Recently-deposed Nuggets coach George Karl unloaded on his former bosses in a sit-down with Denver Post reporter Benjamin Hochman.
After leading the franchise to a club-record 57 wins, which earned Karl Coach of the Year honours, he was fired last week in a move that shocked the NBA community.
When he was informed of the decision, Karl told team president Josh Kroenke, “I think I should tell you, I think it’s very stupid.”
Karl was asked to explain what his relationship was with the front office, including Kroenke and former general manager Masai Ujiri, who left the Nuggets just days before Karl was fired to take up a similar posting with the Toronto Raptors.
“What I’ve loved about being here is with (the different front office regimes) I felt we were all equal. This year, after the trade deadline, all of a sudden, I felt like Masai and Josh were over here, and I didn’t feel very equal,” Karl said.
He was asked to explain what he meant when he said “feel equal.”
“In the past, Stan (Kroenke, the team owner) would listen to all of us. I know I can be fired and the voices behind closed doors can be against me. But this year, I just felt that at the end, for a team that had so much success, unity and karma, I felt that Masai and Josh drifted into a direction that was difficult to understand,” Karl explained.
Karl then attempted to provide an example of the divide he felt growing between the coaching staff and the front office.
“It’s hard to say. It’s just communication, them getting mad about what I said in the paper more often than makes sense. Snippy texts about things.”
Karl believes that the Nuggets were on the path to success and that the firing would disrupt the chemistry the team had built “and to blow up that connection is, in my opinion, extremely disrespectful to coaching.”
