If anyone can, please explain why Karl should not be fired for even just the following single reason. In the regular season, he swore by Anthony Carter at point guard and refused to consider anyone else at the position. Then in the playoffs, all of a sudden Carter wasn't good enough, and in came Allen Iverson. Since Karl apparently strenuously disagrees with the importance that most other coaches place in the role of the point guard, and since he never instructed Iverson to pass more and shoot less even after he was designated as PG for the playoffs, Iverson did not shoot less and pass more after being so designated. All Karl did was ask for ALL Nuggets to shoot less and pass more, which seems more and more asinine the more you think of it. In effect, Karl was asking for the rest of the team to make up for the fact that he does not believe in the importance of the PG role, and/or to make up for his inability to select the right player for the position. In fact, adding injury to insult, but in an appropriate knock to the face of Karl, Iverson actually made substantially fewer assists per playoff game while designated the PG, 4.5, than he made per regular season game, 7.1, while supposedly playing shooting guard! That is beyond screwed up my friends. Now if a pro football coach deserted his regular season quarterback and put in a new quarterback for the playoffs, and the playoff quarterback was a miserable failure in that role, and his team was routed 45-6, which is the equivalent of what happened to the Nuggets, would that coach not be fired immediately? Of course, he would be fired so quickly he wouldn't know what hit him. The way the Nuggets offense was managed this season was nothing short of madness. It was worse than last year, and it made a mockery of the concept of the role of the point guard. If Karl doesn't think that positions in general and the point guard position in particular have significance, than why doesn't he lobby for the elimination of positions in official basketball records and statistics? So all you closet Karl defenders, explain why he should not be fired for gross negligence.
I'm no closet Karl defender or anything, but... I think I'd want AI shooting the ball and handling it as much as possible. Sharing the ball - passing more and "shooting less" (not sure that was really what he asked) - is the mark of championship teams. Some schemes don't emphasize the PG as a pass first and run the team position. Are the Nuggets better off with Anthony dominating the ball instead of the ball being in Iverson's or Melo's hands for much of the shot clock?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 10 2008, 10:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm no closet Karl defender or anything, but... I think I'd want AI shooting the ball and handling it as much as possible. Sharing the ball - passing more and "shooting less" (not sure that was really what he asked) - is the mark of championship teams. Some schemes don't emphasize the PG as a pass first and run the team position. Are the Nuggets better off with Anthony dominating the ball instead of the ball being in Iverson's or Melo's hands for much of the shot clock?</div> You have to learn to walk before you can run and the Nuggets didn't even know how to walk this year. In other words, you can't have an offense where numerous players are good at finding the open man when you haven't even established one PG who is reliably good at it. Karl had no "scheme" at all that made any sense, he failed to understand the importance of the PG position for a team that obviously does not have the passing skills of the Spurs, he failed to choose the best man to play the point in the regular season, and then he finally chose the best man available to run the point in the playoffs when it was way too late. Karl made a mockery of the concept of offense management. Moreover, he is at this point mocking the Nuggets franchise and the city of Denver by avoiding being forced to retire despite these and many, many other errors and shortcomings. Every year the Nuggets have one or more players who should be ready to play in the playoffs but are not. Last year it was Smith and Kleiza. This year it was Atkins and Nene. There was time for at least one of those two to be reworked into the rotation, but Karl kept swearing that Carter was good enough at PG and he kept overplaying Camby/Martin instead of bringing in Nene. At least partly and most likely largely as a result, the Nuggets were destroyed on both offense and defense in the series. We now know that Karl can not possibly get himself fired, because if all he did and didn't do this year is not enough, nothing will ever be enough to get him retired or fired.
