NBA Rumor: George Karl Book
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Silver, in response at the press conference, said: “I have not read George Karl’s book, which has just come out, but I’ve read accounts of George Karl’s book, and I’ve read accounts of what he said about performance-enhancing drugs. I’ll just say our testing is state of the art. I have no reason to believe whatsoever that we have an issue, either as the result of testing or as the result of other information that comes to the league office. “I’d say that in most sports where there are issues, even when players do not test positive, usually there is some chatter that there is something going on. Other than what George Karl wrote in his book, there is no chatter whatsoever in the league. Obviously, many reporters are in this room who cover the NBA; presumably if they thought there was an issue, they would be writing about it.
“Having said that, we take allegations of performance-enhancing drugs or drug abuse of any kind incredibly seriously. I’m sure we will go through George Karl’s book, others, not me, in the league office, word by word, suggestion by suggestion, and ferret out whether there’s anything to it. “For us, it doesn’t matter what the source is. If somebody is — especially if it’s a Hall of Fame-caliber coach registering those sort of allegations against the league, we will take them seriously. But standing here today, I have absolutely no reason to believe there’s any truth to those allegations.”
There will be no Kenyon Martin/George Karl peace summit … the ex-NBA star says the guy is a “clown” and his explanation he gave for the hurtful things he said in his book is BS. Kenyon was out in NYC when we asked for his thoughts on Karl. He told TMZ Sports he regretted the way he spoke about Kenyon’s father situation in his new book.
On George Karl’s comments about the Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard… C.J. McCollum: “It was a bit surprising just because, to my knowledge, he doesn’t have relationship with Dame, doesn’t know him, has never really been around him. So for him to try to gauge his character and assassinate what he means to this team, it was very interesting. But obviously that’s on and done with now and we’re just moving forward and trying to win games.”
When asked if he regretted how he phrased anything, Karl said “I think the one thing is (the) fatherhood (comments). Fatherhood is very important to me, and I made that a target. It seems like that was the one thing, and I said it poorly, I wrote it poorly, it’s read poorly in the book. And my whole thing is the one thing I regret probably most is some of the mothers (being offended). Kenyon Martin’s mother is one of the great mothers, superstar mothers of the NBA, and I would never want to take anything away from some of the special families and also special mothers.”
“I think for me, whenever the storm settles a little bit, I think that’s a possibility that hopefully maybe Kenyon and whoever else, J.R. (Smith), Melo, whoever other people who feel that we should have a one on one conversation, I would be totally and completely open to that,” he said. As for coaching again, Karl, 65, was candid in his comments, saying that he still has “a passion and love for the game.”
Karl wrote in his book, ‘Furious George,’ that it’s “obvious” players in the league are doping … saying: “How are some guys getting older—yet thinner and fitter? How are they recovering from injuries so fast? Why the hell are they going to Germany in the off-season? I doubt it’s for the sauerkraut.” So, we asked Rivers what he thought about the very serious allegation … and the Clippers honcho was quick to shoot it down.
Former Kings/Nuggets/Bucks/Sonics/Warriors/Cavaliers coach George Karl in “Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection:” “Don’t believe it when teams say they don’t lose on purpose to improve their draft position. It happens every year. I know of a Western Conference owner who called his coach during games to remind him to keep an end-of-season losing streak alive.” Bryan Colangelo admitted to tanking while Raptors general manager. The owner Karl mentions was clearly tanking.
Butler — who played for Karl with the Sacramento Kings last season — says he got along with every coach he’s had during his career … but couldn’t connect with Karl. “I’m praying for him, man,” Butler says. “I pray that everything turns and works out in his favor at some point. Because you don’t want to get to the point where you alienate yourself from the people who you was once giving guidance to.”
Rip Hamilton discussed George Karl’s allegations of PED use by NBA players on Thursday’s “NBA Crossover” on CBS Sports, and Hamilton agreed there “might be an issue” with PED use in the league these days. Karl made the accusations in his book due out next month, which have caused an uproar — in particular, assertions about players not having a father figure growing up.
It should be noted that Hamilton is clear in saying that if players are using PEDs, they’re used for recovery purposes and not to gain an advantage in the game. Basketball is inherently difficult to gain an advantage from physical boosts, with how much the game relies on skill.
