Yao’s Foot Saved George Karl’s Job
But for how long?
By Vincent Thomas
So Yao’s out?! For the season?! That sucks — big time — for two reasons. 1.) Yao and Tracy and coach Rick Adelman and Skip and the rest of that squad had escaped an injury-plagued, underachieving start of a season and embarked on a 12-game winning streak that was beginning to strike fear in the hearts of their Western foes. Aside from the prospect of playoff redemption for the two big stars, you could envision the Contenders and the Sleepers looking at the standings and box scores, thinking, “This is not what we needed. Why couldn’t they keep playing uninspired, sloppy, suspect ball…like, say, Denver?” Ah. Denver. This brings us to…2.) This injury sucks because Denver was right on the brink of clown-balling themselves out of the playoffs. Denver doesn’t deserve to compete in this historic Western Conference playoff.
Before today’s Houston gloom, you could sense a separation between the Top 7 out West, leaving that eighth spot to a battle between G-State and Denver. Not to evoke any images of team-brawls, but in a scrap, with Playoff Lives at stake, I’m going with the squad that has an actual Franchise Player (Baron), a dude name Jax, Monta From The Bottom and a coach that probably swigs gin from his Gatorade cup. Denver, if you can believe it, has played soft all year. And, until Yao’s season-ender, the Nuggs were soft-balling their coach right out of a job. I believe that.
Yao saved George Karl’s job — for now.
This season has been a notable for a number of reasons, but this one really gets me: Only one coach has been fired, thus far. Firing coaches — during the season — reached Epidemic Status a while ago. Every year the coaching dynamic resembled Amateur Night at the Apollo, with the bloodlust fans and media booing and impatient owners and GMs yanking coaches off the stage like the Sandman. No tears here, though, since, many times, they deserved it. Skiles definitely deserved to get yanked this season. Down With Dictators — that’s a motto of mine; and The L has no room for Napoleonic campus-coaches masquerading in the pros. Skiles should go whip Indiana into shape. I think he’d be an incredible, task-mastering college coach. Pros? Uh-uh.
But here we are, past the curve, on the season-end straightaway and only one coach got canned. That means one got away. Not the well-meaning, but fumbling coach/exec in Gotham. The Love & Basketball line offended my cool and Eddy Curry offends Oliver Miller and Steph is off his meds and, well, it‘s an undeniable mess at The Garden; but I’m one of the few that admires Dolan’s willingness to let Zeke see this through. The man responsible for the league’s worse record didn’t necessarily “get away”, either . We all know Riles isn’t going to fire himself and I don’t think the squad’s record is as much a product of his coaching, as it’s the result of his personnel decisions. Eddie Jordan was on the hot seat early on. Then Gil went down and the Wiz went on a resourceful run. Mike Brown’s position was precarious for a while. Then ‘Bron came back and began acting an utter fool. And what real good would it do to fire coaches in their first years, coaches like Sam Vincent or Randy Wittman or PJ or Jim O’Brien? Shoot, Mo Cheeks got an extension!
The one that got away was a dude that has his team 10 games above .500; on pace to win 48 games in what may be the toughest conference in NBA history. Still, I’ve been looking for Sandman’s cane to cup Karl’s neck for about a month now.
No team, at the moment, is underachieving like the Denver Nuggets. During the preseason, Denver was a halfway sexy pick to hoist the trophy at season’s end. And why not? They had/have a Former Franchise Player and a Possible Franchise Player in AI and Melo. They had/have size, depth, inside-outside scoring — they have all the tools needed to get four wins first in a seven game series…against anyone. Yet, they tend to play scrub-ball. Their games can resemble the pace and tone of rec-league scrimmages. In the first quarter of last night’s game against Detroit, the Pistons hung 30 on the Nuggs. That was the eighth time, in the previous nine quarters, when a team dropped 30 or more points on Denver. The 8th!!!!!!!! That’s how Chicago — of all squads (!) — could hit up the Nuggets for 135, when it’d normally take the Bulls something like, maybe, six games to score that much. Have you seen them play? Denver, I mean. This squad — full of well-compensated veterans — doesn’t rotate on defense, they don’t get back on the break, they get out-rebounded because they don’t block out. Melo’s averaging a career best 7.4 rpg, but that’s because Denver’s pace is so ridiculously brisk that their games feature close to 175 shot put up each night.What’s enraging about Denver is that they could be much like the Lakers: A well-rounded squad that does everything well. L.A. shoots it well, they can run, they have low-post options, they rebound well, the play smart defense, they play hard. Denver, meanwhile, balls like the Wizards Of The West (with Gil). It’s best described as “tomfoolery on the court.” Zig, zag, lag, squirt, spurt, shoot, get duped, hang, sling, oops, wow, nope, zoom, gasp…“whatever, is it my turn to shoot?” I don’t mind such mindless play from the Wizards, they have a ceiling. The Nuggets, on the other hand, could be League Monsters.