To add to this, wasn't the reason they were very willing to let Steve Blake go and bring in a new PG that he wasn't a good shooter? Not a bad passer, but a bad shooter. So, of course, Blake shoots a higher 3PT% than anybody on Denver.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ May 11 2008, 04:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>To add to this, wasn't the reason they were very willing to let Steve Blake go and bring in a new PG that he wasn't a good shooter? Not a bad passer, but a bad shooter. So, of course, Blake shoots a higher 3PT% than anybody on Denver.</div> No, the Nuggets wanted to re-sign Blake, but Blake played chicken with them over money. His agent told the Front Office how much money Blake wanted and the FO said that was too much. Blake's agent said he had an offer from the Blazers for that amount and Denver told him if he did, he should take it. Blake signed with Portland for far less than he was asking from the Nuggets.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tremaine @ May 11 2008, 12:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 10 2008, 10:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm no closet Karl defender or anything, but... I think I'd want AI shooting the ball and handling it as much as possible. Sharing the ball - passing more and "shooting less" (not sure that was really what he asked) - is the mark of championship teams. Some schemes don't emphasize the PG as a pass first and run the team position. Are the Nuggets better off with Anthony dominating the ball instead of the ball being in Iverson's or Melo's hands for much of the shot clock?</div> You have to learn to walk before you can run and the Nuggets didn't even know how to walk this year. In other words, you can't have an offense where numerous players are good at finding the open man when you haven't even established one PG who is reliably good at it. Karl had no "scheme" at all that made any sense, he failed to understand the importance of the PG position for a team that obviously does not have the passing skills of the Spurs, he failed to choose the best man to play the point in the regular season, and then he finally chose the best man available to run the point in the playoffs when it was way too late. Karl made a mockery of the concept of offense management. Moreover, he is at this point mocking the Nuggets franchise and the city of Denver by avoiding being forced to retire despite these and many, many other errors and shortcomings. Every year the Nuggets have one or more players who should be ready to play in the playoffs but are not. Last year it was Smith and Kleiza. This year it was Atkins and Nene. There was time for at least one of those two to be reworked into the rotation, but Karl kept swearing that Carter was good enough at PG and he kept overplaying Camby/Martin instead of bringing in Nene. At least partly and most likely largely as a result, the Nuggets were destroyed on both offense and defense in the series. We now know that Karl can not possibly get himself fired, because if all he did and didn't do this year is not enough, nothing will ever be enough to get him retired or fired. </div> Do you realize that Nene completely controlled how ready he was to play? The Nuggets had to do major arm twisting to even get him back in uniform for the season. There was no screw up by Karl regarding Nene. Of course the Nuggets could have used more of Nene, but Nene doesn't love the game and he is a grade A wimp when it comes to playing through pain or working hard.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tremaine @ May 10 2008, 09:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 10 2008, 10:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm no closet Karl defender or anything, but... I think I'd want AI shooting the ball and handling it as much as possible. Sharing the ball - passing more and "shooting less" (not sure that was really what he asked) - is the mark of championship teams. Some schemes don't emphasize the PG as a pass first and run the team position. Are the Nuggets better off with Anthony dominating the ball instead of the ball being in Iverson's or Melo's hands for much of the shot clock?</div> You have to learn to walk before you can run and the Nuggets didn't even know how to walk this year. In other words, you can't have an offense where numerous players are good at finding the open man when you haven't even established one PG who is reliably good at it. Karl had no "scheme" at all that made any sense, he failed to understand the importance of the PG position for a team that obviously does not have the passing skills of the Spurs, he failed to choose the best man to play the point in the regular season, and then he finally chose the best man available to run the point in the playoffs when it was way too late. Karl made a mockery of the concept of offense management. Moreover, he is at this point mocking the Nuggets franchise and the city of Denver by avoiding being forced to retire despite these and many, many other errors and shortcomings. Every year the Nuggets have one or more players who should be ready to play in the playoffs but are not. Last year it was Smith and Kleiza. This year it was Atkins and Nene. There was time for at least