Did George Karl deserve to be fired as the head coach of the Denver Nuggets last year?
Simple question, and depending on who you talk to, a very complex answer.
Truthfully, I was stunned and embarrassed to be a Nuggets fan when they cleaned house after a 57 win season, with the NBA coach of the year and the GM of the year in Masai Ujiri.
I was puzzled by Josh Kronke's press conferences, where it seemed he had zero preparation, he stumbled through answering questions from the media and fans alike. Josh Kronke tried to explain the inexplicable, which is a tall order indeed, how can you fire the reigning NBA coach of the year and let the GM of the year go in the same off-season?
After 3 games, the Nuggets are 0-3 and are 0-2 at Pepsi Center. They were 38-3 at the Pepsi Center last year. Is it fair to draw conclusions after 3 games? Absolutely not. But I must say, I am very bored when watching this team play basketball. I don't think I am the only one, Pepsi Center has been DEAD for each of the two games according to the television broadcast crew and other local media.
How much more do Nuggets fans need to see before we can draw conclusions?
This is an organization that has made a poor decision at the ownership level. Josh Kronke wants to commit to a style of play, that not only deemphasizes the strengths of this roster, but shines a spotlight on it's weaknesses. A style of play that diminishes the advantage of altitude, something George Karl always emphasized was a key component of the Nuggets home court advantage.
This team isn't taking the proverbial, "one step back, to move two steps forward". This team is nose diving into the lower half of the Western Conference. I'm not sure this team can even get 35 wins this year.
In a way, I feel a record of 25-57 would provide a symmetrical dose of poetic justice that Josh Kronke richly deserves.
Is George Karl a good coach? No, he is a GREAT coach. Unfortunately, Karl was ultimately a victim of his own regular season success with highly imperfect rosters.
In a 4 year span, Karl coached one Nuggets team to the Western Conference Finals, and then an entirely different Nuggets team to 57 wins. Is that not impressive? After Birdman left, not one member of the 08-09 Western Conference Finals Nuggets team was with the 12-13 Nuggets at the conclusion of their 57 win season. Usually that type of turnover is called "rebuilding", but credit Masai Ujiri for getting maximum value for any assets they had, making difficult decisions to unload contracts like Nene, and getting players that would fit into George Karl's system.
Masai Ujiri and George Karl made this team a fun, fast pace, entertaining team when after the Carmelo trade, Armageddon was supposed to happen to this franchise. It happened in Cleveland when LeBron left, it happened in New Orleans when Chris Paul left, it happened in Orlando when Dwight Howard left.
But it didn't happen in Denver, something I do think Nuggets fans took for granted.
The story is not about a team that needs more time to adjust to a new coach, it's not about a new GM waiting for the opportunity to reshape the roster to his liking. Rather it is about a young owner, who may be bright, but not nearly as bright as he thinks he is.
This is about a young owner who grossly overreacted to the Golden State playoff series and came to the highly questionable conclusion that he needed to embrace a new style of play. And in doing so, diluted the trade value of every player on the roster by committing to this new style before assembling the talent necessary to make it work.
This miscalculation, has transformed a highly entertaining and competitive team into an unsightly poor watch for many Nuggets fans, as we see Faried or McGee trying to post up doing the "Hakeem shake" ending the possession with a solid brick that had no chance at all of going in.
I should make mention that I have no problem with Brian Shaw. By all accounts he is well deserving of a head coaching opportunity. Whatever criticism Brian Shaw takes, in my view, will be misdirected. There is only one person to blame and that is the person who put Brian Shaw in this position. Shaw is trying to fit a circle peg into a square hole. The ownership group wants to slow down and play half court, while the personnel assembled does not match that model of play.
The vast majority of NBA teams are trying to play "faster", it is a trend on the upswing. Now the Nuggets are trying to slow down, when at a time they were the best in the league at running teams out of the gym.
Some Nuggets fans on Twitter tell me they were "tired of losing in the 1st round of the playoffs and that this system is more designed to be successful in the playoffs". I agree with the playoff loses, I too was tired of always being bounced in the 1st round. However, I also knew that this team always exceeded it's talent level in wins. The regular season DOES matter. The NBA isn't like the NHL, MLB, or NFL where there are surprise championship winners. The NBA is top heavy by a wide margin and the playoffs are more predictable in the NBA than any of those other sports.
Did the Nuggets ever have a roster to win an NBA championship? I don't think so. But George Karl sure did max out that talent each year and got the best out of them. And you know what? It was sure fun watching those regular season games also, fast pace, exciting basketball, the Taco Bell special being met multiple times a week.
I am going to miss that. I did not take those years for granted. I think when people look back on the George Karl era, they will remember it with good memories.
Is a slower pace game more effective in the playoffs? Sure. But who cares? If you're playing a better slow game, but only getting 35-41 wins, why does it matter? If you play a better slow game, but get the 7th or 8th seed, it doesn't matter, the result will be the same, a first round exit. I would atleast like some entertaining basketball in the other 82 games!
Josh Kronke came to the conclusion that he knew more than George Karl about what it takes to win in the NBA. Atleast in the playoffs. Let's see if he's right.
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