George Karl believes the decision to fire him after a 57-win season is "extremely disrespectful to coaching."(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post) Read more:George Karl fires back at Josh Kroenke about being fired as Nuggets coach - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_23454878/george-karl-fires-back-at-josh-kroenke-nuggets#ixzz2WUyLUDqu Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse Follow us:@Denverpost on Twitter|Denverpost on Facebook
George Karl believes the decision to fire him after a 57-win season is "extremely disrespectful to coaching."(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post) Read more:George Karl fires back at Josh Kroenke about being fired as Nuggets coach - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_23454878/george-karl-fires-back-at-josh-kroenke-nuggets#ixzz2WUyLUDqu Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse Follow us:@Denverpost on Twitter|Denverpost on Facebook

George Karl Fires Back At Josh Kroenke About Being Fired As Nuggets Coach

George Karl believes the decision to fire him after a 57-win season is "extremely disrespectful to coaching."(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)  Read more:George Karl fires back at Josh Kroenke about being fired as Nuggets coach - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_23454878/george-karl-fires-back-at-josh-kroenke-nuggets#ixzz2WUyLUDqu Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse Follow us:@Denverpost on Twitter|Denverpost on Facebook

George Karl believes the decision to fire him after a 57-win season is “extremely disrespectful to coaching.”(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)
Read more:George Karl fires back at Josh Kroenke about being fired as Nuggets coach – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_23454878/george-karl-fires-back-at-josh-kroenke-nuggets#ixzz2WUyLUDqu
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
Follow us:@Denverpost on Twitter|Denverpost on Facebook

Upon being fired last week, Nuggets coach George Karl told team president Josh Kroenke, “I think I should tell you, I think it’s very stupid.”

The controversial firing of the reigning NBA coach of the year has led to much debate in Denver. On Thursday afternoon, Karl sat down with The Denver Post and discussed an array of topics, including his firing, his future (possibly landing with the Memphis Grizzlies or the Los Angeles Clippers) and the future of the Nuggets, a team he believes could have won 55 games next season, even with Danilo Gallinari out for much of the season due to knee surgery.

“I’m not going to stand here and justify my (playoff) record,” Karl said, but he believed the franchise was on an upward tick, “and to blow that away, it leaves you helpless, speechless, powerless, sad, a lot of words.”

Following are excerpts from the interview.

Q: Can you explain the emotions of finishing third in the Western Conference and then being fired?

A: “We won 57 games and are in a great place. Continuity, consistency, togetherness all are so much more valuable than what they have on their priority list of playing JaVale McGee or the young players. And first of all, it shouldn’t be that I didn’t play young players. It’s I didn’t play young players enough, because we played a lot of young players — Kenneth Faried, Kosta Koufos, Evan Fournier at the end of the year, Ty Lawson. And, I never had a meeting where there was disappointment, in that part of it, voiced to me. I heard through whispers. I’m sorry that 57 wins doesn’t make you happy. I think it was a special season because of the connection this team has with each other and with the coaching staff and with the city. The fans like this team. The staff likes each other. And to blow up that connection is, in my opinion, extremely disrespectful to coaching.”

Q: Will you coach next season?

A: “I don’t know. I’m talking to Memphis and have had basically preliminary

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conversations with L.A. (Clippers) and Memphis. I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to happen this week. If there is, it’s going to be with someone else, it’s not going to be with me. … I want to coach three to four (years) at least. But I want to coach a good team. I don’t want to coach a rebuilding team.”

Q: Can you describe your relationship with the front office?

A: “What I’ve loved about being here is with (the different front office regimes) is I felt we were all equal. This year, after the trade deadline, all of a sudden, I felt like Masai (Ujiri, the general manager) and Josh were over here, and I didn’t feel very equal.”

Q: What does “feel equal” mean?

A: “In the past, Stan (Kroenke, the team owner) would listen to all of us. I know I can be fired and the voices behind closed doors can be against me. But this year, I just felt that at the end, for a team that had so much success, unity and karma, I felt that Masai and Josh drifted into a direction that was difficult to understand.”

Q: What’s an example of that?

A: “It’s hard to say. It’s just communication, them getting mad about what I said in the paper more often than makes sense. Snippy texts about things. The whole thing it comes down to — you’ve got a great coaching staff, a coach who loves coaching the team, a city that loves the team.” (Karl gently pounds the table.)

Q: Can you describe your desire for a contract extension, heading into the last year of your contract?

A: “I didn’t demand an extension. I said to Josh, ‘I will coach this team next year, I’m excited about coaching this team next year, but in the last year of a contract, there are things that could happen.’ I didn’t say they would happen, I said they could happen. I said I didn’t think I deserved a three-year extension, but it’s a signed contract (with an option), so let’s compromise. I don’t think I deserved to get my option picked up, even if we won in the first round (of the playoffs), but there’s a middle ground. The thing that annoys me every day still is the fun connection we have with this team. They think they can unplug us and plug somebody else in, and I’m going, ‘Wow, that is not respectful of the coaching profession.’ ”

Q: Looking back, is there any way to have regrets about not playing McGee major minutes, knowing that they paid him big money?

A: “I’m sorry, I’ve never had management tell me that money’s important (for playing time). Every team I’ve ever coached, it was, ‘It’s your job to distribute minutes.’ I think JaVale built a foundation that next year is going to be very good with him. I don’t think our relationship was in a bad place. It wasn’t in a great place, but it wasn’t in a bad place. … I felt pretty good that JaVale, with a good summer with us, probably would have been the starter next year. But, in the same sense, I don’t think JaVale and Kenneth fit. They have similar limitations. I still think having a passing point guard for JaVale, like Andre Miller, is an asset.”

http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_23454878/george-karl-fires-back-at-josh-kroenke-nuggets

           Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294, bhochman@denverpost.com ortwitter.com/nuggetsnews

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