one of those two to be reworked into the rotation, but Karl kept swearing that Carter was good enough at PG and he kept overplaying Camby/Martin instead of bringing in Nene. At least partly and most likely largely as a result, the Nuggets were destroyed on both offense and defense in the series. We now know that Karl can not possibly get himself fired, because if all he did and didn't do this year is not enough, nothing will ever be enough to get him retired or fired. </div> Is Derrick Fischer really a good PG? Or is he just good enough to dribble across half court and get it to Kobe, and then hang around to hit the occaisional 3 to keep the D honest? I think the latter. So I guess I don't get the infatuation with the "true" PG position. The Spurs are a perfect example - Tony Parker has never been a pure or true PG. I do think the players on the Nuggets are perfectly capable of sharing the ball. Camby is a remarkable ballhandling bigman. Unfortuantely, Melo has only figured out part of the game, but he's still young. AI was a great addition, but he's on the downside of his career. Camby is playing terrific for a guy his age, let alone for a guy who is 10 years younger
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 11 2008, 10:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tremaine @ May 10 2008, 09:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 10 2008, 10:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm no closet Karl defender or anything, but... I think I'd want AI shooting the ball and handling it as much as possible. Sharing the ball - passing more and "shooting less" (not sure that was really what he asked) - is the mark of championship teams. Some schemes don't emphasize the PG as a pass first and run the team position. Are the Nuggets better off with Anthony dominating the ball instead of the ball being in Iverson's or Melo's hands for much of the shot clock?</div> You have to learn to walk before you can run and the Nuggets didn't even know how to walk this year. In other words, you can't have an offense where numerous players are good at finding the open man when you haven't even established one PG who is reliably good at it. Karl had no "scheme" at all that made any sense, he failed to understand the importance of the PG position for a team that obviously does not have the passing skills of the Spurs, he failed to choose the best man to play the point in the regular season, and then he finally chose the best man available to run the point in the playoffs when it was way too late. Karl made a mockery of the concept of offense management. Moreover, he is at this point mocking the Nuggets franchise and the city of Denver by avoiding being forced to retire despite these and many, many other errors and shortcomings. Every year the Nuggets have one or more players who should be ready to play in the playoffs but are not. Last year it was Smith and Kleiza. This year it was Atkins and Nene. There was time for at least one of those two to be reworked into the rotation, but Karl kept swearing that Carter was good enough at PG and he kept overplaying Camby/Martin instead of bringing in Nene. At least partly and most likely largely as a result, the Nuggets were destroyed on both offense and defense in the series. We now know that Karl can not possibly get himself fired, because if all he did and didn't do this year is not enough, nothing will ever be enough to get him retired or fired. </div> Is Derrick Fischer really a good PG? Or is he just good enough to dribble across half court and get it to Kobe, and then hang around to hit the occaisional 3 to keep the D honest? I think the latter. So I guess I don't get the infatuation with the "true" PG position. The Spurs are a perfect example - Tony Parker has never been a pure or true PG. I do think the players on the Nuggets are perfectly capable of sharing the ball. Camby is a remarkable ballhandling bigman. Unfortuantely, Melo has only figured out part of the game, but he's still young. AI was a great addition, but he's on the downside of his career. Camby is playing terrific for a guy his age, let alone for a guy who is 10 years younger </div> God Denny, learn how to spell. It's Derek Fisher, nor Derrick Fischer, lol. As it is, the Nuggets lost for a lot more reasons than not having a PG. If anything, the main reason Karl needs to get fired is his ineptness on the defensive side of the ball. I've never seen a team get more easy layups over the course of four games than the Lakers did against Denver.
http://www.albion.com/bookNetiquette/0963702513p75.html <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The Spelling Flame It happens every day. Someone misspells a word in a public message. One or more people absolutely must publicly correct the error. Judging from the number of times this happens, there seem to be millions of high school English teacher wannabes in cyberspace. Ironically, spelling flames nearly always contain spelling errors. Spelling flames are bad Netiquette. If you feel absolutely compelled to correct someone's spelling or grammar, do so via private email. Keep in mind that English is not the first language of many people on the Internet.</div> (Entirely tongue in cheek!) My pet peeve is when someone says "Your an idiot."
