Kenyon Martin wrote:"Man, listen, George needs to keep his mouth shut, first and foremost," Martin said. "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 [in the Nuggets' locker room] 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."
"They've got the team they wanted now," Martin said. "They got all us out of there. They didn't offer me an extension, they traded [Anthony], J.R. [Smith] is gone [to New York]. They've got the team they want. So why doesn't [Karl] worry about coaching them and leaving Melo alone -- bottom line? It bothers me for them to keep harping at that."
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... z1mrGcCcPI
I know some Nuggets fans hate Melo now, I also know that some have fully bought into this whole new depth concept, but personally it bugs the hell out of me the way things have happened with this team over the last year. I understand the Melo deal, and I understand why they put Chauncey in the deal, I even understand why they did not extend KMart, but the fact that we need a guy exactly like JR and they never even were rumored to consider calling the guy bugs me. As hard as I try I still don't understand why they decided not to fully rebuild and instead decided to go right to franchise hell with a bunch of role players getting paid fair money, but enough of them to cap out the team.
Karl has always had problems with his most talented players, and has always loved to say whatever he thinks to the media, but our record tells the story this is not a team that is deep, we lost 4 of our top 5 players to start last year, and have downgraded with their replacements across the board. Karl has always excelled at getting the most out of his role players, but has never really seemed to get that from his stars, it is one of the reasons that Karl has always been a good coach but never a great coach. this team is not a contender, and really I feel they are the furthest away they have been since 2004.
clear back when the Nuggets hired Karl, I said it was fine as long as he was kept away from the front office, but with a young owner and an inexperienced GM, along with Karl's smiling face all over the media, I am sure that he is the one that not only convinced them to do the Knicks deal, but is happy with things just the way they are. The Nuggets are not rebuilding because Karl does not want to, they do not want a superstar because Karl does not want to deal with one, and they are stuck in mediocrity because they are listening to a guy who once traded a young Ray Allen for a well past his prime Gary Payton, because he did not like Ray Allen's attitude (despite every other coach I have ever heard talk about him loving his attitude). Until they take back some power from Karl, and start making moves based on the court, instead of trying to appease Karl, I think we are in for a long road.