We can hang the blame on the players — recent SLAM cover boys AI and Melo, specifically. But I’m going the other route and putting Karl on blast. Karl is not a first-year coach. He’s not a second-tier coach. He’s veteran coach, regarded as one of the best in the league. I just can’t see Phil or Pop or Avery or any other coach of Karl’s ilk, residing over a squad that plays this version of Clown Ball. Denver wouldn’t be hooping like a late-80s Loyola Marymount, if Karl were on his gig proper.
His day was coming, too. Houston was streaking, G-State was treading and Denver was sinking. Then the Yao News happened, which almost assures Denver a spot in Playoffs and, who knows, maybe they smack some sense into their heads and sneak a series — something they’re entirely capable of doing.
But owner Stanley Kroenke needs to remember this pre-Yao Injury stage for these Nuggets and make the right decision in the off-season. He’s had his chances, yank Karl (he’ll pop up with another team weeks after, he’s still a commodity) and entrust this squad to a dude that might be able to teach and whine them to some real success. You feel where I’m going, here? That’s right. Let’s make it an Allen Iverson/Carmelo Anthony/Larry Brown Reunion. Make it happen, Kroenke.
Vincent Thomas is a columnist for SLAM Online and a contributor to SLAM Magazine. He can be reached at vincethomas79@gmail.com.
45 Responses to “Yao’s Foot Saved George Karl’s Job”
Feb.26 at 5:12 pm
Ty says:
First!?
Feb.26 at 5:52 pm
cdro says:
whatif the rockets won the lottery?
Feb.26 at 6:31 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
No doubt VInce. I agree in every way. They should be better, the Nuggets routinely blow my high.
Feb.26 at 6:43 pm
speedy says:
They just had a little slide in the last few games but they will come back if they start to play some defense.
But it’s funny. If this was about Dallas it would be about how bad Dirk is as a leader but in Denver where A.I. AND Melo can help each other lead the team the people at slam talk about the lack of coaching .
Very funny.
Feb.26 at 6:47 pm
Allenp says:
I want Karl gone now. I hate the Nuggets offense. I hate their defense. It’s unacceptable that Karl has not done more with the talent he has. Look at what Jerry Sloan consistently does with players in Utah. It’s bogus.
Feb.26 at 6:49 pm
Allenp says:
People talk about Dirk cause Dirk played like a b@tch. AI and Melo have never played that way. All these cats complaining that Dirk is being treated unfairly need to go back and watch the last three games of the Miami series and the entire Golden State series and truly ask themselves if Dirk played scared. Watch the tapes.
Feb.26 at 6:52 pm
Allenp says:
I’ve been saying what Vincent wrote for months. George Karl ran the exact same offensive with the Bucks. It’s iso city.
Feb.26 at 6:53 pm
Skillet Forilla says:
Karl just sits there. They barely run an offense. Iso Ai. Iso Melo. AI dribble and heavy desperately in the directin of the hoop. Drive and chuck it out to the wing and hope One-pac can drain a three. That is it. That’s all they seem to run. the rest is scramble-ball.
Feb.26 at 6:59 pm
speedy says:
I watched the series live on TV and saw that Dirk didn’t made the best out of his talent .
But I also saw him took the blame for everything that happened to his team and it’s shortcoming .
That’s something grown men do and not b*tches.
B*tches would blame the coach .
Feb.26 at 7:02 pm
tenorca says:
Dirk did play scared, no doubt about it Allenp. When GS doubled him in the high post, he was completely lost and didn’t seem to have the mental necessities to change up his game. Instead, the at-that-time-presumptive-MVP ceded his duties to a too young Josh Howard and Jason Terry (who in turn was completely outclassed by BD). Hell, I was more worried when Austin Croshere game into the game. No lie.
As an aside, Vincent Thomas: “clown-balling” almost made some Rice Krispies come out my nose.
Feb.26 at 7:04 pm
Skillet Forilla says:
There are a ton of reasons to criticize Melo and Iverson this year, and I think that the article above addresses some of their shortcomings, but Karl really seems to be doing an outstandingly lackluster job. Lil’General may not always make the right choices but he is an active and hands-on leader who is always on top of his players. Karl seems to be intimidated by his superstars and he doesn’t seem to push them or try to develop their games.
