Karl Interview

[rainmaker]

A few of the quotes:

The second thing is just understanding the pace of the game. For years, everybody said you can't win playing fast. I think that's going to be broken here very soon, with Golden State, Atlanta. At Denver, we felt you had to be balanced. I think most championship mentalities in the last 25 to 30 years has been tilted toward being defense first. I think now it's tilted now toward maybe it's balanced, and offense could be first. You could win ... I think the superstar syndrome, I think it's important. I mean, you want the best players. But I don't think the best players necessarily means you're going to win. I think San Antonio showed us a team, magnified and multiplied the idea of a good team. It's probably the way a coach should play when he's not in a big market, or doesn't have the superstar. I think more coaches, more organizations are figuring that out.


The year we won 57, we put no plays in for the first three weeks. It was, play basketball. And this is the spacing. And we talked about spacing, we talked about pace. I like the words, 'space, pace and pass.' Now, everybody says, 'DeMarcus doesn't fit.' I said, I think DeMarcus fits? Why? Because his shots are going to be easier. I don't want the wrestling match.

I don't want the old school, mud and push. Sometimes, you're going to have to go there. But I saw San Antonio win the championship. And I saw (Tim) Duncan, in the last two games of the series, I think he caught the ball in the paint 10 times. Duncan's still one of the best guys in the game on the low block. But when the game has rhythm and flow, and the big guy feels like he can fit into that, unless you have three top 10 players, or three of the players in the top 20, you've got to magnify your talents by being a team. And I think this system does that.

Me: And DeMarcus will be more effective getting the ball before the defense gets a chance to set up, and bring the doubles.

GK: If he's a rim runner? Any time he rim runs, it's 1.5 (points per possession). It's 1.5. Running efficiency is about 1.2. So when you get good numbers in the open floor, you score about 1.2, 1.3 per possession. Unfortunately, we only get him (in transition) two or three times a game. I think if we get him in condition, that gets close to 10. And then the other ways of putting his passing -- he's very good at the high post -- and then just putting professional guys around him that want to play fast. People don't understand, the creation of this system is a rebound. And he's the best defensive rebounder, probably, in the NBA. Maybe (DeAndre) Jordan might be the best. I think that's another progression. We didn't have, in Denver, we told the big men to get out of the way. But that was what their talent was. With 'Cuz, it's how do we fit you in here, baby? 'Cause this is a puzzle that's got to be built around you.

http://www.nba.com/2015/news/featur...-with-george-karl/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt6e

Scroll down for the interview.

 

[sdballer]

Many things in there that I really don't like. He sounds like Vivek has his hand up his backside.

 

[Siranthony]

Nice!

 

[Gilles]

Many things in there that I really don't like. He sounds like Vivek has his hand up his backside.

The decease might have spread even further, and already reached the brain.

 

[Sac.1989]

ahh the end is here as we know it, suger coated in the mirage of a future HOF coach whose here for a last payday

 

[lawlman91]

I hope Karl will do good, but why change your playing style when it was winning before? At least try the previous style out first since it has shown early success, see if it is sustainable, and if it isn't, then its absolutely fine to do what Karl is doing. But to move on to a new method after only getting a glimpse of a method that could work? Sounds arrogant. Maybe it works out despite our moaning, but the fact is right now is that we don't know whether or not it will work. Arrogant indeed.

 

[Kingster]

I don't have a problem with what he said. Team ball, moving the ball, getting easy shots. It's a no-brainer in the abstract. Getting the abstract translated to concrete action on the floor is another thing entirely.

 

[VF21]

This is all that matters to me:

With 'Cuz, it's how do we fit you in here, baby? 'Cause this is a puzzle that's got to be built around you.

 

[kingsboi]

I'm trying to figure out what exactly Golden State, Atlanta and Denver has achieved in championship terms because they sure are fun regular season teams to watch, playoffs start and teams slow you down and maybe you can get away with it playing in the first two rounds but after that....you really need a team of consistent shooters like the Mavs had or the Spurs in the last couple of seasons to be contenders year in and year out.

 

[sdballer]

This is all that matters to me:

With 'Cuz, it's how do we fit you in here, baby? 'Cause this is a puzzle that's got to be built around you.

Except nothing he says in the rest of the interview really suggests he is building the puzzle around cousins.

 

[sdballer]

I'm trying to figure out what exactly Golden State, Atlanta and Denver has achieved in championship terms because they sure are fun regular season teams to watch, playoffs start and teams slow you down and maybe you can get away with it playing in the first two rounds but after that....you really need a team of consistent shooters like the Mavs had or the Spurs in the last couple of seasons to be contenders year in and year out.

Worse is that Atlanta and San Antonio aren't even teams built around fast pace.

 

[sdballer]

I don't have a problem with what he said. Team ball, moving the ball, getting easy shots. It's a no-brainer in the abstract. Getting the abstract translated to concrete action on the floor is another thing entirely.

The problem is that there are a number of ways to do that. Focusing on pace, overlooking defense and suggesting your best player who is a beast down low doesn't need to do that is an issue. At that point it isn't about team ball, etc as much as it is about playing fast.

He even suggests that our whole offense needs to start with cousins getting defensive boards which is a step too late. Our offense needs to start with focusing on getting defensive stops. Sure a rebound will come from that but it glosses over the reason we are getting our asses handed to us on a nightly basis.

 

[VF21]

Except nothing he says in the rest of the interview really suggests he is building the puzzle around cousins.

We take what we need from the comments. I choose to take something positive for the simple reason I do not have it in my makeup to continue to try to find things to be negative about.

 

[sdballer]

We take what we need from the comments. I choose to take something positive for the simple reason I do not have it in my makeup to continue to try to find things to be negative about.

Fair enough but I find our savior of a coach parroting the same front office nonsense that got us here to be a pretty big thing to be negative about.

 

[VF21]

Fair enough but I find our savior of a coach parroting the same front office nonsense that got us here to be a pretty big thing to be negative about.

And i choose to take George Karl at his word until there is reason not to. My level of distrust and cynicism is nowhere near yours - or a lot of other fans. And that's fine. If I end up being wrong, it won't be the first time.

 

[gunks]

Whelp, there it is. Methinks the light at the end of the tunnel gets dimmer and dimmer every time I read an interview.

Anyways...I could say a lot, but I'm going to be lazy and just wait to "like" Bricklayer's incoming apoplectic, yet well thought out, response to these interview quotes.

 

[kingsboi]

Worse is that Atlanta and San Antonio aren't even teams built around fast pace.

they are built around shooting and spreading the floor

 

[theclash4u5]

Not a bad interview, but this part really troubled me

I hope he understands that the process is not going to work coming in the middle of the season, taking a team that was basically a possession, defensive-minded team, and turning it into a running team. I think we're getting a good pace, but we're not doing it that well.

Umm....a defensive minded team? We were giving up 110 per night recently on the good days. And now he thinks he aren't there yet? Ugh.....

 

[Bricklayer]

Well, saves me from having to spare Karl from my general disdain for our front office.

Old goat doesn't remember his own history. I guess this answers whether we signed the career long Karl or just inflated stats piece of irrelevancy he was in Denver. How many first round exits is it George? 9 of the past 10 seasons? Remember when you used to matter? Remember before you started chasing scoring stats?

There are reasons btw why I was, well RIGHT, when I warned about Golden State and Denver parasites taking over the franchise. Moron franchises could play 1000 years of NBA basketball and never win a thing worth winning. Don't get it, almost don't care. You couldn't have picked any two franchises in the NBA whose castoffs would have been WORSE to have show up in Sacto.

There are also reasons why I rooted against San Antonio last year, and will root for them to get smacked down again this year. The weaker minds in the NBA always run around pretending to imitate whoever wins last, no matter how unique that winning was. If we'd kept Malone and shocked the league and won the title this year I guarantee you that half a dozen stupid franchises next year would be talking about the rebirth of low post basketball and how they were going to model themselves on those Kings...despite blatantly not having a Demarcus Cousins to make it work. There are few surer signs of weakness than bandwagon hopping. Unfortunately when you look up "weak minded dip" on wikipedia, you have pictures of our entire "brain trust" flashing that stupid hand signal.

Root for Memphis. Might be Cuz's best chance to acheive anything for the Kings.

 

[pshn80]

Except nothing he says in the rest of the interview really suggests he is building the puzzle around cousins.

Only a fool would not. Don't think Karl is a fool.

 

[sdballer]

Only a fool would not. Don't think Karl is a fool.

I'll play along. Do you believe Vivek and/or PDA are fools?

 

[KingsFanGER]

The interview is concerning to me, but I try to stay optimistic and follow VF21's approach. After all we can only wait and hope Karl and DMC find a way to be successful together.
Following Memphis's approach would be great for me. But keep in mind, that we don't have a similar roster and it would require some moves to get the fitting players for this playstyle. We would need a lot of defensive minded roleplayers and a much better PF. Maybe it would be easier to emulate Memphis than to try to resemble the Spurs or god beware the Warriors, but it would still require some adjustments. And wins aren't guaranteed neither.

 

[mac]

"I hope he understands that the process is not going to work coming in the middle of the season, taking a team that was basically a possession, defensive-minded team, and turning it into a running team."



Well that does explain a lot.

 

[Padrino]

"I hope he understands that the process is not going to work coming in the middle of the season, taking a team that was basically a possession, defensive-minded team, and turning it into a running team."



Well that does explain a lot.

i was just going to highlight that moment in the interview, as well. i was initially satisfied with the george karl hire in that 1) he wasn't tyrone corbin, and 2) he was an experienced head coach with a HoF-level resume. but the above quote is rather disconcerting to me, particularly given how adamant cousins had been about the need to regroup defensively after mike malone was fired. he tasted legitimacy during the brief stint in which the kings were truly defense-oriented, and that's something he's absolutely going to remember...

i mean, big cuz holds a grudge like no one else in the nba; he's not going to forget about the success that he and mike malone were achieving before the rug was pulled out from beneath the team, and, when push comes to shove, he's not likely to forgive the new regime if things continue to go south. i'm certainly not ready to give up on the notion of george karl transforming this team into a winner, but some serious red flags get raised for me when i see karl flat-out acknowledging that defense isn't his priority, and that turning the kings into a running team is his ultimate goal...

 

[Larry David]

While George has a sharp tongue, can be fiery, and has been known to get into it with his players. He was desperate to get back into the NBA, wants to stay as long as possible to pad his win total, and is most likely never working in the NBA again as a head coach after he is done with the Kings. There might be times where he tries to mold the owners plan a little to increase the likelihood of winning .... but .... he's going to do what the owner wants. Particularly after the last guy here was fired because he was telling the owner his ideas to speed up the team were bad and Karl got sent packing after winning COY but not kissing enough ownership behind.

I've never bought into the notion that Karl would be setting Vivek straight much, but this interview helps bring that into focus. He got his marching orders. He's marching.

Cousins doesn't like losing and I don't think he likes this style of play. I'm sure that won't be an issue two years from now.

 

[SacKings384]

Oh boy... Dude's gonna mess around and ruin Boogie's career. Get him in better shape? Doesn't like the wrestling match? That's Boogie's game! He's a physical beast that is so strong but so nimble that makes him unstoppable. Jesus christ.

 

[lawlman91]

To the proponents of "smash-mouth basketball": we need to make sure that we don't become what we hate. We don't want to be like the front office, who preaches a certain playing style and adamantly wants the team to adopt that style just because they were infatuated with that style. We shouldn't become like them -- no way. We should be advocating for smash-mouth basketball because it worked for us. Forget about what worked for other teams; we were competitive. That's exactly why I advocate that we return to playing smash-mouth basketball -- not because I am infatuated with it, but because it worked. Again, we shouldn't be like the front office, who advocates that we switch our playing style because they were infatuated with another system. We need to look to what works, and what we did earlier in the season worked. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! I would gladly see smash-mouth basketball fall apart, had we continued to play in that style, and then we would fix it. But to fix it before it was broke? Just because you were infatuated with another playing style? Ludicrous and arrogant, especially to Michael Malone. Again, we should be proponents of a return to smash-mouth because it worked for us, not because we like it or hypothesize that it will work for the team. We're not like the front office. Because it will work until it doesn't.

Of course, there will always be people that advocate for smash-mouth basketball even when it doesn't work. Those that have this opinion are almost always well-versed in arguments in favor of smash-mouth (as Brick is doing right now, with his series). But for the casual fan, its only reasonable to advocate for what worked before. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[pshn80]

I'll play along. Do you believe Vivek and/or PDA are fools?

No, I believe both are far from fools. We're OK. Doesn't mean we'll get there without a few more missteps but we'll get there.

 

[sdballer]

No, I believe both are far from fools. We're OK. Doesn't mean we'll get there without a few more missteps but we'll get there.

So by your own logic, you think PDA and Vivek have been building this team around cousins? Interesting.

 

[MizzouKing]

And i choose to take George Karl at his word until there is reason not to. My level of distrust and cynicism is nowhere near yours - or a lot of other fans. And that's fine. If I end up being wrong, it won't be the first time.

Being stabbed in the back breeds paranoia, so it's not surprising to me that so many of us are quick to run to the edge of the cliff when we hear similarities between George and Pete. What gives me comfort is that George didn't win all those games by being lucky. The man knows what he's doing, and he's starting here with a team full of D-Leaguers. If we can take a breath and have a little patience, it's likely that we are going to love what we see.