The firing of Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl sent shocked waves through the NBA. No one saw it coming, especially not Karl. The team announced they would not be retaining the reigning NBA Coach of the Year just a month after he received the honor. Karl stopped by a local Denver to unload a few things off his chest about the surprise move from the team.
Karl is trying to figure out how he got fired after leading Denver to a franchise-best 57-win regular season. The team had a roster filled without any All-Stars and he was still able to get the Nuggets to the postseason.
"I think I called it stupid. I think I did say, 'I want you to know I think this is really stupid,'" Karl said after being let go after eight and a half season with the team.
Karl blames the young management of the Nuggets for the reason he was fired. The Nuggest have won 62 percent of their games since Karl stepped in as head coach in 2005. He believes that former general manager Masai Ujiri must have thought it was easy to win games in the NBA. Karl believes there was a different in philosophy between him and the ownership. Karl wanted to win games, management wanted to see younger players on the court developing. The team signed JaVale McGee to a four-year deal worth $44 million, but Karl was not content to start him due to a lack of consistency on the court.
"We won 57 wins and are in a great place. Continuity, consistency, togetherness all are so much more valuable than they have on their priority list than playing JaVale McGee or the younger players," Karl said.
The coach claims he never had a bad meeting with management. He was never told that he was disappointing in Denver. He only heard through whispers that 57 games might not have been enough to keep his job. Karl is disappointed with the direction the NBA is heading, calling is "sick and a little sad that coaches are losing this much respect or appreciation. I don't think the game is going to be healthy if we continue do this path of blowing up coaches who have done well."
Karl is now a leading candidate for both the Los Angeles Clippers' vacancy and the Memphis Grizzlies' vacancy. He is certainly frightened at the recent trend of the lack of job security in the NBA but he fully intends on continuing to do his job no matter what.