Feb.26 at 7:05 pm
Skillet Forilla says:
^^^ agreed tenorca, “Clown-balling” is a keeper.
Feb.26 at 7:06 pm
Gerard Himself says:
if there is one coach I don’t want to see coach an NBA team, it’s Larry Brown. He should be a college coach. I’m still wondering why Paul Silas isn’t back in the L. What is he doing now? Will he ever return?
Feb.26 at 7:09 pm
speedy says:
Now I put fuel to the fire Mr. allenp .
It’s a lack of leadership and selfdiscipline on this squad that prevents them from being as good as they should be .
But hey blame the coach and his system it’s way easier then critzise the players if it’s not Dirk .
Feb.26 at 7:23 pm
tenorca says:
AI & Melo are deserving of knocks and, if memory serves, Avery was taken to task for altering his starting lineup for game 1. So it’s not just a “SLAM likes AI more than Dirk” thing, even though, really, who doesn’t? The point is that the Nuggs might not make the friggin’ playoffs with two all-stars, Marcus Camby, and pretty legitimate bench—and speaking of which, the article didn’t even MENTION J.R. Smith, who’s attitude is trash and who plays wildly inconsistent ball. A good coach would’ve reigned him in by now or cut bait. Karl has done neither.
Feb.26 at 7:23 pm
poohbiz says:
amen vincent, I am a nuggets fan, but I’m extremly frustrated with the team. I dont like how they’re playing, I have little faith in AI or Melo. I get in this arguement with other, less realistic, nuggets fans all the time. They think melo and AI scoring is all we need…dumb. If the suns cant make it without D, what makes any one think that the nuggets can? I put some of the blame on the two stars, but I’ve been calling for Karls head since a horrible “coaching” job against the spurs last playoffs
Feb.26 at 7:26 pm
Allenp says:
Coaches get paid millions of dollars to design schemes and motivate players. Those are their only jobs. If a team is lacking in effort and scheme, who’s fault is it? Dirk played soft and he’s regularly played soft. That’s who he is.
Feb.26 at 7:27 pm
poohbiz says:
@tenorca, i dont feel it’s fair to trash JR. He gets well under the minutes he deservs, with kleiza ahead of him. He rarely gets a chance to get hott and prove himself, because he doesn’t get enough time. In regards to his attitude, I’ve picked up on one little thing, and that is that he’s the only dude cheering on the bench. He looks ecstatic whenever they’re doing well, compared to the usual AI and Melo scowls when they’re on the bench
Feb.26 at 7:29 pm
Allenp says:
Speedy, everybody who watched the series saw Dirk’s balls shrink. There is no way you can win this argument. If you think Melo and AI take too many bad shots, hey, I agree with you. So tell the coach to get off his butt and tell them what shots to take. That’s his job. Popovich doens’t just let his players run wild if they are effing up. Do you remember how hard he was on Parker and Manu when they first got in the league? Like somebody said, Avery doens’t take no guff from any player. He runs his team. George Karl does jack sh@t besides sit on the bench with a constipated look on his face.
Feb.26 at 7:31 pm
Young Chris #3 says:
Iverson needs Larry Brown…
Feb.26 at 7:32 pm
Allenp says:
And like poohbiz said, Karl did horrible in the Spurs series. The Nuggets could have made that series much more competitive. Karl’s substitution patten was garbage, he had no way to deal with the zone the Spurs occaisionally used and his adjustments were wack. I want somebody to explain to me what the job of a coach is if it’s not to get players to play hard. What the eff are they getting paid for? You can’t give coaches credit when their teams play hard and then don’t say anything when their team loafs.
Feb.26 at 7:56 pm
Mike says:
I think nuggets are the best team in the league on paper they have everything if 5 years ago you said you would have allen iverson marcus camby and kenyon martin on the same team you would think championship and now with Carmelo i cant believe this but they gotta get a good coach george karl always looks like hes chilling it wen there letting bulls drop 135 on them or michael redd score 42
Feb.26 at 8:03 pm
poohbiz says:
what really finalized my opinion on karl was when he black balled JR in the spurs series. You don’t definitivly rule out a player because of your own beef with him.
