. There’s no way.’ That’s not going to happen. I swear, I said ‘there’s no way that’s happening.’ It was like a gift — Christmas come early. It was a surprise package underneath the tree.”

We’ve broke down some of the recent one-sided deals in the NBA back when Popovich made his comments, but at least some of those teams were getting back at least one useful player, as opposed to Memphis which really got nothing. So, the question must then be asked: is David Stern really using his power to pull these strings? Something tells me the answer is yes.