Sports Radio Interviews

George Karl Calls his Former Player Allen Iverson the Best Little Guy to Ever Play the Game

A season ago, the Denver Nuggets surprised many people by getting to the Western Conference Finals before finally being eliminated the Lakers.  However, despite their deep playoff run, I think people are hesitant to givethem the kind of credit and recognition that they deserve.  Many are hesitant to consider them a “championship caliber” team.  I think they are extremely talented, can score with anybody, and are one of the few teams that returned all five starters from their squad a season ago.  On top of that Carmelo Anthony is playing the best ball of his career and has taken his game to another level. 

I think they deserve more recognition for what they were able to do, but I think there are a couple of reasons why people are hesitant to include them in the same conversation with some of the best teams in the league.  The first reason is that despite bringing back their core, they really didn’t make any moves to improve their team.  The Lakers brought in Ron Artest, the Spurs added Richard Jefferson, the Cavs added Shaq, the Magic added Vince Carter, and the Celtics added Rasheed Wallace.  Meanwhile the Nuggets added Ty Lawson through the draft.  The other reason that people may not be believes is because of what happened twice in the past couple of weeks.  While I don’t make too much about regular season games in early November, the Nuggets tend to play lethargic and play down to the level of their competition like they did this past week against the Clippers and the Timberwolves.

George Karl joined 104.3 The Fan in Denver to talk about the play of his team to start the year, the level of competition that they have played recently, the improved game of Carmelo Anthony, playing a rookie as much as he has been and he weighs in on Allen Iverson’s return to the NBA.

On getting lackadaisical because of the competition that the Nuggets have played recently:

“I think there was too many of those games.  They got boring to us.  It was a little tedious to us.  We were saying the same things.  Keep your focus, be professional, compete the right way, take the hope away from the other team and sometimes it’s better to have a game that is self-motivating or a tough game that you have to win with good fundamental nature.  So much of the six or seven games that we played, it was just about us playing to the right intensity level and not allowing an NBA team to gain some confidence and not allowing an NBA team to gain some confidence and not allowing an NBA team to put you in a position where the referees could make a couple of calls and you miss a couple of shots and then all of a sudden, you’re embarrassed.  I saw some of it in the personality.  We would get up by 15 or 20 points and the second unit wouldn’t close the door.  We had that in a couple of games and then in the Knick game, the Knicks played a pretty good basketball game as much as we didn’t play well, the Knicks played at a high NBA level and we won that game because of our offense.  My biggest disappointment was that we probably turned the switch off.  We were up 14 points and we just our arrogance beat us.”

On the improvements made by Carmelo Anthony: 

“Uh, I think the one positive thing that I see is when we play best is when Melo is making people better.  I think he sees that a little bit more.  I know he had a 50 point night, but I like the games when he helps Nene get involved, he helps JR (Smith) get involved, he keeps Kenyon (Martin) involved a little bit.  Any time your best player is making other players better it’s an asset.  It’s a subtle confidence; it’s a mature toughness that you can’t be beat.  Sometimes I think Melo and JR try to score too much and they don’t try to be just playmakers and basketball players.  I see Melo understanding that a lot more.  I see him talking to Nene a little bit more.  When I call an option on a play to get Nene a good look, Melo recognizes that now.  In the past he might’ve recognized it, but he didn’t make it work as well as he’s making it work now.”

On playing Ty Lawson so many minutes when history certainly doesn’t point to George Karl playing rookies much:

“There’s a perception out there that rookies and I have never been a love affair, but Ty is different.  Ty is fundamentally sound, I think he has a maturity to his game that doesn’t have a lot of mistakes to it, and he is something that we don’t have.  I cannot say that in September I thought Ty would be playing this many minutes but I think he’s earned it and I think everyone on the team agrees with that.  I love AC (Anthony Carter). I wish I had more minutes for AC, I wish I could make AC more happy than he is, I just think Ty brings a lot of things to the table that we don’t have and with the idea that young players are usually mistake players and this cat is not a mistake player.”

On the return of Allen Iverson and playing against him next week:

“(Laughing) As a coach you’re going ‘oh man he’s going to have one of those nights, he’s going to come back and take a team that’s struggling and push them over the top,’ but I’m happy.  I’m happy that he’s found a place and I think they have an ability to make this thing work.  I just hope it doesn’t work too well on Tuesday night.”

On Iverson’s legacy:

“I mean when it’s all over he’s going to be a Hall-Of-Fame player, he’s gonna probably be, if he has any success in the next year or two, a top-ten scorer in our league.  I think most people will say it’s probably between his and Isiah (Thomas) as being the greatest little guy to ever play the game and I’d probably give it to AI.  The only thing that Isaiah has over him is he has championship on his belt, but I think AI is an incredible story, you could make an incredible movie about him and he comes from place where the people that would’ve predicted this career, there are not too many people on that page.”

Listen to George Karl with Scott and Mike on 104.3 The Fan in Denver 

Tags: 104.3 The Fan, Allen Iverson, Denver Nuggets, George Karl, NBA