Feb.26 at 8:07 pm
tenorca says:
@ Poohbiz: Admittedly, you probably see more Nuggets than I do and that little factoid (about the man cheering on the bench) actually makes me like him a whole lot more. The games I’ve seen this season, he looked unmotivated, lost, and depressed. Kind of like a Knick. Either way, the blame needs to fall on Karl: J.R. Smith needs to be producing for that team and it is Karl’s job to figure out a way for him to do so.
Feb.26 at 8:13 pm
Joel O's says:
Maybe George Karl’s formula just doesn’t work. He had just as much firepower with his Bucks and Sonics teams, and they were good but never really great too.
Feb.26 at 8:22 pm
Sesa says:
Nice piece as usual Vince. I’m probably mistaken, but Larry Brown or Scott Skiles wasn’t a good fit. Maybe Marc Iavaroni is better on this one. Denver had all the right tools to be european style team.
Feb.26 at 9:03 pm
matt says:
offense wins games, Defence wins ‘chips
what can i say more ….
Feb.26 at 10:30 pm
Cub Buenning says:
I am going to condense some thoughts.
Nugs don’t play hard consistenly
They don’t have an identity.
They badly need Nene (they really haven’t had true “depth” all season)
Karl might need to go “old school-Furious George” which got him in trouble with the Glove and Jesus S. He has mellowed in his old age, but he might need to get pissed and start yelling.
I also think that AI should run the point and stop shooting so much. I am not sure what the numbers breakdown is, but when he gets 10 assists, they are dominate.
I might have to pen my own Nugs’ diatribe.
Feb.26 at 10:32 pm
Cub Buenning says:
I neglected to mention this, but, nice stuff, Vince.
Feb.26 at 10:48 pm
Weapon X says:
Melo should stop taking so many damn jumpers & just dish it to The Answer, who actually takes it strong to the hole!
Feb.26 at 11:06 pm
Bubba Chuck says:
ur wrong. we was @ least gonna get tha 5th seed in tha playoffs ne way b4 yao got injured. maybe u aint know but last year tha nugs won every single damn game they played in april xcept 1 (they lost 2 tha spurs,but they tha champs ne way)yes alot of tha guys r lazy & dont try hard but some guys do hustle: camby, kleiza, carter, eddie, & khouba (when he plays). and u cant blame george karl & mention last nites game in tha same article bcuz he wasnt even thurr last nite!
Feb.26 at 11:43 pm
Eboy says:
If they can just get hot going into the playoffs……
Feb.27 at 12:05 am
tike says:
Hold on First and for most Vincent i never want to see your face on Outside The Lines again that whole thing was just wrong…..And yes George Karl should send Yao a get well soon card…time for Utah and Golden State too step it up…maybe the kings can make a late push
Feb.27 at 12:26 am
tealish says:
As an Iverson fan and by extension a Nugget fan, this article is all too painfully true. I don’t see this team getting out of the first round and that is sad for a guy like AI who thoroughly deserves a second shot at the title.
I put the blame on George Karl, Carmelo.. AND some on AI. Karl really has no clue what is doing. Carmelo doesn’t have the ability to lead. His defense is disgusting and he’s caught up arguing with the ref all the time. That man is anything but a leader. AI’s fault? He doesn’t realize that Melo isn’t fit to lead. Iverson’s taken over the reigns a little bit, but he seems reluctant to fully accept the role as the number one dog since he wants it to be Melo’s team still. This has become quite a sticky situation in which all the players want to acknowledge Melo as the leader and Iverson as a co-leader. They look to Melo in the clutch but…he’s not? Uit’s unfortunate but Melo isn’t capable of having a team yet and I’m seriously doubting if he’ll ever be. He has NO killer instinct and fire. Too often in the closing minutes of a tight game, he’s just smiling and laughing away the embarrassment of an imminent loss. I cannot believe AI hasn’t realized this situation and put this team on his shoulders yet. You may not want to steal Anthony’s thunder or step on any toes here, but if you want that chip you’re going to have The Guy - not Melo.
Feb.27 at 12:27 am
tealish says:
have to be*
Feb.27 at 9:10 am
TADOne says:
Agree with the Nugs and Karl breakdown Vince. Good stuff as usual. But I’m not sure Next Town Brown is the answer. Then again, that is the only coach who got the most out of Iverson and the only one Ivy respected.
Feb.27 at 11:42 am
bigdoggchad says:
Doesn’t anybody remember the 04′ Olympics? Melo didn’t like playing for Larry Brown. I agree Karl needs to get the axe. We need Nene back, the Chucky Atkins signing was a mistake, and Iverson needs to play some D. I know he plays hard all the time but, his gambling on defense puts the Nuggets in 5 on 4’s all the time. He usually guards the oppositions second best guard and that player usually has better numbers than their average. At he brought his habit of flopping and complaining to the refs. I know most players complain but now is way worse than when he was there.
