http://www.nba.com/nuggets/mailbox/karl_mailbox.html</p> </p> <div class="articleRightDiv"></div> <!--<font size="3" color="#003399">Send Coach Karl </font> --> <center></center> With the 2007-08 NBA season just around the corner, Nuggets Head Coach George Karl has basketball on the mind. Here is your chance to pick his brain and get the important questions answered. Whether it's about training camp, preseason, the upcoming regular season -- ahh, who are we kidding, Coach Karl will probably answer questions about any topic under the sun. Whatever the case, he's all ears.</p> All you have to do is fill out the form below and click on "Submit." From there, Coach Karl will check his mailbox ever so often and post his responses right here on this page. Be sure to read through his previous responses before submitting your questions so that you don't double-up and ask him something that he's already answered. Also, remember that Coach Karl is taking time out of his hectic schedule to reply to these emails; so, with that in mind, please understand that he will not waste any time responding to inappropriate submissions.</p>
First answers</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <u>Coach Karl Responses - Entry One (10-3-07)</u></p> Wow, what an incredible response to this new mailbox. The first time I checked it there were over 500 emails waiting to be read. For this first entry, I figured I'd try to touch on the main issues that the majority of you were asking about. Here we go . . .</p> 1. A great deal of you were wondering about Kenyon Martin and how he's coming along, as well as what his role will be this season. Right now, we’re feeling that we’re going to – I don’t know if the word is conservative – but approach Kenyon's return without making a mistake. I think he’ll play early in the season. I think he’ll play in games where he’ll play 15 or 20 minutes, and I think we’ll do that for 15, 20 or 25 games. And then if his knees are feeling good, we might move him up another five-minute slot and go from there. Hopefully by All-Star break we’ll be at the point where we can play him any way that we need him. We’re taking a very similar approach to Kenyon that we did with Nenê last season.</p> 2. An equally large amount of you want to know how Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are progressing as teammates. I think the key to Melo and A.I. being successful is A.I. fitting in and feeling comfortable. I thought he did a great job of that last year. With all of his years of experience and his fundamental feeling for the game, I’d say A.I. has been an A+ addition to this team. He’s lifted Melo’s attitude along with everyone else on this team. His focus, maturity and mental direction is something that we haven’t had in our locker room since I’ve been here. I’d like to take credit for the success that he and Melo will have this season, but to be honest with you I think A.I. should get most of the credit.</p> For me as a coach, all I want to do is open up the window for them to feel comfortable in a situation. I don’t think structuring either one of them is as valuable as letting them loose and letting them go out on the court and take care of their business. I thought A.I., at times last year, let Melo have the spotlight. So far, all of my conversations with them has been about the TEAM. It’s not about numbers, it’s not about statistics, it’s not about anything but US having a good year. If we have a great year, everybody will get attention. And I think these two guys understand that.</p> 3. A lot of you are curious about how long it will take to build team chemistry with the new additions of Steven Hunter, Chucky Atkins, and even a Kenyon Martin coming off injury. I think the new guys (or at least most the new guys) are veteran players. So after going through a training camp with me, they’ll know what it is I expect from them and what their roles on our team can be. Who I play with who and how I deal with strengths and weaknesses in lineups and matchups will take a little bit of time to iron out. But that’s the challenge of coaching. You never know, it could be settled in training camp or it might be 20 games into the season before it gets figured out. I might make a mistake with a choice at one point, but then again that’s the fun part of coaching in the NBA.</p> 4. The other major topic among the emails in my mailbox was regarding J.R. Smith . . . how are the two of us getting along, as well as what his role in our rotation will be this season. Just to make it clear, the situation with J.R. was nothing personal. My decisions and reactions last year were strictly professional. I’m too old to make things personal. It was just a case of not being able to tolerate a young player making crazy plays under important circumstances. First of all, it was my mistake for having him out there. He made the mistakes, so part of it is most definitely my mistake. I’ve seen Hall of Famers make plenty of mistakes while they’re young. I witnessed first-hand a number of mistakes by Gary Payton during his first couple years in Seattle, but kids grow up.</p> I don’t plan on addressing any of this with J.R. in person until a few weeks into training camp. Everyone is so hopeful and positive right now that I don’t want to hash stuff up and be a downer. The kid has had an extremely tough summer dealing mentally with his tragic car accident. With that in mind, I’m a true believer in the gym and the basketball court being a very good psychologist. I think everything will fall into place once we’re a little bit further into the season.</p> As far as his spot in the rotation goes, nothing is handed out to anyone. It’s going to be a battle at the off-guard position this season. Linas Kleiza wants those minutes, Von Wafer wants those minutes, Yakhouba Diawara wants those minutes, even Chucky Atkins is going to want those minutes. My job is to just evaluate how these guys are playing, especially in practice. For the most part I do a pretty good job of keeping my players happy, as long as they’re playing hard for me that is.</p> </div></p>
