Bizzledick out in Denver? The guy has done a great job, hasn't he? Karl has not been successful since Kemp was the father of only a few... http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_2766064,00.html Rumors put Karl in Nuggets' mix By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News March 29, 2004 George Karl says he wants to return to the NBA next season as a head coach. He says he would prefer to be in the Western Conference. But Karl stopped short of saying Sunday he would be interested in the Denver Nuggets position if the team elects not to bring back Jeff Bzdelik. There has been speculation among NBA insiders that the Nuggets would be interested in Karl if Bzdelik is not retained. Not only does Karl have the 15th-best winning percentage in NBA history, he and Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke have a business relationship, both being investors in a health club in Columbus, Ohio. The New York Daily News touched upon Karl's possible future with Denver on Saturday. NBA columnist Mitch Lawrence wrote, "Looking to return to coaching, George Karl reportedly has his eye on three jobs: Denver (which is going to open), Dallas (which may open) and Portland (which is not going to open)." "I can't deny that I'd like to get back in," Karl said in a telephone interview. "There's no question that I miss coaching." Karl, 52, has been out of coaching since being fired by Milwaukee after the 2002-03 season and has been working as an ESPN analyst. Karl said he hasn't spoken to any Denver officials about the job and that it would be "unfair" to Bzdelik to speculate about his interest should the job become open. "I think Jeff has done a good job," Karl said. "But I don't know why they let me in go in Milwaukee. I don't know why Detroit let Rick Carlisle go. I don't know why New Orleans let Paul Silas go. . . . Life isn't fair. The coaching business is even more unfair." The Nuggets have gone 38-37 under Bzdelik, a dramatic improvement over last season's mark of 17-65 in his first season. But the Nuggets have dropped 14 of their past 20 games and their playoff chances, which once looked good, are now in doubt, fueling speculation about Bzdelik's future. The Nuggets hold an option on Bzdelik's contract for next season, worth about $1.5 million. The Nuggets have until 30 days after the team's final game to pick it up, and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe declined to speculate on what the team might do. "We're in a playoff fight right now, and we have a coach," said Vandeweghe, when asked about speculation regarding Karl. Asked if he considers such speculation a distraction to his team, Vandeweghe said, "In the NBA, there's always speculation. We all have it. I don't really worry about it. Jeff's a professional." When asked if he had a comment, Bzdelik said, "No, I don't. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of speculation." Kroenke, who Wednesday declined to comment on Bzdelik's future, could not be reached Sunday. Nuggets publicist Eric Sebastian said Kroenke would not comment. Karl said he and Kroenke have been business partners for about seven years in The Hoop Basketball & Fitness Center in Columbus. Karl said it's a six-court basketball training center with a full weight room. "Stan and I own a building together," Karl said. "He owns more of it than I do. . . . I met him through an acquaintance. He's a huge basketball junkie. I began seeing him over the years in (Las) Vegas and places for AAU tournaments because his son and my son both play." Kroenke's son, Josh Kroenke, was a senior this season at Missouri while Karl's son, Cody Karl, was a redshirt freshman at Boise State in Idaho. In order to see his son play, Karl said his preference next season is to coach in the West because he'd like to be "an hour or two (by plane) from Boise." Karl also is friendly with Vandewehge, and the two were together on a Hong Kong exhibition tour in 1998. Karl said the only time he has talked with Kroenke and Vandeweghe this season was when he was in Denver for a Nov. 14 ESPN game, and there was no discussion about the Nuggets coaching job. When asked if he believes Karl will be back in the NBA season next season with some team, Vandeweghe said, "I have a lot of respect for him. He's a very good coach. I would think so." In 16 seasons with Cleveland, Golden State, Seattle and Milwaukee, Karl has a record of 708-499, a percentage of .587. Karl led the SuperSonics to the 1996 NBA Finals. "If I get back (into coaching), it would have to be a good situation," Karl said. "But I don't need a long- term contract. I can work with a team if it's the right situation." In his final season with the Bucks, Karl made $7 million. Karl acknowledged he wouldn't expect a team to pay him that amount, but would seek to be paid "whatever the marketplace" dictates is fair.
