OT- George Karl Isn't a Good Coach

[s1ickd]

He has a big man rotation of Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin, Nene, and Najara. He has Allen Iverson and Carmello Anthony as scorers. He has both offense, defense, and experience off the bench.

The Nuggets play bad defense. However, this isn't because their players are bad defenders. Camby and Martin are very good defensive bigs. Iverson plays passing lanes well and Melo is a pretty active body. They arent the Spurs personnel wise, but they are certainly not the Bucks either.

Most times when you watch them play D, they're out of position... too late to make a rotation, caught in a bad matchup. Much of this could be attributed to poor defensive game planning.

On offense, it looks like they dont even run any plays. With all the weapons they have, you would think something would be designed to maximize effeciency of some sort.

Add to this the fact that Karls teams always underachieve (Team USA, Ray Allen's Bucks, the Nuggets) and this simply leads me to believe he's just not a good coach at all.

[SonicYouth34]

I noticed that too, Iverson is a pretty good defender too (on PG's). also starting undersized back court of Carter and AI doesn't help either . He needs to start JR Smith

[MalReyn]

I noticed that too, Iverson is a pretty good defender too (on PG's). also starting undersized back court of Carter and AI doesn't help either . He needs to start JR Smith

Well, he didn't start the undersized backcourt tonight to his credit.

I think his defensive planning has diminished over the years. During his years in Seattle, they certainly didn't have a shutdown defense but they were competent.

I disagree though with the statement about the Nuggets players being good defenders individually. Kenyon Martin is. Camby is a very good help defender, but poor man-on-man. Carmelo is clueless. Iverson anticipates well, but takes too many chances in the passing lanes, sometimes leaving his man wide open.

This season Denver's defense has been horrid, no arguments here. But Karl's still a decent coach.

[s1ickd]

well its not only the defense. there is zero semblance of a gameplan on offense whatsoever. there are maybe two passes made, and someone jacks up a shot. i understand chris paul isn't running the team, but if a bunch of very competent veterans aren't running any plays, its the coach's fault.

[rambo_ortega]

yah! i noticed that he doesnt have a game plan. very poor coaching, he can't utilize his talents on both ends. i feel bad for his players.

[bujabra]

A team in dire need of a Thibodeau of their own.

[spf211]

He has a big man rotation of Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin, Nene, and Najara. He has Allen Iverson and Carmello Anthony as scorers. He has both offense, defense, and experience off the bench.

Well, let's look at that roster of names again. They certainly have the personnel, on paper, that should be competitive with the best teams in the league. But Karl has to balance keeping the favor of his stars -- especially Anthony and Iverson -- versus alienating himself. And how he does this is make the comittment that as long as they listen to him on offense -- especially Anthony and Iverson -- he won't get on them for not playing defense.

It's that "trickle-down" effect -- if Carmello and Iverson aren't going to defend, then no one is. But even with a player like KG to set the tone, I doubt the Nuggets would be good defensively, Anthony and Iverson are the ones in control of that team and they are in no hurry to sacrifice their own games to win.

[EJay33]

Are you just realizing this now? George Karl is terrible. He destroys franchises.

[chuckerz]

Do u know how many crazy people Karl has to deal with and all that ego????

JR Smith who got into all those car problems with the law, his fight against nate robinson, and taking bad 3 pointers without karls consent hence his benching last year.

Allen Iverson and his history of trouble with the law not to mention trying to let iverson take a step back for Carmelo.

Carmelo's run in with the law and not to mention trying to work him and iverson together.

Finally Kenyon Martin who was benched by Karl in the playoffs a while ago after Marting couldn't get over his ego for the team.

After resolving all these issues and getting to the playoffs, i think he deserves some credit.

[JediSkyWalker]

Resolving issues? bull, Karl's done NOTHING. The players are fighting for a decent series and Karl isn't putting much of an effort breaking down match-ups in which the Nuggets can take advantage. Karl's taken a huge step down as a 'good coach'.

[greenbeans]

hes going to get deservingly fired when the Nuggets get the boot. Larry Brown will come in and save the day reuniting with AI imo

[Prophet_C]

hes going to get deservingly fired when the Nuggets get the boot. Larry Brown will come in and save the day reuniting with AI imo

Interesting thought. Makes sense to me.

[Banks2Pierce]

They showed a Nuggets timeout last night and Karl was talking/drawing up plays and not one player was listening to him or even watching him. It was the weirdest thing. So I don't know if they have tuned him out over the season or if they have been tuning him out all along.

[greenbeans]

they either need a guy with a super-strong ego that has the respect to put that team in line. or they need a young, no ego guy who will just be a face in the crowd. its a tough situation, but a good one if you have the makeup for it

[leper-con]

George Karl is a flat out good coach. You can't coach knuckle heads and the Nuggets team leaders are all MAJOR knuckle heads.

