Now that George Karl has retired as a future Hall of Fame coach with no rings to his credit, he can bag on his former superstar Carmelo Anthony and explain to us why he doesnt have rings either.
I know that Anthony was a young brother with the wind of superstardom driving him and sometimes the OG Karl and the NBAs new young gunner didnt see eye to eye. Neither did A.I. and Larry Brown, but Brown never wrote a book totally destroying A.I.s character and expressing very negative views of his competitiveness, his willingness to share the spotlight and his commitment to winning,
In his new book to be released next month, Karl said Melo was a “true conundrum” who didn’t like to play defense and was addicted to the spotlight.
Karl coached Anthony for six seasons during his time with the Denver Nuggets. Anthony spent eight-plus seasons with Denver before being traded to the New York Knicks during the 201011 season.
“Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him,” Karl wrote in “Furious George,” according to a copy obtained by the New York Post. “He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.”
Thats not an assessment of Melo as a player. Thats personal. Karl kind of stepped over the line with that one. He showed his age and out of touch mind-state because blasting Melo is blasting part of his legacy as a coach.
Karl, who also coached the Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Seattle Supersonics and Milwaukee Bucks during his career, said that Anthony’s lack of commitment to defense was infuriating.
“He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense,” Karl said in the book.
“He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal probably every coachs ideal is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldnt lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.
Wow. He straight shitted on Melos leadership abilities, making no mention of the fact that the kid was young and needed direction. The direction of a coach who could handle a superstar with some warts on him and turn him into a polished champ.
Melo may not be Karl Malone but George Karl damn sure isnt Phil Jackson. Hes not even K.C. Jones.
Karl was also critical of J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin, calling those two along with Anthony “AAU babies” and “the spoiled brats you see in junior golf and junior tennis.”
Karl sounds like a curmudgeonous hater.
The 30-year NBA coaching vet retired in 2016 after a 44-68 record over two seasons with the Sacramento Kings. Karl went to one NBA finals in the 1995-96 season with Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and the Seattle Supersonics, but lost to MJ and The Bulls in six games. Hes lost in the first round more times than any of us can recall. Certainly more times than Anthony as a player.
Granted, a lot of what Karl said was valid, particularly about JR. Karl said Smith, now a more mature NBA champion, had a huge sense of entitlement, a distracting posse, his eye always on the next contract and some really unbelievable shot selection.
LeBron already warned Phil about his use of the world posse and how it can degrade the accomplishments of a group of young men who are actually corporate savvy and intelligent. The word posse can imply young thugs hanging out looking for trouble.
Karl could care less. He sounds a bit bitter towards some of the guys hes coached in his NBA career. He sounds frustrated, like as much as he blames them for the team not achieving, he is also blaming himself for not being able to fix these problems.
Now he sounds like somebody who just wants to rip into guys and make sure that they don’t have a better legacy than his. Karl is really bugging and on some low blow BS.
