George Karl Takes a Shot at Allen Iverson
AINow that the Nuggets are 4-1 with Chauncey Billups, George Karl is shoveling a chunk of the blame for Denver’s past failures on the guy who isn’t around to defend himself anymore, Allen Iverson.
“There are less bad plays, more solid plays,” Karl said. “I think the wasteful, cheap possessions that we used to have 10 to 15 a game, they don’t exist very much anymore.
Sometimes I saw something, but I couldn’t get it done on the court because I didn’t have a playmaker out there.”
If Karl’s right and Iverson was the cause of 10-15 “cheap possessions” per game, then he probably didn’t want AI to shoot at all. It’s almost stupid to apply numbers to prove Karl wrong because he’s clearly being irrational, but let’s do it anyway: AI took about 19 shots per game during his time in Denver, shooting just over 45% from the floor. Did Karl want him to take four shots a night?
It’s also totally ludicrous to say that the Nuggets didn’t have “a playmaker” out there with Iverson on the floor. In fact, it’s so ridiculous that it’s almost as if Karl is trying to give AI reason to go haywire on the rest of the League this season to prove him wrong.
What do you think about Karl’s comments?
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer via Real GM
November 18th, 2008 at 8:20 am
skywarp says:
OR they didnt have a coach to make play 4 them… karl should have been fired last season
November 18th, 2008 at 8:30 am
GEE... Well Sa da Tay! says:
Clearly their was something there. This is( one of the reasons) why I constantly say can’t no ultimate goal ever be accomplished with George Karl as coach. He has a history of not getting along with players. I knew it was only a matter of time before him and A.I. or Melo didn’t mesh.
Now that A.I. is gone he wants to take a shot at him and throw him under the bus. Not cool. I promise if they hadn’t been winning with Chauncy, pimpin would have been silent.
George Karl has no coaching identity and therefore his teams have no identity. He often comes off as a Don Nelson wanna-be with just trying to figure out anything to win.
He is class-less and a bum and if coaches could be traded he should have been traded and waived then placed on a ten day contract and waived again.
Nuggets will not get a championship with him as coach.
If they ever do know that Tim Donahy (however its spelled) has got his cronies pullin strings!
November 18th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Kev says:
d kat aint gettin enough…AI will take d pistons 2 a higher level
November 18th, 2008 at 8:31 am
iain. says:
George Karl = Massive Douche.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:35 am
fallinup says:
It’s George Karl for cryin out loud. He’ll backstab one of his own on his team. So back stabbing AI now that he is gone is effortless to him.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
ENEW says:
Anyone ever watch NBA TV when they did Real Training Camp with the Nuggets? It is amazing how fake it all seemed with him. There was no real connection with him and the players. There is no doubt Karl knows the game but it is about more than that and he just does not have it. Iverson and Billups are completely different players. To thrown Iverson under the bus like that at this point is rediculous and classless. I just hope AI does not stoop to his level and respond.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Chris Cason says:
I would like to see the question he was asked before making this statement, but he could have answered more professionally fhan stating the 10-15 bad possessions. How about him stressing defense to his team and holding them accountable for bad shots and horrendous perimeter defense. Chauncey has came in and it seems the players listen to him moreso than they do Karl.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:10 am
JCARR says:
He is unappreciative. Are you kidding me??? If it werent for A.I he wouldnt have a job today. Yea Chauncey, is playing good right now. But, can he do it for all the games that are left? A.I is not some disease, if anything its his coaching style that’s a disease that allows bad shoots and leads too poor defense on their end.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:12 am
$filmoney$ says:
The thing people keep forgetting, especially george karl is that he had a guy who was a playmaker & passer like billups in andre miller. Who he then traded because he said he needed a scorer & game changer like AI to help out Melo. George karl needs to get one thing straight AI was their 2guard & carter was their point. Now he wants to make it seem like AI was running the show and is throwing cheap shots at him to deflect blame. He’s right when he says billups is a better fit but that’s it and its not a reflection on AI but Karl & Nugs management.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Lee says:
I thought you guys were basketball guys ???? Billups gets people shots where they need them so people like JR Smith and Melo aren’t taking as many bad shots.