You need A point guard on a team like the Nuggets. The Nuggets are loaded up with players who like to score in isolation. They don't have hardly any players who like to help teammates score more than they like to score themselves. It doesn't have to be a pure point guard. It doesn't have to be a point guard that everyone agrees has a good style. It doesn't have to be a high scoring point guard. It doesn't have to be a low scoring point guard. It doesn't have to be any point guard in particular except that it has to be someone who is responsible for keeping the passing game alive and someone who is responsible for preventing what the Nuggets became, which is a very easy to defend team of players who are usually in shoot first, shoot second and shoot third desperation mode. Karl swore by Carter and then deserted him for the playoffs and in effect was left with no point guard. The Lakers made him pay through the teeth for that: PLAYOFF SERIES ASSISTS Game 1 Lakers 33 Nuggets 20 Game 2 Lakers 33 Nuggets 12 Game 3 Lakers 26 Nuggets 22 Game 4 Lakers 20 Nuggets 20 The Nuggets are supposed to average about 25 assists a game at their pace, or 100 assists in 4 games. They made 74 assists instead of 100 or 110 or 120. What would you expect when it ended up that no one had primary responsibility to keep the passing game going? Is it too much to ask of Mr. Karl to provide a qualified point guard for his team? He could have had Atkins ready. He could have stuck with Carter. He could have designated AI on or before March 1. For god's sake, he could have put in Taurean Green. The point is, he didn't do a damn thing about the need for at least one player to be responsible for keeping the passing game going.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 11 2008, 02:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>http://www.albion.com/bookNetiquette/0963702513p75.html <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The Spelling Flame It happens every day. Someone misspells a word in a public message. One or more people absolutely must publicly correct the error. Judging from the number of times this happens, there seem to be millions of high school English teacher wannabes in cyberspace. Ironically, spelling flames nearly always contain spelling errors. Spelling flames are bad Netiquette. If you feel absolutely compelled to correct someone's spelling or grammar, do so via private email. Keep in mind that English is not the first language of many people on the Internet.</div> (Entirely tongue in cheek!) My pet peeve is when someone says "Your an idiot." </div> Mine is, "How did you mispell that?"
As for the Lakers, if they lose a playoff series, it will probably be because Derek Fisher is not a championship team caliber PG, whereas Chris Paul, Tony Parker, and possibly Rajon Rondo are. For that matter, the Jazz PG Williams is championship caliber, so the Lakers could possibly be upset by them. On the surface, it might seem that the Lakers are trying to do what the Nuggets did in the regular season, which is rely on the 2-guard to get a lot of assists and keep the passing game going. But the first thing and the most obnoxious thing to realize is that the Nuggets abandoned their own strategy and substituted almost nothing for it. They took out Carter and put in a near 0-assist swingman at the 2-guard, Linas Kleiza. Now Iverson was the only guard who could be relied on to make plays in the game, but he still had no direct responsibility for it. Aside from this fiasco, even before the Nuggets self-destructed their lineup, Derek Fisher was somewhat more reliable than Anthony Carter as the designated but partial PG. Second, Kobe Bryant makes for at least a slightly more effective playmaking 2-guard than does Iverson, due to years of Iverson having almost no responsibility at all for passing. Finally, the Lakers have very few near 0-assists a game forwards and centers, with Turiaf and Bynum pretty much it, and Bynum was out of the picture. But the Nuggets had 4 active forwards and centers in the series who are poor at playmaking: Kleiza, Martin, Najera, and Nene (if he ever plays). Under Karl's scheme and directions, the Nuggets had very little playmaking capability on the court at all. It is a tribute to the Nuggets who played that they made 74 assists in 4 games, because it could have been much worse; it could easily have been 60 assists or even fewer.
