George Karl is not a very popular coach amongst the players for his multiple falling-outs with his star players. This trend started with a young Ray Allen on the Milwaukee Bucks and happened again with a young Carmelo Anthony on the Denver Nuggets. Both situations ended with the player being traded elsewhere.
Karl is much older now. While he does enjoy making controversial statements on social media occasionally, he looks back at his time with those players as a regret because he couldn’t build a stronger relationship with them or win a championship.
“Players come in different packages and personalities, it doesn’t take a lot of motivation. The one guy I failed a little bit with, a great player, a Hall of Fame player is Ray Allen. I think Ray Allen is one of the few players that had a better career after me, but most of the players played for years under me and some had their best career seasons under me. The other guy would be Melo, I wish I would have had a better connection with Melo. We had a really good team here in Denver and maybe a better team would have put us over the top. Melo and me, the organization, everyone. Melo is a sensational player. Maybe I should have been harder on him for winning a championship rather than just being a good coach.”
Does George Karl have any career regrets as he heads to the Hall of Fame this weekend?@CoachKarl22 tells @JumpShot8 & @DarthAmin he wishes he did more with Carmelo Anthony & Ray Allen. pic.twitter.com/kLX2woRPiT
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 7, 2022
Is George Karl One Of The Best Coaches Of His Era?
George Karl was a head coach in the NBA from 1984 to 1988 before returning to coaching an NBA team in 1992 with the Seattle SuperSonics. His teams have always been competitive, but they never overcame the barrier to a championship.
He retired after coaching the Sacramento Kings in 2015-16 in what turned out to be a horrible move. Karl was fired the second the season ended and never got another head coaching job in the NBA.
Karl’s abrasiveness with players continues even now. But this interview prior to his 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement shows that the 71-year-old may be letting negative feelings from the past go in favor of reconciliation.