Does he worry his comments will affect his chances to one day be selected for the Hall of Fame, or at getting another job in the NBA? “I’m at a stage in my life where that doesn’t come on my plate very much,” Karl said. “There have been times where I’ve been defined as a (future) Hall-of-Fame coach. I can’t do anything about that. If my opinion affects my outcome, then maybe I don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.”
But even Payton isn’t a fan of Karl’s new book, “Furious George,” in which the 65-year-old criticizes, well, pretty much everyone. Karl even took shots at former players Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin and suggested they were immature because they grew up without fathers. “When you go and start talking about people’s families and how they were raised, I don’t agree with George with that,” Payton said on CBS Sports Radio’s Tiki and Tierney. “I disagree with him on all of that. When you say somebody doesn’t have a father figure, it’s a lot of kids out there that don’t have a father figure, and I hate that. I grew up around a lot of my childhood friends that didn’t have a father figure and my father was their figure, so (George) can’t say that. If his father wasn’t there, then I think George should have came in and approached them and said ‘I see the problem. Let me help you.’ Don’t come out years later and try to downgrade them about anything. You wasn’t saying that when you were there.
Karl may wind up selling a lot of books, but it may cost him his reputation in NBA circles. “I think it’s all going to be negative for George right now,” Payton said. “George had already rubbed the wrong side with a lot of people, but they just didn’t know him, and now they know him. I think he’s just a guy who’s telling his story, and he told his story and he’s going to sell a book. He’s going to sell a lot of these books because a lot of people want to know more and more about what happened and where he was at. But a lot of these people in the NBA are going to take this very personal.”
Rip Hamilton discussed George Karl’s allegations of PED use by NBA players on Thursday’s “NBA Crossover” on CBS Sports, and Hamilton agreed there “might be an issue” with PED use in the league these days.
It should be noted that Hamilton is clear in saying that if players are using PEDs, they’re used for recovery purposes and not to gain an advantage in the game. Basketball is inherently difficult to gain an advantage from physical boosts, with how much the game relies on skill. There’s also a question of how much the modern fan, even with the outrage that occurred in baseball at the turn of the century, really cares about these issues.
Appearing on ESPN’s Mike & Mike on Thursday, Karl was asked if he was surprised by the backlash to the book. “There’s no question,” he said. “Surprised? Yeah, I guess there’s no question we all want to be liked a little bit. The backlash was interesting. A couple of things I learned from. I think the big thing is a couple of things, I probably should’ve studied. I didn’t know. I probably should’ve studied what I was writing a little more than I did.”
“I kind of had a tumultuous relationship with my son because I was a basketball coach and I was a part-time father. I’m sad that the part of it,” he said Thursday. “I said it poorly. I’m sorry that I said it poorly. And I’m sorry for the reaction because I know Kenyon. The one thing I know about Kenyon Martin is he’s a good father.” Karl he hasn’t really seen all the criticisms and hasn’t reached out to players he ripped in the book. But he also said that people shouldn’t take his comments as the final word.
“It’s not necessarily the truth. It’s my opinion,” he said Thursday. “It’s my opinion and my experiences. It’s my opinion that comes with the frustrations of coaching. The title of the book is ‘Furious George,’ but it should be Frustrations of Coaching. The game of basketball … when you coach 100 games a year, if you win 60 percent of your games, you’re a good coach. That means 40 percent of the games you’re figuring out losing. … We think there’s a lot of joy. There’s not a lot of joy in coaching in the NBA. There’s a lot of pleasure, a lot of excitement and a lot of ups and downs. But there is a frustrating side of it.
George Karl: “I was watching the Portland Trailblazers play, and I was trying to figure out, ‘What the hell is wrong with this team?’ My conclusion is that Damian Lillard is getting too much attention….Who controls the team? The coach and the point guard. And that team is not working. I think their coach, Terry Stotts, is a great coach. So I’m going to say the problem is Lillard. They were a together, connected, committed team last year. This year they’re not. What changed?”
Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, who coached under Karl in the past, responded to the comments on Wednesday night. It’s obvious that Stotts was very bothered by what Karl said about his star player. Stotts said: “As you know, I owe a lot to George. I got my start in coaching with George. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. He’s a successful coach. That being said, if he wants to diminish his chances for the Hall of Fame, if he wants to undermine his chances at being a head coach again in this league, if he wants to settle old scores with GMs or players or whoever else, that’s his prerogative.”