Iverson for all his skills "we talking about practice man" and all the off coart gun, late night, wife beating offenses says it all. He has the ability to play D but doesn't

Melo is a pure joke. The most overrated guy in the league and every year there is a DUI or a marijuana offese or a late night incident.

JR smith is another well documented knuckle head.
KMART is inconsistant and another major thug, knuckle head.

The rest of the team takes their direction from these guys and neither one of which could lead you into a 7-11 without robbing it or stealing a chocolate bar.

George Karl should win the Noble Peace Prize for keeping this bunch from shooting one another.

TAlent does not equal wins

[greenbeans]

George Karl is a flat out good coach. You can't coach knuckle heads and the Nuggets team leaders are all MAJOR knuckle heads.

Iverson for all his skills "we talking about practice man" and all the off coart gun, late night, wife beating offenses says it all. He has the ability to play D but doesn't

Melo is a pure joke. The most overrated guy in the league and every year there is a DUI or a marijuana offese or a late night incident.

JR smith is another well documented knuckle head.
KMART is inconsistant and another major thug, knuckle head.

The rest of the team takes their direction from these guys and neither one of which could lead you into a 7-11 without robbing it or stealing a chocolate bar.

George Karl should win the Noble Peace Prize for keeping this bunch from shooting one another.

TAlent does not equal wins

fan of stereotypes much???

a great coach can get things out of great players, karl is not great

[eitanr]

Denver has the talent, but it just doesn't make sense together. The fact is the Iverson-Mello experiment was never going to work. Both are heavy perimeter oriented players and need the ball for majority of an offensive possesion to be effective. The Nuggets would have been better served trying to acquire a big somehow, either through the draft or via free agency. Now their future seems uncertain. Do they unload Iverson now for expirings and picks, what is to be done with Martin. Their is simply a lot of uncertainty in the franchise and it has nothing to do with Karl.

[leper-con]

-= original quote snipped =-



fan of stereotypes much???

a great coach can get things out of great players, karl is not great

HAve you watched that team. I think that assessment is bang on. contrast that with the cultural change that KG brought to eh Celtics. The professionalism he brought. The winning attitude not stat line attitude.

[TonyMontana]

-= original quote snipped =-
HAve you watched that team. I think that assessment is bang on. contrast that with the cultural change that KG brought to eh Celtics. The professionalism he brought. The winning attitude not stat line attitude.

Leper I do agree with both of your posts Mang .

I dont think the problem the Nuggets are facing isn't Karls fault .
They have no Chemistry nor any leadership on that team .
Like Banks2Pierce posted , if you actually get a chance to watch that series , you can see that no matter what Karl says or does , the players do as they please .
It seems as if the Nuggets are playing pickup ball , sort of like the Suns .
They never run set plays , they never run any plays at all .
Its basically rebound and push the ball down court .
Also this team plays no defense whatsoever , you dont need a coach to teach you to play defense in basketball , thats something you learn as you pick up the game of basketball .
I mean was it Karls fault that Camby takes 2 wide open shots back to back and airballs on both shots .

It seems that a teams failure always falls on the coaches these days , but if you have players like Camby , Kmart , AI , somewhere somehow I would blame veterns like them since they all have palyoff experience since they have been in the league .

Go figure .
But good post Mang.

[threrf23]

I watched a lot of Nuggz games down the stretch patially b/c I had league pass, partially because they were in the running for the last playoff spot, partially cause I had JR Smith in a sim league and a separate fantasy league. If I were a Nuggets fan, I couldn't handle George Karl.

As far as I can tell, he has no excuse not to give JR Smith at least 30 min or so per game - as far as I can tell his shot selection and overall decision making is better than AI's or Carmelo's. Thats not necessarily saying Anthony Carter should play any less minutes persay - watching them its clear they're a better team with a real PG in the lineup since AI doesn't make very good decisions with the ball in his hands and JR Smith is not a good enough ball handler to play the point real well, but he should be getting minutes, at times, at the expense of AI, and sometimes in place of guys like Kleiza and Carmelo and/or Kenyon (who has not been the greatest defender either this season).

His decision to start Kleiza and play him 30 minutes as a response to the game 1 loss? Kleiza is an okay offensive player, but only okay, sometimes tries to do too much, occasionally can score nicely but thats partially because he doesn't demand attention, and he's flat out a soft defender. Playing Carmelo and Kleiza on the wing - defensively at least - isn't much if any better than playing Water Mccarty and Jared Jeffries. When you have your head coach deciding he wants to put that on the floor, thats enough right there to create a trickle down poor defensive attitude.

I agree Carmelo and AI aren't the most selfless players in the league, but there should be more effort from GK IMO. Per ABC's sideline reporter during game 1 of that series, at halftime he told the team they needed to play their game - and that didn't mean passing the ball - simply taking the ball to the hoop.