George Karl gave his first interview since being fired by the Sacramento Kings, and he made the organization look as dysfunctional on the inside as it looks from the outside.
Karl spoke to Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee about his time with the Kings, and admitted that he didn’t feel empowered by the organization.
“Eighty percent of the time I think the Kings did what had to be done,” Karl said. “But I’m old school enough to think that a coach has to feel powerful, has to feel supported, and I never felt that level of support.”
A large part of that was in his relationship with DeMarcus Cousins, which he admits he played a role in hurting.
“I never felt I got into a good place with Cuz, and some of that was my stupidity when I said that no player is untradeable,” Karl said. “I still believe that. But I should have been smart enough not to say it, and I in no way, at any time, thought DeMarcus was going to get traded.”
Karl said that this awkwardly staged handshake didn’t help matters either. He conceded that, while general manager Vlade Divac meant well by trying to bring them together, the optics of the meeting only made things more difficult and hurt perception further. The coach realized where he stood in the organization, however, when the team’s response to Cousins disparaging Karl in the locker room was to quietly fine the star player.
“That night the bomb went off,” Karl said of that altercation. “[General manager] Vlade [Divac] was right there. When they supported Cousins instead of me, I felt, ‘OK, I’m in the compromise position. Cuz has the power.’ They sent that message many times, too many times sent it to the players. And the players wanted someone to stand up to Cuz, and they wanted it to be their coach. But at that point, I realized that you either compromise or you blow it up, and my job was to make us a better basketball team and get to the end of the year.”
A report at the time said that Karl wanted Cousins suspended, but Divac wouldn’t allow it. With that in mind, Cousins had some friendly advice for Sacramento going forward.
“Whether or not they trade Cuz, they have to empower their coach,” Karl said. “They have to let him coach. It takes a few years to build a program. It becomes a culture, an energy force. [Owner] Vivek [Ranadive] wanted magic to happen, but in the NBA magic happens once in a while, and usually is associated with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan. I think you can win with [Cousins], but my thing is, how long is it going to take to get there? Then, how long before you become a winning team? I think there are faster ways to go.”
Perhaps it’s true that Cousins annoys his teammates. If Karl felt that he couldn’t even stand up to Cousins, even if he felt that the locker room wanted him to, that’s a pretty bad situation.