“But when it comes to my team and my players, he needs to stay in his own lane. He doesn’t know Damian Lillard. He doesn’t know how coachable he is. He doesn’t know what a great teammate he is. He doesn’t know how much Damian cares about winning and how important he is to this franchise. “I thought his comments, however well intended they may have been, which I don’t quite understand, I can’t tolerate.”
Chris Haynes: Aaron Goodwin, Damian Lillard’s agent, responds to George Karl’s criticisms that Lillard is focusing on his brand, getting too much attention and thus the reason Blazers are struggling. “That’s silly. I have always loved and respected George, way back when he coached Gary Payton. But with that observation, he sounds like an idiot. He couldn’t get anyone in this league to agree with him on that assessment. If it’s either the coach or the point guard, the point guard runs the coaches plays I guess that explains him becoming a writer….”
Were you worried that writing a book like the one you’ve written would hurt your chances of ever coaching in the league again? George Karl: No question. But I think there’s too much spin going on with the game, especially from people who don’t really know anything. So I wanted to tell the truth about what goes on. Who’s the most overrated player in the league? George Karl: I’m not going there. I would still like to coach again.
Stu Jackson: George Karl: NBA has steroid issue http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/12/26/george-karl-nba-has-steroid-issue/ … via @basketballtalk George is in his own Jungle 🙈but he will sell books 📚
George Karl: NBA has a PED issue
The rhetoric and policies suggest due diligence. A lack of suspensions says either the league is relatively clean – or that a problem is being swept under the rug. Former Kings/Nuggets/Bucks/Sonics/Warriors/Cavaliers coach George Karl says it’s the latter. Karl in “Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection:” We’ve got a more thorough drug-testing program than the NFL or MLB, which we always brag about. But we’ve still got a drug issue, though a different one than thirty years ago. And this one bothers me more than the dumbasses who got in trouble with recreational drugs. I’m talking about performance-enhancing drugs—like steroids, human growth hormone, and so on. It’s obvious some of our players are doping. How are some guys getting older—yet thinner and fitter? How are they recovering from injuries so fast? Why the hell are they going to Germany in the off-season? I doubt it’s for the sauerkraut.
More likely it’s for the newest, hard-to-detect blood boosters and PEDs they have in Europe. Unfortunately, drug testing always seems to be a couple steps behind drug hiding. Lance Armstrong never failed a drug test. I think we want the best athletes to succeed, not the biggest, richest cheaters employing the best scientists. But I don’t know what to do about it.
.@teamswish reacts: “Don’t give that no weight.”
The forthcoming book by longtime NBA coach George Karl has riled the likes of Kenyon Martin because of such assertions as he and Carmelo Anthony had character flaws as a result of growing up without fathers. No one on the Kings would be surprised. None of the team’s six coaches over the past seven-plus seasons inspired angst and bad feelings throughout the organization like Karl, who coached the Kings for 112 games between Feb. 17, 2015 and April 14, 2016.
Karl’s issues with DeMarcus Cousins were well documented, but what many didn’t see was how the rest of the players and others in the organization were irked by Karl or how his perceived arrogance made team employees feel he was belittling them. Players bonded with assistant coaches, but the chasm between the roster and Karl was evident. Karl’s candor with the media rankled players, especially when they believed Karl was loose with the facts.
Never mind Rudy Gay being upset with being called overweight, how do you think the training staff that worked with him reacted to hearing that, feeling Gay was not overweight? Singling out quiet players who were reluctant to fire back was another concern, such as comparing former King Derrick Williams to a vending machine. “Why does he have to be such a (jerk)?” one player asked after hearing some of Karl’s comments last season.
Also in drafts, Karl wrote that he likes Cousins personally but that he’s also “the most disrespectful” person he’s been around. He wrote that Cousins is not a winner, was out of shape and that he wanted to trade him. Karl shared few opinions regarding his time with the Kings in the book’s published version because he’s still under contract with the team. Still, Karl left Sacramento with many furious with George.
Cousins had no comment on the controversy surrounding former coach George Karl as excerpts of his new book “Furious George” become public. Karl has been criticized for writing that two of his stars in Denver, Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin, had problems because they did not have a father in their lives growing up. In advance copies, Karl criticized Cousins conditioning, attitude, said he was not a winner and explained why he wanted to trade him.
