Remember how delighted and emotional Denver Nuggets coach George Karl was to win his first-ever Coach of the Year award just a month ago?
That sure didn’t last long.
Despite being recognized by the league as one of the better coaches around, he was shockingly fired by the team on Thursday. Management felt he became “unbearable” due to his constant demand of a new contract. Here is what Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida and NBA insider Peter Vecsey dug up from sources close to the situation:
So according to Vecsey’s source, the firing had nothing to do with losing to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs and everything to do with Karl’s personality. But according to Tomasson’s source, it still didn’t stop management from blaming him for losing.
How can they blame him for losing, but claim that the firing had nothing to do with it? If he hadn’t lost, would they still refuse to offer him an extension? That certainly wouldn’t make much sense, either. Perhaps with the loss of general manager Masai Ujiri, Josh Kroenke felt it was time for a new voice. That’s an understandable decision, but lets keep it real: this was highly unlikely to happen had the team moved past the Warriors and gave the Spurs a run for their money. It’s a league of results. You don’t fire a coach when he’s producing positive results.
It makes you feel sour when a coach unjustifiably gets the ax. Many had issues with how Karl handled some of the situations against the less-experienced Warriors. Did Karl play Andre Miller too much? Yes. Did Corey Brewer play too much of a role, given his inability to hit shots consistently nor comprehend the idea of staying with one guy (Stephen Curry) at all times? Yes. But what else was he supposed to do? The team was shorthanded due to the absence of Danilo Gallinari, who was a monster against the Warriors in the regular season. Kenneth Faried was a shell of himself due to a sprained ankle. JaVale McGee is constantly Shaqtin’ a fool. You need luck to win in the playoffs, and Karl simply didn’t have enough of it. Running into Curry – a nightmare to solve from a defensive standpoint – sure didn’t help his cause, either.
The one good thing about all of this is the timing of the firing. With plenty of teams on the search for a viable coach, an unexpected candidate just became instantly available. See below for the latest updates on all the coaching situations and much more from around the league: