Karl was asked specifically about his handling of McGee’s minutes and his answer (especially the last two lines) foreshadows a potential problem for new coach Brian Shaw:
Q: Looking back, is there any way to have regrets about not playing McGee major minutes, knowing that they paid him big money?
A: “I’m sorry, I’ve never had management tell me that money’s important (for playing time). Every team I’ve ever coached, it was, ‘It’s your job to distribute minutes.’ I think JaVale built a foundation that next year is going to be very good with him. I don’t think our relationship was in a bad place. It wasn’t in a great place, but it wasn’t in a bad place. … I felt pretty good that JaVale, with a good summer with us, probably would have been the starter next year. But, in the same sense, I don’t think JaVale and Kenneth fit. They have similar limitations. I still think having a passing point guard for JaVale, like Andre Miller, is an asset.”
If Karl is right (and his concerns don’t seem unreasonable), Shaw may find himself in a tough position next year. McGee and Faried are both energy players with limited offensive skills. Both players score their points off hustle plays. If it turns out a McGee-Faried front court places too much pressure on Denver’s perimeter offense, will Shaw have the freedom to move JaVale back to the bench or must he find a solution that does not impact McGee’s minutes?
Denver won more games, and Karl coached great in the regular season. He lost Gallinari's outside shooting. This season's Denver perimeter offense IMO suffered with Iguodala being ball dominant and not a great perimeter scorer. In the past Lawson ran it up and they had bombers firing away. I suspect Shaw is going to have more of that and he'll have players like Evan Fournier coming into their own.
The interesting thing is that my favorite player in the 2011 draft, Kenneth Faried, really does have limitations with his offense. He needs to develop perimeter skills. McGee, OTOH, is going to have to become a far more sound defender. Koufos was flat out more effective.
I am going to be very interested to see what Shaw does, but I bet McGee turns into a far better offensive player this season. (I'm not sure at all about his defense ever improving significantly.)