Denver Nuggets coach George Karl is often quite outspoken about his opinions and it’s always worth listening to what he has to say. In this case, Karl casts doubt on what the New York Knicks are trying to do.
Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:
Nuggets coach George Karl said the Knicks master plan of tanking two seasons to get to the 2010 free agency usually does not work and believes it’s been grossly unfair to coach Mike D’Antoni.
Last week, Karl recommended to D’Antoni that signing Allen Iverson would be a boost, but added a caveat. Karl, who coached Iverson in Denver for nearly two seasons, told D’Antoni to sign Iverson only if he plans to start him exclusively.
With the current roster, Karl said he thinks D’Antoni has no shot of having success and believes Knicks team president Donnie Walsh should make him a front-office executive who runs practices, but has an interim coach to absorb the losses on the resume. Karl thinks a coach in D’Antoni’s situation is being “thrown to the wolves.”
It’s definitely unfair to blame Mike D’Antoni if a rebuilding team that is trying to start from scratch loses, but as long as the owner and upper management understands that is the situation, I think D’Antoni is safe. But a problem could result if the team doesn’t at least play hard and look properly coached.