How about it was a compliment to Billup (The new guy who just arrived) rather than a shot at Iversons shot selection.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:49 am
ALdsTaR says:
i really hate this stuff
when people blame others after they leave
if it was such a big problem why didnt karl said it to iverson when A.I was in denver?
nuggets is so dumb to agree on the trade and they really suck right now
November 18th, 2008 at 9:53 am
YOUNGFED says:
@Lee
We do know basketball thats why we recognize bullsh*t when we see it. “Georgy Porgy” here is trying to say that one of the best players alltime is the reason he’s a consistant loser. GTFOH this guy will never get a ring.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:56 am
HeatFan says:
just the motivation iverson needs to win the chip. with the way that they played agaisnt the LAkers, they are certainly capable especially in the east where only 2 teams really pose a challenge
November 18th, 2008 at 9:56 am
marcus says:
i love it how anything critical of AI, the Dime staff freaks out and rushes to his defense. The Nuggets are clearly a better team without him, and the 10-15 throwaway possessions doesn’t mean he should shoot 10-15 fewer times.
It means he now gets a good shot or a good possession for every time that it used to be a bad shot or a turnover.
Do you guys do his laundry?
November 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am
AI says:
I’m doing just fine in Detroit so I wont even comment on this piece of @#$!. I’ll let my game do the talking. Good luck Chauncey running with this A$$HOLE.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Dennis Castro says:
The bigger issue here is the lack of competency at the top of this organization.
The AI trade to Denver was a panic move initiated by Melo’s suspension. They failed to look at the big picture, instead they looked at a 15 game timeframe in ‘06.
AI is the type of player that needs guys who will defer their offense to him, and defensively guys who will cover up his gambles into the passing lanes. Denver only had one of either, Camby there to protect the rim defensively. And I’m a Sixer fan, grew up watching AI.
It starts from the top down, and if you have incompetency at the top of the organization, it’s going to filter down through the ranks. You guys are right about one thing, Denver will never win a chip with the current organizational leadership.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am
AI says:
Marcus you a @#$!%. Big Ups to DIME for holding me down. Also Marcus thats why you’re broke and “IM RICH B@#*H
November 18th, 2008 at 10:12 am
GEE... Well Sa da Tay! says:
Hell naw! The nuggs were, excuse me, should have been a great team with A.I.
Can we all get on one accord and smoke the same weed here! They had A.I., Camby, Melo, Kenyon, Smith and crew. Ain’t nobody gonna tell me that a team with that talent shouldn’t have been anything less than a 3 seed.
So sure the Nuggets might be doing better right now than they did when A.I. and Camby were there, but please don’t get it twisted. The good coming to them now is, and I will say due to Chauncy, but George Karl don’t get nooo credit. And for that matter Chauncy seems like he don’t even like George Karl or the system he running.
Speaking of running George Karl has a clear case of loose bowels of the mouth and constipation of the brain.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Dennis Castro says:
Gee, paper talent doesn’t always translate to on court talent. It looks like chemistry was a big issue here, and no matter how talented a team you have, if there’s no chemistry then you aren’t going to win ish.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:32 am
GEE... Well Sa da Tay! says:
Fidel I see ya point, still often times paper talent does translate on court. See Boston.
I do think chemistry might have been an issue, but the factor I see is that most teams GK coaches….chemistry is always an issue. Hmmm.
So sure with no chemistry you wont win ish, but with GK you won’t have neither, the ish or the chemistry.
But again I see ya point.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:41 am
LakeShow84 says:
George Karl is a piece of s#$t.. thats why we cut his son..
November 18th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Borgs says:
Ain’t so much about offensive problems as it is the *%#@house defense. The court has two ends, AI.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Kudabeen says:
Denver are playing better in the ugly games, but they are not this great team. Chauncey is a better lead guard than Iverson, but he is not a better playmaker. People crack me up with these claims that Chauncey is this pure point guard. He is not, which is the reason he struggled to find a spot in the league until Detroit. His years with Larry Brown really helped him as well, but as good as he is as a leader he is not a true point guard. Iverson makes more plays for his team than Chauncey, but I will say that Chauncey makes better decisions for the team in close games.
Iverson’s talent isn’t in his on court leadership as far as directing guys. He also doesn’t call guys out and make them accountable for their mistakes. Chauncey on the other hand makes sure guys do what they are supposed to do and he gets on them if they are messing up. Neither is CP3, Nash, J Kidd, or even Deron Williams…
George Karl is a lame coach regardless. He rides his talent and doesn’t make any kind of effective adjustments in the game. This is why he needed a lead guard on the floor. A leader on the floor covers up the fact that there isn’t a leader on the sideline.
