George Karl isn’t the biggest fan of New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.
That much is true based on an excerpt from Karl’s new book, Furious George. The legendary coach didn’t come up with the greatest impression of Anthony after they spent six years together in Denver.
Marc Berman of the New York Post captured some of the verbal beat down:
Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him,” Karl wrote. “He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.
He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal — probably every coach’s ideal — is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.
Karl also brought parenting into the equation.
Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man,” Karl wrote.
For context, Anthony’s father passed away when he was two years old.
It wasn’t all bad:
Karl wrote Anthony “was such a talented kid,’’ he could’ve “become the best defender at his position in the NBA.’’
Karl and Anthony always had an iffy relationship, which eventually fizzled when Anthony went to join the Knicks. Now Karl has a book out and some questionable lines about his former star player. Some will take it as tough love from a guy who cared for his player, others will say he took it too far with the father comments.
Both men have changed since their time in Denver. Anthony, though, will surely have something to say about this.
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