Peter Vescey is never more attractive than when he’s echoing CSTB. From Friday’s New York Post.
Imagine if George Karl had as much of an in with Nuggets’ owner E. Stanley Kroenke as widespread reports seem to indicate.
If that were true, the indubitably erudite coach with 16 seasons of experience (some of it actually good) would’ve been coaching the team last night when the sizzling Sixers came to Denver.
At least you’d think so.
There’s certainly nothing left to the imagination about Karl’s honorable intentions. He wants the job, that’s for sure, letting it be known he can walk away from his talk as an NBA TV analyst with no notice and without a hitch.
Not only did Karl deliver an immediate high, hard pitch for the Nuggets’ positon, you know, just in case interim Michael Cooper fails to qualify for a permanent promotion from assistant to the freshly terminated Jeff Bzdelik, but he’s already generously offering free advice.
The first order of business should be to unite the Nuggets, preached Karl, who left the Bucks disjointed and disorganized two summers ago after the team united against him.
Don’t misunderstand; it’s certainly not unusual for players to rebel against their coach after hearing the same old spiel for five seasons.
Still, no matter how much (or modest) of a relationship Kroenke supposedly has with Karl off the court, he has to be looking a little bit funny at a guy who becomes so negative at the end of each coaching tour. Down the stretch in Milwaukee and long afterward all we heard out of Karl is what’s wrong with today’s players, and the league, and the game.
In itself, I suggest, that should be grounds to incriminate Karl and turn off prospective employers who pay an average of $3 million or more annually to sideline gurus to get constructive leaders, not destructive ones.
Kroenke also must be thinking to himself: “If ABC doesn’t value Karl enough to make him its lead analyst over the ancient and ailing Hubie Brown why should I be excited about having him?”
As for Bzdelik’s dismissal, it caught me by surprise. Despite his lame duck status ” a detrimentally transparent message players habitually pounce on and exploit ” and eight losses in nine games, including six straight (five in which Carmellow Anthony did not play due to a sprained ankle), there were too many critical injuries to crucial personnel to lay the blame on the coach.
The good news is, Bzdelik received several copies of those morally-righteous Carmellow Anthony videos as lovely parting gifts.