Nuggets struggled against the Wolves on offense, but they win so I guess that’s all that matter, but shooting 33% with Billups taking 23 shots and missing 16 of them, while Melo goes 4-17 doesn’t constitute great play to me. The Nuggets are better at winning ugly, but that doesn’t make them any better to me.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Flip says:
Actually, gotta agree with Coach Karl. AI is madly talented, but he destroys the entire offensive dicipline… taking bad shot after bad shot
November 18th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Zoo says:
I have always maintained that while Iverson is as talented a player as there is in the league and one of the greatest individual performers in the games history he cannot make ANYONE better on the court and his teams since 2001 have suffered. Karl is no genius and deserves just as much blame for not doing anything about it while it was going down but he is RIGHT. Anyone that watched Denver games over the last 2 years can UNDERSTAND Karls frustrations as A.I. did not take TOO many shots but he took too many “BAD” shots … ie. quick shots, rushed or forced shots and shots when a teammate had the hot hand. A.I. is a first ballot HOFer and 1 of the top 10 players to play in the league over the last 20 years but of all of those players he has done the least to impact the career of those who have played along side him …
November 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Mamba says:
Such a standard Karl move,
I could really just leave it at but the guy has made such a history of calling out guys and putting them under the bus that it really has gotten old,
I think there will come a point when owners pass on this cat, yeah he can produce a winning team, but at the end of the day can’t get them over the edge,
When he was in Milwaukee and called out Ray Ray thats when I really had enough, Ray is who he is, you wont change him into something else but talking crap about him to Milwaukee’s bomb squad reporting staff, after that things were never the same and thats when my distaste for Karl reached its peak,
Im sure at some point he’ll find a way to take a shot at Chauncey too
November 18th, 2008 at 11:56 am
dapro says:
If Karl was a better coach then the Nuggets would have reached thier potential
You can’t throw players under the bus when the problem was clearly lack of discipline and structure
November 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
dapro says:
I disagree with anyone who says AI took bad shots without pointing out the fact that out of Camby, Melo, Martin, Kleza, and JR all took bad shots due to lack of accountability
AI toned his game down significantly when he joined Denver. I watched Melo take forced jumpers and JR shoot a three ever third possession. Iverson seemed to be the only player giving it his all every game.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
tim says:
Wait till Chauncey decides to go into heat check mode and shot back to back to back threes and misses all of them…then tell me the wasted possessions aren’t there…
November 18th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
KAKE JELLY says:
If im carmelo anthony, i take offense to “not having a play maker.”
November 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
vinny says:
gEORGE kARL AND lARRY bROWN- 2 MF’S WHO ALWAYS SEEM TO BLAME PLAYERS WHEN THINGS GO WRONG! BUT AT LEAST BROWN GOT A RING. WHAT HAS KARL EVER WON? HE NEEDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!
November 18th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Ian says:
karl sucks true
but he isnt lyin
someone said iverson elevated the nuggets and he wouldn have a job if it werent for himmm whatt???
this is proof of what i think of iverson the nuggets were the same with miller than with iverson a first round team.
ZOO
100% agree on your iverson comment
November 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
qUeSt??? says:
fuck george karl
November 18th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hoop Soup says:
George Karl doesn’t get along with players well. The bigger question is why he’s starting Jones over Smith.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Mike Jones says:
George “Cunt” Karl can get twin dongs in his mouth. Peace.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Dave says:
George Karl is spot on
November 18th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
hoopfan86 says:
its funny how as soon AI gos to denver he still manage to throw up better numbers than carmelo did last years in which AI shooting percentage was great and people for get to realize that he shot less and still manage to have more than 7 ASSIST A GAME more than chauncey had last season but i think carmelo had something to do with AI leaving probably because of jealously due to the fact that at one point the team was depending on AI to score because no one couldnt hit a damn shot besides JR when it counted. and also its funny how george carl didnt bring up carmelo role when it came to taking bad shots because everyone knows that carmelo likes to shot
November 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Obama says to McCain: "Hows my @ss taste"!! says:
I understand that people love throwing Iverson under the bus and he’s an easy target..he can share accountibility for his part in Philly, but Denver wasnt his fault. The Nuggets were 1 and done in the playoffs for three seasons strait before Iverson with a traditional PG (Milller)…and were one and done with Iverson. Anytime your team cant win more then one game in the first round, that is a reflection of the Coach period. Iverson toned down his game a lot in Denver, but it doesnt matter how much Iverson changes his game you’ll still get the same people up in here saying the same sh*t anyways, so what difference does it make. To say that organization doesnt know what it is doing when it comes to building teams is an understatement. They basically traded away their PG for a combo gaurd in Iverson without ever addressing the backcourt issue, just to turn around and trade off Iverson for a PG similar to the one they had in the first place. I think the Nuggets are basically back to being the team they were before Iverson, pretty much stagnent. I think Billups can help maintain that undisciplined offense..but to act as if they are better is hilarious. That team still has work to do, people are getting hyped because they are 5-1 since the trade? They only one team with a winning recoerd and most of their games have been at home, I would hope they would beat the lottery teams.