Very few coaches have done less with more than George Karl over the last 8 years....great move for Denver.
I personally believe that Karl is one of the WORST coaches in the NBA. He seems to alienate his best players (Seattle and Milwaukee) and did a terrible job of handling the players last summer in the World Championships. I would stay FAR AWAY from Karl if I was a team looking for a coach.
When I first read this I was thinking: George Karl invests money in a health club? Maybe he should invest some time there too...then I read the following. At any rate, I think Bzdelik has done a great job with the Nuggets, but Vandeweghe does want his team to be taken as serious contenders for the title for years to come, so I'm sure he's looking at all his options. I don't know if George Karl is necessarily the person to bring in, but his numbers don't lie. Still, if I was Denver, I'd be afraid of him alienating Melo to the point where his performance suffers OR he wants out of Denver.
George Karl IS the biggest CHOKER in the history of basketball. His name is all over the history of CHOKING. In fact he is the All-ime leader in almost every CHOKING category in history. 1. Of everyone, Denver at least should remember the CHOKE job of 1994. First ever #1 seed to be topped by a #8 seed. Plus Denver was a legitimate #8 seed, it's not like they had a great team but suffered injuries in the regular season. 2. Funny thing George says he doesn't know why he got fired from MIL. Hmmmm. Let's see... Maybe, just maybe, it has to do with the biggest regular season CHOKE in NBA history. The first time in history when a division leader at the All-Star Break failed to make the playoffs. 3. The worst of all, of course is the great CHOKE job of 2002, when the USA basketball team finished worst than the US soccer team in the respective world championships. Just take a minute to think about that. It's like Brazil finishing better at ice-hokey, than at soccer. Except that Brazil was never as dominant at soccer than USA at basketball. If that would have happened the Brazilian coach would have died a horrible dead and his family would have suffered lifelong humiliation. George must be thankful he lives in a country with more moderate temparement...
Exactly what I was going to stay. Dumb move. Don't do it Kiki...it'l negate everything great he's done.
What exactly has Kiki done? I think Kiki is way overrated as a GM. Remember, this is the guy who drafted Nikoloz Tskitshishivili ahead of Amare and a bunch of other capable players. The guy was just lucky in that: 1. Joe Dumars inexplicably passed on Carmello 2. Due to some weird natural artifact Marcus Camby has played the most games of his career this season. Take Carmello off the team and have Camby play his ususal 12-17 games per season and all you have is Darko playing at Center and Denver counting ping-pong balls.
I think Kiki deserves credit for signing Andre Miller and solid vets like Jon Barry, Earl Boykins, and Voshon Leonard. Plus getting Nene and Camby for McDyess and Frank Williams was pretty much a steal.
I think it'd be a mistake to trade out coaches already. Denver already had a better than expected season, even if the best basketball was in the middle instead of the end. Just keep building on that and keep things stable. His centerpiece, after all, did hit a rookie wall.
why would the people in denver want George Karl besides giving them one of the greatest upsets in NBA history to look back upon? that's ridiculous. Karl can't handle player egos because his is too big. And if that's the case so long 'melo.
Kiki saved the Nuggets franchise, and there's no other way to say it. Just two years ago, they had one of the highest payrolls in the league(Van Exel, McDyess, Lafrentz, etc...) and couldn't even make the playoffs. It seemed like they were doomed. He moved all of these salaries and even brought in decent talent for it. Initially, I thought the trades were stupid, but here we are two years later, and the Nuggets are one of the youngest teams in the league and only a game or so out of the playoffs.
George Karl = d!ckwad Please let Denver hire him. Then we won't have to worry about Denver's ascendance.
Quoted for truth. Buzz is a pretty bad coach. No real rhythm to his substitutions. Rumors of players alienated by his coaching style. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Bzdelik and Kiki have moved mountains in Denver. They are now the prototype for how to rebuild an NBA franchise quickly. Phoenix and Atlanta are quickly following suit. Bzdelik preaches defense and team basketball, and got his team to buy into it. George Karl is part of the "has-been" coaches who have difficulty coaching today's new generation of players.
