NBA Coach of the Year George Karl -- Fired

Slightly different situation with Arians...

I'm sure there's some NHL coach who was fired pretty shortly after winning coach of the year... That league seems to have horrific job security. It's not much better in the NBA though...

 

Joe Girardi, Florida Marlins

Perhaps Kroenke thinks the Nuggets will need a lottery pick player in order to get to the top and they will never land in the lottery with Karl as coach.

 

At least Del Negro being fired made sense because it was written that Chris Paul didn't want to play for him...

I'm actually surprised D'Antoni hasn't been canned.

 

The Lakers like to make their coaching changes a week into the season.

 

What's the word on Karl's health of late? I hadn't been paying real close attention. Obviously he felt it was good enough he WANTED to keep coaching next season.

 

Did the Kroenkes sell the Nuggets to the Monforts and not tell the Denver Post or anyone else?

Seriously ... dumb ... used to be the Rockies were the joke of Denver. Then the Avs. Now the Nuggets.

 

What do you expect from a guy who, a few years ago, was so unconfident about his team making the playoffs, he booked the WWE into his arena months before, only to have to tell them at the very last minute that his team had a playoff game the same night.

 

If you're going to fire a coach, especially one who has been successful, you had better make sure the person you hire is an upgrade.

You see too much of firing Jon Gruden and replacing him with Raheem Morris or firing Mike Shanahan and replacing him with Josh McDaniels... Moves like that are just idiotic.

If the Nuggets can get Shaw, fine... But they probably can't. So, in all likelihood, they're going to be worse next year and look like idiots for getting rid of the coach of the year...

Also, not winning a title does not carry the level of shame with it in the NBA that it does in the NFL. When it's the same seven teams that have been winning titles for the last 25 years with maybe 1-2 exceptions (Mavericks), those titles can be pretty hard to come by if you're not coaching a team that is in Chicago, Boston, LA, Miami, Detroit, or a Spurs team that in their last three trips to the lottery have gotten two No. 1 picks and a No. 3 pick.

 

Davey Johnson was fired the day he won Manager of the Year, 1998.

 

Of those teams, the Lakers won it, essentially with 2 different teams possibly 3 depending on how you look at it. A team with Magic and a team with Kobe. Or a team with Magic, a team with Kobe and Shaq, a team with Kobe without Shaq.

Boston won it with 2 different teams. With Bird, without Bird.

Miami has Wade and Shaq, Wade and LeBron. essentially 2 different teams with a common star.

San Antonio's 4 wins all had Duncan and Pop.
Chicago: Jordan, Pip and Phil
Detroit had the same core and coach
Houston same core.

The Lakers adapted and rebuilt thru 2 1/2 iterations, Boston did it twice but only 1 Championship for the 2nd iteration. SA built around Robinson then around Duncan, though he's the common thread.

As much as the NBA is a superstar oriented league, plenty of superstars go without a championship. Al Maquire was essentially correct. Basketball is like an aircraft carrier, you need the one huge piece, but you need all the accompanying pieces too. LA has been able to do consistently. and that's about it since 1980.