Did Iverson take some bad shots at times? Yes…so does every star in the L..so did everyone else on the team. That team was proably the most undisciplined team I have ever seen in my life, and also one of the laziest. Most of what I wanted to say has already been said, but I will say that the Nuggets made a trade for Iverson with no plan in place..and it was more then obvious that Karl didnt know how to utilize AI’s skills. Its refreshing watching Iverson play in Detroit because he is back to playing like he played in Philly and the Coach is using Iverson the way he needs to be used. The Nuggets aquired Iverson just to turn around and handcuff his game. The Nuggets need to be happy Iverson ever even came through that joint, considering that he is probably the only H.O.F player they will ever get a chance to witness play night to night..and if it wasnt for him they wouldnt even had been in the playoffs last season..the main reason a lot of people even paid attention to the Nuggets was because of Iverson and the only reason why they would be paying attention now is to see what the Nuggets do without him.
That organization and some of the Nuggets fans need to worry about their own supposed “franchise player” and quit worring about Iverson so much, because maybe if Melo were to live up to even half the hype some of the Nuggets fans try to put him up to, maybe that organization wouldnt have to go out and aquire other star players to help save that garbage franchise. Im glad Iversons gone from Denver…they werent going to do anything with him, wont do anything without him. Hopefully Chauncey can at least help them win more then one game in the playoffs. I wish Iverson would have gotten traded strait from Philly to Detroit..therefor, he wouldnt have wasted a season and a half of his career. The Nuggets wasted that dudes time, they knew good and well they were not ready to contend when they made the trade for AI. Seems like they just used him for the national attention and merchandise sales. Real talk.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Obama says to McCain: "Hows my @ss taste"!! says:
Oh and a prime example of how Karl didnt know how to Coach Iverson..you can go back to that 50+ game Iverson had last year. Iverson was shooting like 80% in that game and was making all his shots..in the 4th quarter, Karl told Iverson to pass the ball, and that cost them the game. I remember Reggie Miller going off about it the next night during commentary. If that was Phil Jackson or even Coach Brown, they would have rode Iverson untill the wheels feel off during that game. Everyone knows when a player is that hot..you dont take the ball out their hands. Iverson didnt cause any problems with the Coaching staff in Denver, Karl has been on record saying that out of all his players..Iverson was the only one that never talked back..but if that was the old Iverson from Philly, that night Karl told AI to pass the ball and they end up losing, Iverson would have cursed Karl smooth out. So before come up in here talking about “Karls right” and “Iverson hasn’t changed”…give the guy some credit, he went to Denver and tried to fit in with that team, cutting back his game, at times far too much. I always said if a player like Iverson is going to sacrifice his game..then it needs to be on a REAL contender, the Nuggets were not worth his time, nor was it worth him sacrficing the way that he did.
Karl knows good and well Iverson played the SG roll in Denver and the times he was the PG was at the beginning of the season when both their PG’s were injured..and even then their record was like 20-2 when Iverson got a double-double. If all the Nuggets needed was a traditional PG (maybe they shouldnt have traded off their first one) or a ’sidekick’ to Melo, then maybe they should have thought about that before making a trade for a guy that holds the third highest PPG average in the history of the league. And maybe they should have thought about that before making a trade for a player that is greater and bigger star then the ‘franchise player’ they already had. Disgusting.