Second answers</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <u>Coach Karl Responses - Entry Two (10-4-07)</u></p> How do you expect to play Allen Iverson and Chucky Atkins together (two undersized players) for an extended time without exposing too much of our perimeter defense? - Alfredo, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) I’m not real nervous about undersized guards. I think the advantages you gain from the rule changes allowing guards to penetrate without being touched outweigh the likelihood of them getting posted up. Now, we might have some teams that could exploit the mismatches, but I think you can count those teams on one hand. With that being said, it becomes our job to adjust our strategies when we go up against those teams. You have to remember too, we’ll have the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Camby along with our other big guys back there to protect them.</p> Hey coach, do you feel the point guard spot is going to be our biggest problem this year? - Danny, Denver The truth is, not every team can have a John Stockton, Steve Nash or Jason Kidd running the show. We have three proven NBA point guards on our roster – Iverson, Atkins and Carter – which is more then can be said for some teams in the league. All of these guys have different facets, so it will be our job to incorporate each of them appropriately. I think they’re all capable of running the point and they’ll each get minutes to do so this season. If we approach this with the right attitude, it will be fun coaching it.</p> Chucky is a shooter and a scorer, which you can never have too much of. A.C. is a guy that can cover anybody in the game of basketball, and with all the quick guards in this league we’re going to need that type of guy. Steve Blake did a good job for us defensively last season, but in general I think A.C. is a better defender. Blake also did a good job running our team and playmaking for us, but in general we think Chucky is a better shooter.</p> Coach have you ever thought about having Allen Iverson at the PG, Anthony at SG, Marcus Camby at C, and the Nene and Kenyon Martin at both forward spots? - Shae, Denver You know, we played Melo and Kleiza at the 2 and 3 spots together last year a substantial amount of time. And according to our reports, it was successful. It seemed like the bigger we played last year the more success we had. However, I think we’d be pushing the ballhandling and shooting limits if we play Kenyon, Nene and Marcus together. Now, could we do it for a while? Sure. But I don’t think we’d want to do that too much because the trend of the game in today’s NBA is all about being fast. So, you might see Melo and LK alongside Kenyon and Nene, Nene and Marcus, Eduardo and Marcus, or whatever other big man combination we have to throw out there. But, right now I don’t think I’d want to put Kenyon or Eddie at the 3.</p> I would like to know what your plans are for addressing the 3-point concerns that the Nuggets had last year. Think you are doing a great job. Keep up the GREAT work. - Shawn, Orlando For one thing, the best teacher of three-point shooting is repetition. I think all of our players who will shoot three-pointers this year will be better than they were last year. On top of that, I think the addition of Chucky Atkins, who is a proven three-point shooter, will help in that department as well. You’ll see Linas take a step forward, J.R. take a step forward…I think the big one will be Melo. He should shoot in the mid-30s this year, which he’s never done during his career. Also, we’re pushing Allen to do the same as well.</p> What offensive strategy will you be running this year? I think it would be a good idea to have Allen and Carmelo run more pick and rolls. I know you guys play at a fast pace, but I feel like the pick and roll (a la San Antonio) would really benefit. - Lady A.I., Miami Melo and A.I. in pick-and-rolls was actually a major part of our offense last year. We just can’t run the conventional pick-and-roll sets with these guys because of how much attention they both demand. The problem you have when you put A.I. and Melo on the same side of the court is the defense tilts and puts three or four guys over there as well. So, to get the two of them in a pick-and-roll situation there has to be some sort of movement where they can step into it. If we set Melo and A.I. on the strong side to start, there is probably going to be one or two more defenders on that side with them.</p> In the NBA, you coach against great coaches. It’s a challenge every single night to do what we want to do. We’ll have to get more clever with how we run set plays for those two guys because the defenses always adjust.</p> Plain and Simple .... are all the pieces here to win the NBA Championship? - Bill, Wausau, WI Right now, I don’t think we’re one of the favorites. But I think we’ve got the first 50 games of the regular season to prove to the league that we’re a challenger…and I think we’ll do that. From there, it all depends on the rhythm and karma of the NBA season. The West is an incredibly difficult adventure, and we have to respect that. The expectations in the locker room are that we all feel we can be a good team in the regular season and win a lot of games.</p> </div></p>
