This week saw the coaching tenure of former Denver Nuggets Head Coach George Karl come to an abrupt and somewhat shocking end. The Nuggets decided to part ways with the reigning NBA Coach of the Year recipient after leading the Nuggets franchise to a 57-25 record. Finishing third in the western conference is no easy task at all, but after multiple early playoff exits with the exception of 2009 where the Nuggets made a trip to the Western Conference Finals, it was time to part ways. Even though as previously stated he was awarded the Coach of the Year, on the contrast individual accolades mean nothing if come playoff time your team can’t get over the hump so to speak.
With the Nuggets looking for a new direction, and the hometown Sixers still having a vacant head coaching spot, would it not be intriguing to see George Karl on the bench leading our Sixers? Take into exception that he has coached in the better of the two conferences for almost a decade. He built the team from the ground up around NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony before his departure to the New York Knicks. He has a great knack for gaining the trust and respect of his players. The Sixers need a coach with discipline and a stern attitude and isn’t afraid to sit his players or relinquish starting minutes. He also made Denver an offensive scoring machine. They have consistently been one of the leagues top, if not best scoring teams. When watching the Sixers at times with the exception of Jrue the team seemed to live and die by the outside shot over the course of the season. They lacked that dominant rebounding and scoring in the post that other squads seems to take advantage of. (Somewhere Nikola Vucevic is laughing).
Even George Karl and his scouting were great. Taking players in the draft and bringing to top their potential. Names like Kenneth Faried, Ty Lawson, Jameer Nelson, just to name a few. He can with out a doubt tap that un-marked potential for Thaddeus Young or finally get Evan Turner to be that consistent scoring threat, The reason I mention offense is because the Nuggets team is fairly similar to the Sixers. Under George Karl last season the Nuggets didn’t have a player averaging over 16 points per game. The Sixers pretty much had that same avg. with Holiday averaging 19.0 ppg. Sixers defensively have to get much more improved but in being able to bring in a coach like a George Karl the Sixers can expect Karl to hire a marquee coaching staff. The Sixers sadly won’t be able to bring a marquee player without a marquee coach at the helm. I believe letting a coach like Karl slip away would be outright foolish. The people in black suits should be working the phone lines heavily to try and reel Karl in. He could be the one to really skyrocket this franchise to a new horizon of basketball supremacy in the east.
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