God Squad wrote:enderwilson wrote:No doubt. After Popovich, Karl is probably the best coach in the league. Despite their "stacked" roster, it looks like the Nuggets will be out of the playoffs for a while.
Seriously? I'm not sure. I don't rate George Karl "that" high. IMO he's above average. But not up there with Popovich.
Seriously. Karl, Pop and Thibodeau I consider to be the best coaches in the league, IMO. And by this I mean they are the best at getting the best out of their players. The success of other coaches I would attribute to the talent they've had the fortune of working with.
I see it like this: Karl, after having a litany of superstars (Iverson, Anthony) whose value was limited to the amount of touches they got, was able to lead the the Nuggets through the playoffs year after year. After the superstars left, the Nuggets could have gone into rebuilding mode, but Karl was able to work with the pieces and talent that he had, get them to play as a team, and keep the Nuggets in the playoffs. If any other coach (not listed above) had been leading the Nuggets at this time, I believe the Nuggets would have been out of the playoffs. This is why I think so highly of Karl.
On the other hand, Pop has had the fortune of having a strong core of veteran stars over the years. Pop has been exemplary at taking the Spurs deep into the playoffs as the roster around his core of stars has changed and as the stars have aged while the league and talent in the rest of the West got younger (re Clippers, Grizzlies, Thunder). And yet, here's HIS (and I do mean his) team again in the Finals, taking the first game away from the Heat. Pop has been more successful than Karl over the years, but Pop also hasn't had to deal with the same level of change to his roster like Karl has.
Yeah, I'm fine with putting Karl and Pop in the same category. Both legendary coaches in their own right.