The A.I. / Melo pick and roll was a major part of the offense last year? It wasn't major enough, that's for sure. And Coach, it's your responsibility to make it work. Don't blame it all on all these defenders coming out of nowhere and on the Coaches on the other side of the court. The other team has 5 defenders, not 6 or 7 the way you make it sound. Don't wave the white flag before you go all out to get the job done. Aside from a weak pick and roll and an occasional fast break, what other offensive set plays did you run that worked well last year? Why was Camby, for example, not much a part ofany offensive sets, so that the fans actually thought he should be traded for taking too many goofy looking jumpers? Could you make one Melo / Camby / A.I. set play that works?</p> I liked the new realism regarding Steve Blake which is, in effect, the Coach admitting Blake played too much last year. Blake is no longer the Jesus of basketball in Karl's mind, and that is good. So I also like the respect the Coach has for the veteran Atkins, and the Coach's new understanding of how the Nuggets must have above average 3-point production to have a real shot. Even more, I like the Coach saying A.I. will play some point. The more point A.I. plays, the more Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith can get in there to improve their games and work on getting Denver out of the cellar for 2nd team production.</p> I don't like the Coach's take on J.R. Smith, that he has to battle the likes of Yakhouba Diawara and Von Wafer for the small number of minutes available for backups inKarl's schemes. It's a shame that a guy who won at least 8 games for the Nuggets last year with desperately needed 3-point shooting and disrupting defensenow has to scrap for minimal minutes. Karl is gambling that Atkins and Melo will get the 3's needed, so that he can get by without playing Smith much. By rights, Smith should have been traded, but the accounting and contract stuff made that impossible. And I am afraid Smith, with his terrible driving,made it easy for the Coach to continue to downscale him. </p> On the whole, Karl is still locked in to the Melo and A.I. all out 40+ minutes a game rut. This is ultimately cheating the fans and the backups on the roster. Virtually all of the Championship teams in the modern era have proven that the non-starters are crucial to winning in the playoffs, with the Manu Ginobili, Robert Horry,Brent Barry, and Michael Finleycombination being a good example. </p> </p> </p>
Round three</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <u>Coach Karl Responses - Entry Three (10-16-07)</u></p> Coach Karl, I love the trade to pick up Steven Hunter. I think he is another Marcus Camby in-the-making. How much of a role will he have on a team with bigs like Camby, Nene, K-Mart, and Najera? - Alan, Greeley, CO On paper, Steven’s role is difficult. However, we’ve had the same scenario in the past when Francisco Elson and Eduardo Najera played the most minutes of their careers as our “fourth” big-man. I think he’s an insurance policy that is good enough to be on an NBA court, which makes us very comfortable. But, his minutes will be very tough to define if everyone stays healthy.</p> Why not have Iverson return to PG and have someone that is defensive minded start at SG? - Matt, Adelaide, Australia We’ve definitely thought about defensive scenarios. Defining A.I.’s role is not something I want to do. I just want him to feel free to play basketball. When he’s in there with Yakhouba, or J.R., or Linas, he’s probably going to have the basketball in his hands a lot of the time. We’re going to experiment with Melo playing the point-forward position this season too, so that could change the look of things a little as well.</p> Now don’t get me wrong, I’m into structure. But I’m into the kind of structure that creates aggressiveness. And sometimes too much structure limits aggressiveness, which is not what we want to happen when A.I. is on the floor.</p> What did you think of the big Celtics trade this summer? Also, which teams do you think had the best offseasons? Thanks. - Matt, England To be honest, I’m not a studier of potential, personnel and philosophy. I think so much of that stuff is overrated. My respect goes to the best teams, and those teams usually don’t change much in the offseason. San Antonio, Phoenix, Dallas…I respecct them because they’re the upper echelon of the West. You’ve got to respect what Cleveland did last season. Detroit was probably the best team in the East but floundered a little bit down the stretch, but they’ll probably be hungrier now.</p> I think there are a few teams that have upgraded to a Championship level this summer, and I’m hopeful that Denver is one of them. Houston is dangerous. Utah has a chance to move up the ladder if they can figure out that Andrei Kirilenko scenario. And I think everyone is going to give Boston some special attention early; and if I had to bet, I’d bet Kevin Garnett brings that team to a top level.