Karl’s book, co-authored by Curt Sampson, included some unflattering views in a proof copy obtained by ESPN.com about Kings star DeMarcus Cousins, general manager Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive. But sources say Karl’s views were stricken from the version scheduled for public distribution next month. Karl told ESPN on Saturday that he had “not authorized” those pages to be included in the book, which is titled “Furious George.”
Sources told ESPN.com that refraining from critical commentary of the Kings was part of Karl’s settlement agreement upon leaving the club. When Karl was dismissed last April, both he and Divac issued complimentary statements about the 65-year-old’s time there. In the epilogue of the book’s proof copy, Karl shared candid views on Cousins and detailed his near-firing by the Kings in February 2016.
Kenyon Martin: When I tell my kids about my childhood, I have to remind them, This ain’t a sob story. It’s true. So listen and you might learn something. There were a lot of kids like me. Still are. Some make it, some don’t. Not make it to the NBA, I’m talking like, make it out of the projects. I didn’t have a dad in my life. George Karl was kind enough to point that out. But what for? I don’t really know. Again, maybe when the full book comes out, we’ll find out whether he meant something different. George and I had our differences in Denver. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on anything, in basketball, life, anything. For the most part since then I’ve tried to avoid talking about it. I’ve tried to let it go. I think what happened Thursday just set off my survival instinct.
I got called hot-headed a lot. I honestly don’t understand that term. I know what it means, but I don’t understand the way people use it. Basketball is a game of emotion, and I always played with a lot of it. Maybe more than most other guys, I don’t know. I think I just wear my emotions on my sleeve. Asshole. I’ve been called an asshole dozens of times … maybe hundreds. And, you know what? I accept that. I can accept the asshole label. My whole career, I had the mindset that if you showed me that I could get into your head, why wouldn’t I keep doing it? I’d be a fool not to.
Kenny Smith says George Karl will suffer consequences & repercussions for his verbal assault on Carmelo Anthony & Kenyon Martin … never being trusted in NBA circles again. We got Kenny out at LAX and asked him about Karl’s thoughts on his two former players … thoughts that include him saying the guys had character issues because they lacked fathers in their lives.
Stephen Jackson just went in on George Karl — claiming the guy was straight “out of line” when he criticized Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin for not having a father figure in their lives. Then he fired this shot — “George Karl’s son probably wouldn’t have made it to the NBA if he wasn’t a coach. He would have never got the opportunity.”
Ian Begley: Thought this was interesting in light of George Karl’s commentary on Melo: Karl talked to people about wanting to coach NYK a few years ago
Kenyon martin has responded to George Karl’s comments about him being difficult to deal with with a harsh assessment of his former head coach. On The Herd with Colin Cowherd Friday, Martin said that during a Denver Nuggets playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2006, he almost went after Karl physically.
Martin claiming that he almost did what Latrell Sprewell did years before is a pretty incredible statement. Sprewell famously went after P.J. Carlesimo when both were with the Golden State Warriors during the 1997-1998 season. Sprewell choked Carlesimo and had to be pulled off the head coach by his teammates. The volatile guard had his contract with the Warriors voided as a result of the assault (though that was later overturned after arbitration). Martin was calm and collected while recalling the incident, so he has a clear head about what was clearly an emotional moment. But he also claimed that Karl wasn’t worth it and still wasn’t worth it.
Jason Terry on George Karl: “First off, from having a first-hand encounter with the great George Karl, when I was a sophomore at the university of Arizona, I used to work George Karl’s basketball camp in Seattle. I was at a banquet, George walked up, he approached me, shook my hand and then whispered over to me and said: ‘you’ll never make it to the NBA. You’re never serious. You’re a joke.’ That’s what he told me. Word for word. So I always kept that in the back of my mind, and every time I had to face a George Karl’s team or when I’ve seen him, I always had a little extra motivation. That’s just George. If you know George, you know, that’s his personality. It has always been like that and I can see why guys had a tough time playing with him or for him.”
