Best comment of the day...

"He never seems to get intense even when speaking to the media"

I've never understood this particular frequent complaint.

Phil Jackson is perpetually laid back, and that doesn't seem to be a problem.

I don't care if Karl looks comatose on the sidelines and with the media or if he's as hyperactive as Mike D'Antoni. I just care whether or not he's getting the best team performance possible out of the roster.

Petey, so are you backing Karl here? Or are you just saying that we should have legitimate reasons for demanding a change?

I thought chillz was spot on too with the notion that Karl is a master of "coachspeak". I hate when people talk around real issues and say such mind-numbing things as essentially "we made UTAH win". Jerry Sloan kicked their asses into a winning team! George Karl and the Nuggets had nothing to do with making them win aside from posting a lower point total than them in the games they played against them.

I also REALLY hate to hear about this Chi, and aura, and all the positive and negative energy crap that he spouts off about in the good and the bad times. C'mon... ain't nobody on that squad joinin' you on a yoga trip coach! ...MAYBE Najera?

Basketball isn't about having a "good vibe bro"... it's about being good at shooting, passing, dribbling, and playing defense... HARD! And last but not least, it's about running an effective gameplan to it's fullest extent, which we don't do. So he can pray to Buddah, (and from the "vibe" I get from him) go puff one down with Bill Walton on a yoga matt in the mountains in the off-season or whatever (I'm sure a few of our players would RSVP on that event), and coachspeak us to death all he wants, but fact of the matter is, Karl ain't gettin' us to the finals. Nobody believes for a second this is a finals team, and unfortunately it's too late to change this year.

It's true though. Had they beat the Bulls, Bucks, Sonics and Kings then they would be sitting on 51 wins. It's funny how some games come back and haunt you.

BTW, I don't think Larry Brown would work in Denver especially because of what happened with him and Allen Iverson in Philadelphia.

nobody seems to realize that the coach gets way too much credit when a team wins and way too much credit when a team loses. the fact of the matter is this; if players buy in to a coaches philosophy, the team is much better off. denver has too many pre-madonnas that are completely unwilling to play karl's style of defense. when karl was coaching seattle in their hay-day, that team bought into his trapping defense. now you have a bunch of offensive minded players (all be it great offensive players) who are unwilling to buy into playing defense. karl can't go out on the floor and play defense for them.

i do not disagree with the fact that this team might do better under a different coach. but even then, i would never expect this team to make a finals with all the other talented teams in the western conference. the spurs for example are a completely boring team to watch, but they win because they buy into their coach's philosophy and they execute on offense AND defense.

karl has no excuse to lose to the sonics. none. but he did let his team run up the score on them in denver, and this is professional basketball. these players are all good and all have some pride.

iverson had problems with larry brown all the time in philly. he has never bought into playing defense. that is part of the reason the nuggets are where they are. people need to realize that this is more than an overpaid coach making poor decisions and coaching a team that apparently doesn't respect him. this is about players who are making tens of millions of dollars who don't give a damn about winning basketball games. if they did, they would be fighting for a one seed.

~kingB

Amen to King B!! I could not have said it better myself.... if anyone doesn't understand that then they have no clue about basketball and never will.

2 Petey.

Its not so much as his intensity but how he say's some dumb commets like how this Golden State game ISN'T a must win... He just gives off an air of it not mattering, and it reflects in every game that we watch!

2 Anonymous.

I've been watching BBall and playing it since 82. You must understand that Coaching is the most important part to the success of a team. You can have all the talent in the world but if the Coach doesn't fit you will ALWAYS come up short. Take the Bulls B4 Phil Jackson... Or The Lakers B4 Phil. The Lakers had Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Kobe Bryant, and Shaq. It had ALL the Talent you could ask for yet still came up short. Paul peirce and Ray allen have NEVER been known for thier Defense! Yet they start for the best Defensive team in the league!? Thats due to coaching!

Also lets take the things that Karl does that are simply moronic.

- Karl emplys a 2-3 zone... Its a zone predicated on protecting the Paint. Its weakness is that good outside shooting will shread it. It leaves opening on the wings and the high post... Karl has employed this against teams shooting 60+ % from outside on EVERY occasion cause he's ran it every game. Why? They clearly get torched in a zone! This is why so many people get wide open shots against the Nuggets. Now the PLAYERS don't run the zone by themselves!? The Coach calls it! And if he didn't and noticed that his team was getting torched, why not change it, to put you team in a better position to win?

- Chucky Atkins, JR and Hunter... Chucky gets no Tick yet Karl complained ALL season about not having him! And how that was an excuse to lose... JR could do not good and still gets blamed. The guy should be starting Period. Hunter, I don't know what to say about ths guy because he should be spelling Camby (Who's dead tired)at least 10 minutes a game. He's a seven footer who blocks shotsand actually does have a nice touch around the basket(I watched him in Philly). This guy has ran a 8 man rotation all year! He's drained his players! Why do you think we Lose soo many back to back games?! cause he run a 8 man rotation in every game!

- Lastly, Karl speaks on how Defense has been the focus this year (an't tell from watching)... Yet all he talks about is the Offense! He inserted Carter into the starting lineup to push the tempo, not for defense! Why not play AI with a 6'6" guard like JR or Diawara!? It would sure up thier defense.

So how many titles or title games did George Karl take the Sonics too since he was so solid then?

Once, he faced the Bulls, in '96. From nba.com: Sonics coach George Karl compared winning an NBA championship to climbing Mt. Everest and called his team's trip to the Finals the equivalent of being at the base camp.

Looks like they stayed down at base camp.

This is the same George Karl that we know an love for letting the 8th seeded Nuggets become the first ever 8th seed to beat a 1 seed!

Thanks for the memories George!