</p> How much longer do you see yourself coaching the Nuggets? - Avery, Billings In all honesty, that is a 50-50 proposition. It’s me wanting to continue coaching and the Nuggets wanting me. Personally, I’d like it to be a long, long-term relationship. But I also know that the NBA has potholes and fences that can sometimes get in the way. I love Denver as a city. It might be my favorite city that I’ve lived in…it’s fantastic! As an organization we’ve had some headaches, but I’d say most of our run has been a honeymoon. I love the idea of coaching in a sports town that demands excellence from its teams.</p> I evaluate my situations basically from year to year. I would like to coach as long as it’s enjoyable, and right now it’s still extremely enjoyable every day I come to the arena.</p> Coach Karl, how do you think this Nuggets lineup compares to the Sonics lineups you had? - Francis, Bacolod City, Philippines Although we’re two different types of teams -– in Denver we’re an offensive team and in Seattle we were a defensive team – skill-wise both teams were very blessed. Right now, we can be a great offensive team and a good defensive team. In Seattle we were a great defensive team that was trying to be a good offensive team. So in that respect it’s kind of flip-flopped.</p> However, the personalities are kind of similar. We had the star power in Seattle with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, whereas here we’ve got Allen and Carmelo. We had great big guys and role players in Seattle with Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, Nate McMillan, Hersey Hawkins…the list could go on and on. Here we’ve got Marcus, Nene, Kenyon, Eduardo, Linas and a number of other professionals who know their roles.</p> The thing that I feel about this current Nuggets team, more so than ever before, is that it has an attitude of a champion. It has a desire and a passion that keeps the individual ego under control. We had that attitude in Seattle and I think we have it here now.</p> Coach Karl, what type of schedules do you have for the players during the offseason, do you guys get together as a team very often? Thanks P.S. Nuggets Rule - Kyle, Denver Different players have different schedules. Young players we like to touch base with 150 hours or so during the summer; guys in the middle of their careers probably more around 75 hours; and the veteran players we like to get them in the gym around September so that we can monitor their conditioning and get them ready for training camp. The younger players we work with more, but the older players we respect and give them their opportunities to get away from the game during the offseason.</p> </div></p>
Round four</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <u>Coach Karl Responses - Entry Four (10-22-07)</u></p> Coach, are you going to do anything different this season to make sure you win more home games? - Adam, Salida I don’t know, maybe I’ll have to hire a witch doctor or try some voodoo or something. I think I’m going to be more demanding on the players in some fundamental areas that I thought lost us some games here last season. Some of our home losses were bad losses last year and that is what I’d like to remove. In the NBA, if you play a great team and they beat you, sometimes you have to just shake their hands and say, “good game, we’ll see you next time.” But we just had too many games under control that we let slip away to an inferior team because of a lack mental or physical energy. If we can remove those types of losses, there are four or five of them that come to my mind very quickly, I think we’ll be in a good spot. Personally, I’d like to take that step to the next level and have a special home court where 30 to 32 wins a year is not out of the question.</p> Hi Coach, who of the non-starters impresses you the most? - Nicholas, Greeley That’s a really hard question because I don’t even know who the starters are going to be. In general, Linas and Yakhouba both had good summers. I was a little disappointed in the fact that J.R. spent the summer outside of Denver. I thought it would have better served him to stay in Denver and let us work with him more. But, having said that, J.R. is still probably the most potentially talented player of those three.</p> Overall, I think all three of those guys have done a great job in their roles. Going into last year, I don’t think anybody would have thought we’d get the kind of production out of those three guys that we did. For one, we played them a lot of minutes last year –- they all played over 1000 minutes. On top of that, they all contributed to a good playoff team. That stat is very complimentary to young players. Now, can they make the next step? That’s what we’ll have to wait and find out. From a coach’s standpoint, one of the most frustrating things to deal with is the fact that the growing-up process in the NBA generally happens at a slower pace than one would want or expect. But we’ll see.</p> Hey Coach! Who do you think will be our spark off the bench most this season, our 6th man? I like J.R. coming off the bench but we also have L.K. and Chucky Atkins. Another factor could also be Von Wafer. Go Nugs! - Andrew, Melbourne Well, you’ve got Chucky and J.R. and one of them is going to have to come off the bench. Now do we stay one way all year or do we flip-flop? I can’t answer that question. I think Linas had a great run at the end of last year and he’ll probably be coming off the bench if Nene is healthy. Those three guys have an offensive explosiveness to them that makes for a good 6th man.