Feb.27 at 2:45 pm
speedy says:
You blame it on the coach allenp.
Feb.27 at 2:48 pm
speedy says:
Again .
Feb.27 at 5:40 pm
Allenp says:
If that’s the best response you could come up with, then I’m glad this discussion is over.
Feb.28 at 12:01 am
robbie says:
stealing immortal technique lines
Feb.28 at 6:02 am
nothin personal says:
The nugs need Nene back to mix it up with the big boys, since Camby and Kenyon are ultra fragile and in Camby’s case skinny. They also need a Pg with b@lls, that will distribute the ball evenly and control the tempo, without fearing that Iverson might break and enter in his house with a gun in his hand.
Mar.1 at 2:48 am
Timmyd says:
Grant it, Denvers style of play hasn’t been the best. They have recieved a lot of critisim this year, some deserved and some not. Some of the medias critisim is hypocritical though. Dispite how supposidly poorly they have played so far this year…keep in mind that the Nuggets are only a few games behind the Jazz for the division lead, which would immediatly put them in 4th. Keep in mind that all those teams ahead of Denver (Houston, Suns, Lakers, Hornets, Jazz, ect) have all had large winning streaks…Denver hasn’t, and still they are in the mix. The media makes me laugh because they act as if there is not 5 1/2 games seperating the 1 and 8th seeds in the West. In this article Vince says that “Denver doesn’t deserve to compete in this historic playoff race”. Please. There is no clear front runner in the West. You folks bandwagon every other week. The fact that Denver has played so poorly (as you like to put it), has suffered through injuries to KEY players and numorous line up changes throughout the year and is still in the mix of things, goes to show the FACT that at any time it could be anyones game. I couldn’t imagine any team…not even the SPURS that would have been able to keep there head above water this long under those circumstances. The standings are so close in the West that if any team loses a few games in a row, they can be out the playoffs. The standings change each day. Had the Nuggets won a few extra games they were supposed to win who could say they wouldn’t be sitting on top of the Western conference right now? Thats how close things are. So please, lets stop acting as if the Nuggets plays so horrible that they don’t deserve to compete. You’re stretching with this article (as usual). Their major problem is their inconsistant. One minute they are beating the Spurs at their own game, the next minute they are getting beat by the depleated Bulls. I say that you can place blame all around. But Karl certainly should take his part as well as the players at times (because you can’t Coach effort). And i’m a fan of Baron, but I would say that the Warriors team rides or dies more with Jax then him. They are both equal contributers and I wasn’t aware that the Warriors had a “Franchise Player”. LOL! You’re cheap shots at AI are beyond WACK at this point. In your articles Vince, you try to come off as whitty but sometimes you just come off sounding like a flat out HATER (especially when it comes to players like Iverson). Please try again. And for the love of god when will people realize that Iverson is a SG trapped in a PG’s body?!! His job is to score the ball and pass when need be. Enough with that “he needs to get 10 assists a game” BS. They showed that they win just as much at this point when he scores 30 pts. or more then they do when he has 10 assists. So at this point that stat is irrelevent. I swear that guy can’t win for losing with people. If he scores the ball he’s a ball hog…if he passes the ball and doesn’t score as much, he’s supposidly “lost a step”. Dang, when will it end? Let the guy live and play the game already for crying out loud. He’s a PROLIFIC SCORER…thats his job, to make the shots.
Mar.5 at 1:16 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » The Commish Memo says:
[…] And three cheers to Tyronn for not providing any help for the other squad that pursued him, Denver. I already detailed my disgust for the Nuggs last week and I (firmly) believe that if they make the playoffs it will prove the lack of natural justice in this world. T-Mac: It’s on you to see to it that Denver suffers just punishment. There’s No Room For Squares in the West. […]
Apr.7 at 8:51 am
SLAM ONLINE | » Newsflash: the West is INSANE says:
[…] Vince wrote a column a while ago about how the Nuggets play slop ball, and while I saw his point, it really didn’t bother me that much. Some teams are sloppy, it’s good to have variety. Then I saw the end of their 168 point game against Seattle. Guys were pulling up for threes, JR Smith was dunking on people, against a team that recently shipped out pretty much every single one of its veterans to clear cap space and is about to pack up its things and skip town. […]