George Karl on what's wrong with basketball (and the Blazers)

[Orion Bailey]

Whoa!!1 Shits getting real now!

 

[riverman]

Stotts doesn't suffer fools..he's a confident guy and level headed. Karl is babbling for relevance. Selling a book...burnin' bridges with no prospects..Karl needs to hang it up for good.

 

[LuckyShot]

That's the most aggressive quote I've ever read from Terry. Always backing his players. Props

This is how you be a player's coach.

 

[noknobs]

Look, I know we're 13-20 at the moment, but for Karl or anyone on here to seriously question Lillard as a leader is just baffling to me. Dame has done so much for the franchise and the city and has shown himself to be a leader in so many ways.

But on the topic of 'what's wrong with the Blazers' - I think the main issue in December has just simply been finishing games. We lose to Memphis by 2, lose to the Clippers by 1, lose to the Kings by 5, lose to Dallas by 1, then lose to Toronto by 4. All close games, all winnable, they just couldn't close the deal. It's the difference between being 18-15. Clearly this isn't a championship team as currently assembled but I think there's a lot of overreacting going on right now. Those 5 games were decided by a total of 13 points. 13 points from being above .500. That didn't happen obviously but I don't think they're nearly as bad as their record.

 

[Denny Crane]

Seems like Karl senses a little blood in the water and maybe lobbying for Stotts' job.

Fuck him.

 

[dviss1]

Haha. Told him to stay in his lane! Hilarious!

 

[dviss1]

Seems like Karl senses a little blood in the water and maybe lobbying for Stotts' job.

Fuck him.

How? He said Stotts isn't the problem and that the problem was our franchise player. That wreaks of a MF that wants to stay unemployed. Or at least unemployed by us.

 

[riverman]

How? He said Stotts isn't the problem and that the problem was our franchise player. That wreaks of a MF that wants to stay unemployed. Or at least unemployed by us.

He's taking a page from the Trump playbook...it's broke, rigged, horrible...only I can fix it...need to drain the swamp ...I can make the Blazers great again!

 

[blue9]

So pretty much verbatim whats been said here

Oooooh, this sounds like he's implying Tater Totts is the problem!

 

[blue9]

This is Stotts' "national anthem" moment. Well done, sir.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[riverman]

He looks creepily like Larry Bird in the 70s

 

[DUB]

From the Kings @ Us game thread:

Wait, so Stotts got his coaching start as an assistant under Karl?

I don't think it's too far fetched to suggest that Stotts got Karl to do him a favour, and say something to the media that Stotts couldn't. Light a fire under Dame, and get him out of his funk.

 

[ripcityboy]

Fuck George Carl. He's a bitter old has been who's criticizing the best thing to happen to this franchise since forever. Dame's having a tough time right now and needs to adjust. But he doesn't deserve to be thrown under bus by some blow hard trying to hock a ghost-written book.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Fuck George Carl. He's a bitter old has been who's criticizing the best thing to happen to this franchise since forever. Dame's having a tough time right now and needs to adjust. But he doesn't deserve to be thrown under bus by some blow hard trying to hock a ghost-written book.

Karl might be in the wrong, but the guy knows hoops.

 

[Nikolokolus]

From the Kings @ Us game thread:

I really doubt Stotts asked him to do that. You could tell Terry was pissed.

 

[ripcityboy]

Karl might be in the wrong, but the guy knows hoops.

I don't have a problem with him having a legitimate opinion. It's the manner in which he's communicating it. It reminds me of Joe Torre throwing all his players under the bus after the Yankees let him go. He had relationships with the team and he blew them up because he knew he was never going to coach again and was trying to sell a few books. Nobody cared because all the dirt was mostly about Clemens and Arod so people forgave him. But for somebody who was supposed to be a professional for so long and in a well paid job that a lot of people would like to have, Karl comes across as a dick. Just my own two cents. I just think it's cheap and cowardly. He burning bridges and he doesn't care what he says.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Karl probably is going on a bit of a "fuck it" tour. But I find it interesting why he chose Damian as a target? Maybe Stotts confided to him some frustrations privately and Karl was trying to "help out" -- Which didn't help at all.

 

[DUB]

I really doubt Stotts asked him to do that. You could tell Terry was pissed.

Or doing a very good job of pretending to be pissed off.

It's also possible that Karl acted on his own, without Stotts' knowledge; to do Stotts a favour, with the intention of motivating Dame.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Or doing a very good job of pretending to be pissed off.

It's also possible that Karl acted on his own, without Stotts' knowledge; to do Stotts a favour, with the intention of motivating Dame.

Possibly the latter, almost definitely not the former. A strained relationship with your star player, when you are 14-20 isn't a recipe for career stability.

 

[-Ace-]

There goes our chances of ever seeing Coby Karl in a Blazers uniform again.

 

[DUB]

Possibly the latter, almost definitely not the former. A strained relationship with your star player, when you are 14-20 isn't a recipe for career stability.

But it would only be strained if Dame found out.

 

[Nikolokolus]

But it would only be strained if Dame found out.

Damian isn't stupid. He probably knows that Karl and Stotts are close or at least friendly. Wouldn't your first instinct be to suspect that your coach had been privately bitching about you to an old associate and then that old friend, went out and blabbed?

 

[noknobs]

Or doing a very good job of pretending to be pissed off.

It's also possible that Karl acted on his own, without Stotts' knowledge; to do Stotts a favour, with the intention of motivating Dame.

No, sorry, we did land on the moon.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

Stotts and Karl had a disagreement and did not talk for years. I doubt they have any kind of relationship where they are talking at all.

 

[DUB]

Damian isn't stupid. He probably knows that Karl and Stotts are close or at least friendly. Wouldn't your first instinct be to suspect that your coach had been privately bitching about you to an old associate and then that old friend, went out and blabbed?

I would consider it, but isn't that scenario now in play even if Stotts did it or not? So all you're aiming for is plausible deniability.

 

[DUB]

No, sorry, we did land on the moon.

I agree.

I don't know much about US of A sports outside of the NBA, but managers/coaches in other sports pull this kind of stuff all the time. Jose Mourinho has a legion of favourable media to leak his spin.

 

[ripcityboy]

I agree.

I don't know much about US of A sports outside of the NBA, but managers/coaches in other sports pull this kind of stuff all the time. Jose Mourinho has a legion of favourable media to leak his spin.

Sports rags in other countries like England put things out of context that even American papers wouldn't touch. "What? The Mexican team manager threatens to kill somebody? Print it front page!" Wasn't the Daily Mail paying somebody to put beer bottles on Paul Gascoigne's doorstep when his sister was trying desperately to save him from drinking himself to death? If something like that came out in the US people would shit a brick. In Europe, people get miffed but then shrug their shoulders. American coaches have to be their own press agents because it goes with their job. The press core will turn on them at the slightest provocation. Do or say the wrong thing and they'll end up on explaining themselves on The View.

 

[riverman]

Karl might be in the wrong, but the guy knows hoops.

So does Stan Van Gundy but I can't stand to hear him talk about it

 

[riverman]

There goes our chances of ever seeing Coby Karl in a Blazers uniform again.

Idaho Stampede died before they could retire his and Luke Jackson's jerseys