</p> However, looking at our team right now with all the injuries we’ve been having, things of that nature have not gotten much clearer for me. It might take 20 to 25 games into the regular season before a rotation gets settled.</p> Hello Coach Karl, how have you seen Carmelo Anthony grow as a person/player in the time you have known him? - Tyler, Hsinchu, Taiwan It’s been very enjoyable working with Carmelo. I’m amazed by this kid. He is an amazing example of you don’t think he can do it and then he does it. You don’t think he can get to another level and then he does and he gets there faster than you’d ever imagine.</p> The great thing about Melo is that he is now moving into the mental stage of basketball. He’s learning the importance of focus, professionalism, intensity and everything else that must go along with being an incredible athlete. I think there were some people around here when I arrived that never thought Melo could do the things that he’s doing now. We’re just fortunate as coaches to ride along with him because he’s a super talent that is heading in a special direction.</p> Given Carmelo's success as a power forward with team USA, do you plan on using him more at the four this season? - Dennis, Centennial You know, we ran Melo at the four last year a lot more than people think we did. We tricked them by playing Linas alongside him, but Melo was usually the four in those situations –- at the offensive end of the court at least. The most success we’ve had here is when we’re able to move Melo around. We have the comfort of playing him at pretty much any position we want. Now, is he most powerful down around the basket? Probably. But I think he’s going to turn into a good jump shooter this year and maybe a very good jump shooter in the coming years, so you’ll see him can come off a screen and shoot the three a little bit more. We like to play him at what we like to call the “pinch post” because the double teams and zones don’t affect him as much. This training camp we’re experimenting with running him at the point –- a point-forward type of position. This puts him in the situation to make basketball decisions.</p> The bottom line is that we play at our best when we don’t let other teams control Melo. So for us to be successful, we have to be versatile and be willing to move him to wherever we need to. We did a good job of that last season and I think we’ll only get better at doing so in the future.</p> How do you feel when players get injured? - Analecia, Denver It’s very frustrating. Injuries are the things that drive coaches batty. You wake up in the middle of the night worrying. As a coach, you’re thinking about the same stuff all the fans are thinking of, numerous times over and over. Fortunately we have good enough information and good enough coaches that we can make a lot of things work.</p> In general, injuries can weaken your ability to be a strong team and they weaken your ability to get better. Usually when you get serious injuries to one of your top five players, you’re managing instead of coaching. For 2 ½ years we’ve done that pretty well here. Hopefully we’ll have a healthy year where we can coach and stay away from managing. Coaching is a lot easier than managing.</p> What's your favorite flavor of cough drops? - Andy, Greeley The stuff that I eat on the sidelines is awful. I don’t even know what flavor they are, but they’re awful. I think we get these cough drops for free through a league endorsement or something, but they’re just awful. I can’t believe I eat them! I’d honestly never eat them unless I had a cold.</p> The reason I do eat them is because I used to chew gum on the sidelines until I saw video of myself chewing and I looked like a cow. So, it’s just something that I started in Milwaukee and I haven’t gone away from since.</p> If I had to pick, my favorite flavor of cough drop would probably be wild cherry. Unfortunately the ones we have on the sideline are about the farthest thing from that.</p> </div></p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> Hello Coach Karl, how have you seen Carmelo Anthony grow as a person/player in the time you have known him? - Tyler, Hsinchu, Taiwan It’s been very enjoyable working with Carmelo. I’m amazed by this kid. He is an amazing example of you don’t think he can do it and then he does it. You don’t think he can get to another level and then he does and he gets there faster than you’d ever imagine.</p> The great thing about Melo is that he is now moving into the mental stage of basketball. He’s learning the importance of focus, professionalism, intensity and everything else that must go along with being an incredible athlete. I think there were some people around here when I arrived that never thought Melo could do the things that he’s doing now. We’re just fortunate as coaches to ride along with him because he’s a super talent that is heading in a special direction.</div></p> Its good to hear that Melo is learning the game, he has the potential to be the best out there, talent wise he has it, now it's all about how he can learn the fundementals better and understand the game (like for example how KG does).</p>