Sean Cunningham: Karl Book: 6. Kings talked to Lakers re: trading Cousins 7. Ranadive talks to John Calipari a lot 8. Ranadive committed to star player
Carmelo Anthony said George Karl’s memoir rips are “irrelevant,” he’ll have his say in his own book and claimed he’s not even sure what his former coach means by “conundrum.” “I’m past being disappointed,” Anthony said after the Knicks’ 106-95 victory over Orlando at the Garden. “I hope he just finds happiness in what he’s doing with his book. Hopefully it will bring him happiness.”
“It’s irrelevant,” said Anthony, who before the game refused to discuss Karl’s jabs. “The good thing is the truth of the matter is everyone else is speaking up for me from their own experience. So I don’t have to speak on it [until] I write my book later.”
“It’s tough,” Anthony said. “If this would have come out years ago — I haven’t been in Denver in six, seven years. When you’re there, it’s a different story than what you hear afterwards. I never knew it was this much. I never knew I was a — what’s the word, conundrum? I don’t even know what the hell that means.”
Hornacek disputed Karl’s assertion Anthony can’t be a leader because of his distaste for defense. “Things like that could be a distraction,” Hornacek said. “Depends how the player reacts. The biggest thing is Carmelo Anthony, for us, has been great — whatever happened in the past, let other guys talk about. What I’ve seen out of Carmelo here, he’s done everything we asked and what the coaches want him to do.”
Kenyon Martin: The Nerve of an AWFUL AND COWARD ASS COACH. More to come. I didn’t have a father going up. We all know that. What’s George Karl excuse for being a terrible person. Everyone that’s played for that awful person and coach can’t stand the ground he walks on. Having a lot of wins doesn’t make you a good coach. He was blessed with great talent. Since we were so bad as players. Tell him to forfeit those Denver wins. George Karl is selfish, unhappy, missable, cowardly person. No wonder he’s be fired every place he has coached. The book he is writing is full of lies and deceit. By far the worst coach that ever played for. Talking bout Melo didn’t like defense. Hell he never coached defense. How does that work
Wilson Chandler: George Karl came out with a confessions of a video vixen book smh.
Karl also took aim in “Furious George’’ at former Nuggets, and ex-Knicks, J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin. He branded the trio of Anthony, Smith and Martin as “AAU babies’’ — akin to “the spoiled brats you see in junior golf and junior tennis.’’ Karl also referred to Smith’s entourage as “a posse’’ — a phrase that got Knicks president Phil Jackson in hot water when he used it regarding LeBron James’ managers.
“Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him.” Karl wrote. “He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it. “He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal — probably every coach’s ideal — is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.”
Karl wrote Anthony and Martin not having fathers in their lives became a detriment to their personalities. “Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man,” Karl wrote. Karl wrote Anthony “was such a talented kid’’ he could’ve “become the best defender at his position in the NBA.’’
August 8, 2022 | 8:04 pm EDT Update
Nets owner after Kevin Durant's ultimatum: Our front office and coaching staff have my support
Joseph Tsai: Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.
The NBA informed teams Monday that players still need to have either received a primary course of a COVID-19 vaccine or been given a medical clearance from getting one in order to play games in Canada, according to a league memo obtained by ESPN. The memo also states that, should players be ineligible to play in games in Canada, teams must list them as, “Out – Health and Safety Protocols,” and that they will lose their pay for any games missed due to not being vaccinated.
This season, the Raptors will play at least 44 games in Canada: preseason games in Edmonton against the Utah Jazz; Montreal against the Boston Celtics; and Toronto against the Chicago Bulls; plus their typical 41 regular-season home games at Scotiabank Arena and any additional playoff games. The same rules apply both to going to Canada to play in a game, as well as for entering the United States. Anyone playing for the Raptors, therefore, would have to be vaccinated in order to play in any game this season. Last season, the Raptors were fully vaccinated.
Former player Keith Bogans joining Pistons coaching staff
Frank Isola: Keith Bogans is close to finalizing a deal to join the Pistons staff. Another former NBA player, Rashard Lewis, is also in talks with the Pistons.
This past weekend, Sacramento Kings superstar De’Aaron Fox and his girlfriend Recee Caldwell finally got married after being engaged for two years. The reception was held on Saturday, Aug. 6 in Malibu, CA.
A few of Fox’s peers also attended the wedding including Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair and Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum. Former Kentucky Wildcats Bam Adebayo and Wenyen Gabriel, who was also Fox’s teammate in Sacramento, attended the wedding. Adebayo and Gabriel were two of the groomsmen at the ceremony.
