With 1,175 victories, George Karl is the fifth all-time winningest coach in NBA history. In the 1990s, he took Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and the Seattle Supersonics to the NBA Finals. In the 2000s, he got Carmelo Anthony to his only conference final. The North Carolina man is an offensive innovator, a great coach by most measures.
That's why anger is probably not the best emotion to feel about Karl's words and actions the past few weeks. Sadness, sorrow and empathy would be more apt.
Excerpts have been released from Karl's upcoming book, in which he eviscerates Anthony, Kenyon Martin and JR Smith, key players from that Denver Nuggets team that made the Western Conference finals in 2009. He then accused the NBA of having an issue with performance-enhancing drugs. He then pinned the problems of the struggling Portland Trail Blazers on star point guard Damian Lillard.
The responses to Karl have been swift and strong. Portland coach Terry Stotts — a former Karl assistant — told Karl to "stay in his own lane" when it comes to his players and his team. Both Smith and Martin went to social media with rebuttals. Smith — who in June won his first NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers — said Karl was trying to "stay relevant"
He's right. And Karl is right, to a point. And Karl is wrong, mostly.
Karl's overall point is that Anthony, and Martin and Smith were difficult to coach — and he has an argument. In 2008, 2009, the trio acted like kids. They've grown up since. But Karl went too far in chiding Anthony for not having a father in his life, when Anthony's father died when he was a toddler. He went too far in spilling dirty laundry that shouldn't have been a decade after the fact.
Karl isn't the first person to write a memoir filled with juicy snippets, and he won't be the last. To do so nearly 10 years later, and go scorched earth on the league that made him both rich and famous, is hypocritical.
But maybe, this is who George Karl is. His winning has often come with a price. He's coached 1,199 games in an NBA career that's spanned decades, generations and evolving styles of play. He's beaten cancer. He's taken two franchises to the doorsteps of a championship. He has a son who played in the NBA, and he's a coaching descendant of Dean Smith. A man with his success, personal backstory and professional credentials should be more beloved than he is. But he isn't. And he has only himself to blame for that.
Karl has clashed with many of his best players: Anthony and Martin and Smith in Denver, DeMarcus Cousins in Sacramento. He's been outspoken behind the scenes and hasn't always gotten along with the people who cut his checks. That's why he was fired from the Nuggets the season after he won the NBA's coach of the year award. That's why he didn't last long with the Kings.
And now this. Karl has backed off some of his comments since the words in his upcoming book came to light. But the damage is done. Karl probably won't coach again in the NBA. The fifth-winningest coach in basketball history isn't in the Basketball Hall Of Fame, when it isn't exactly difficult to get into the Hall in the first place.
But that's the bed Karl has made for himself, the legacy he has chosen to build. And for that, we should feel sorry for him. George Karl has won 1,175 games as an NBA head coach. And he won't be remembered for any of them.
tjones@sltrib.com
Twitter: @tribjazz
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible