George Karl

George Karl

George Karl (center)
Sacramento Kings
Position Head coach
League NBA
Personal information
Born May 12, 1951
Penn Hills, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight 185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school Penn Hills
(Penn Hills, Pennsylvania)
College North Carolina (1970–1973)
NBA draft 1973 / Round: 4 / Pick: 66th overall
Selected by the New York Knicks
Pro career 1973–1978
Position Guard
Number 22
Coaching career 1978–present
Career history
As player:
1973–1978 San Antonio Spurs (ABA/NBA)
As coach:
1978–1980 San Antonio Spurs (assistant)
1980–1983 Montana Golden Nuggets
1984–1986 Cleveland Cavaliers
1986–1988 Golden State Warriors
1988–1989 Albany Patroons
1989–1990 Real Madrid
1990–1991 Albany Patroons
1991–1992 Real Madrid
1992–1998 Seattle SuperSonics
1998–2003 Milwaukee Bucks
2005–2013 Denver Nuggets
2015–present Sacramento Kings
Career highlights and awards
Career ABA/NBA statistics
Points 1,703
Rebounds 369
Assists 795
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is the current head coach of the Sacramento Kings and former ABA and NBA player. On December 10, 2010, he became the seventh coach in NBA history to record 1,000 wins.

Biography

Karl was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. After a college career at the University of North Carolina he signed with the ABA's San Antonio Spurs in 1973. When the Spurs joined the NBA in 1976, Karl began his two-year NBA playing career.

Early coaching career

After his playing career, Karl became an assistant coach for the Spurs. Karl then moved on to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as head coach of the Montana Golden Nuggets (Great Falls). As coach of the Golden Nuggets, Karl won CBA Coach of the Year twice, in 1981 and 1983.

In 1984, Karl became the head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, taking them to the playoffs in 1985. He was dismissed by the Cavs in 1986 near the end of the season.

In the 1986–87 season, Karl coached the Golden State Warriors and took them from a record of 30–52 the year before, to the playoffs for the first time in ten years. They reached the semifinals against the Magic Johnson led Los Angeles Lakers, Game 4 of which is still shown on TV in the NBA's Greatest Games series. Sleepy Floyd hit 12 straight field goals in the fourth quarter that gave him two NBA playoff records (29 points in a quarter, 39 in a half) and finished with 51 points in Golden State's 129–121 win.

Karl resigned from the Warriors with 18 games left in the 1987–88 campaign, due to the frustration of losing when three of his top four scorers from the 1987 playoff team, including Floyd, had been traded, and the fourth went through alcohol rehabilitation and missed over a month.[1][2]

Karl returned to the CBA in 1988 as coach of the Albany Patroons for a year before coaching Real Madrid in Spain for two years.[3]

In 1990–91, Karl was back in the CBA with the Patroons where their 50–6 season, while winning all 28 home games, won coach Karl CBA coach of the year for the third time.[4]

Seattle

Karl returned to the NBA as coach of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1991–98, leading them to the NBA Finals in 1996 where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games. In all seven of his seasons in Seattle, the team made the postseason, winning three division titles, and eclipsing the 55-win mark in every year that he was coach for a full season.

Milwaukee and FIBA

In 1998, Karl moved to the Milwaukee Bucks as head coach, lured by a particularly lucrative contract offer. He helped rebuild a struggling organization in his first three years, steadily increasing win totals, and guiding the team within one game of the NBA Finals in 2001. However, his club collapsed down the stretch in 2002, falling from the top seed in the Eastern Conference in January to ninth place disqualification in mid-April. Bucks management fired Karl after the 2003 season, which saw the club make the playoffs with a win total just above the .500 mark.

He coached the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.[5]

Denver Nuggets

He returned to the NBA in 2005 when he became head coach of the Nuggets, taking over from interim head coach Michael Cooper on January 27 and leading the team to the postseason. On July 27, 2005 the Nuggets announced that Karl had prostate cancer. Karl enjoyed a resurrection of his career with the Nuggets, guiding them to an unprecedented 32–8 record in the second half of the 2004–05 season.

On December 28, 2006, Karl became just the 12th coach in NBA history to reach 800 wins when the Nuggets defeated the SuperSonics 112–98.

On December 31, 2008, Karl reached 900 coaching career wins with the Nuggets as they beat the Toronto Raptors 114–107.

During the 2008–09 season, the Nuggets, led by Karl, Carmelo Anthony, and the newly acquired Chauncey Billups tied a franchise-best 54 wins and entered the playoffs as the Western Conference's #2 seed. On April 27, 2009, the Nuggets handed the Hornets a 58-point loss during Game 4 of their first round playoff series. This tied the biggest margin in NBA playoff history[6] The Nuggets beat the Mavericks in 5 games during the semifinals, then went on to lose to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games, losing Game 6 by 27.[7]

Karl coached the Western Conference All-Stars at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game on February 14 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.[8] This was his fourth selection, and his first since leaving Seattle.

After the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, it was revealed in a press conference that Karl was diagnosed with treatable neck and throat cancer.[9] He was placed on leave of absence from the Nuggets while being treated. Assistant coach Adrian Dantley filled in as acting head coach for the rest of the season, and the team finished poorly, and went from the second to fourth seed. Although Karl was not ruled out of coaching the second round, the Nuggets were eliminated by the Utah Jazz in 6 games.[10]

He has since recovered from cancer and coached every game of the 2010–11 season, becoming the seventh NBA coach to record 1,000 career wins on December 10, 2010.

Having acquired Andre Iguodala in the 2012 offseason, many sports analysts listed the Denver Nuggets as contenders for the playoffs. The Nuggets ended as the third seed with the third best record in the Western Conference and the best home record in the league for the 2012–13 season. In the first round, they faced the sixth seed Golden State Warriors and won their first home game. After they lost the next three, Karl led them to another home win in Game 5, but the team eventually lost in Game 6. The series ended with the Nuggets losing 2–4.

On May 8, 2013, Karl was awarded his first NBA Coach of the Year Award. The team won a franchise-record 57 games despite being the league's third-youngest team with an average age of 24.9 years, and without any player averaging over 16.7 points per game during the regular season.[11][12]

Entering the final season of his contract, Karl pushed the Nuggets for a contract extension. On June 6, 2013, he was fired by Denver.[12][13] He left the Nuggets with a 423-257 record, which was the second most wins in franchise history behind Doug Moe (432). He led Denver to the playoffs in all nine seasons, but advanced out of the first round only once, in 2009, when they lost in the conference finals.[12][14]

Sacramento Kings

On February 12, 2015, after several weeks of talks and speculation, Karl agreed to a deal to become the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, signing a four-year, $15 million contract.[15][16] He was officially introduced by the Kings on February 17.[17]

Personal

Karl's son, Coby, played as a starting point guard for Boise State, and has since played in the NBA and other leagues. Coby Karl is a thyroid cancer survivor.[18] Karl also has two daughters, Kelci and Kaci.[19]

Philanthropy

Karl is an avid supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and serves as an ambassador for their Hoops for St. Jude basketball initiative.[20]

NBA coaching record

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win-loss %
Post season PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win-loss %
TeamYearGWLW–L%FinishPGPWPLPW–L%Result
CLE 1984–85 823646.4394th in Central413.250 Lost in First Round
CLE 1985–86 672542.373(fired)———— —
GSW 1986–87 824240.5123rd in Pacific1046.400 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
GSW 1987–88 641648.250(fired)———— —
SEA 1991–92 422715.6434th in Pacific945.444 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
SEA 1992–93 825527.6712nd in Pacific19109.526 Lost in Conf. Finals
SEA 1993–94 826319.7681st in Pacific523.400 Lost in First Round
SEA 1994–95 825725.6952nd in Pacific413.250 Lost in First Round
SEA 1995–96 826418.7801st in Pacific21138.619 Lost in NBA Finals
SEA 1996–97 825725.6951st in Pacific1266.500 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
SEA 1997–98 826121.744T-1st in Pacific1046.400 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
MIL 1998–99 502822.5604th in Central303.000 Lost in First Round
MIL 1999–00 824240.5125th in Central523.400 Lost in First Round
MIL 2000–01 825230.6341st in Central18108.250 Lost in Conf. Finals
MIL 2001–02 824141.5005th in Central———— Missed NBA Playoffs
MIL 2002–03 824240.5124th in Central624.333 Lost in First Round
DEN 2004–05 40328.8002nd in Northwest514.200 Lost in First Round
DEN 2005–06 824438.5371st in Northwest514.200 Lost in First Round
DEN 2006–07 824537.5492nd in Northwest514.200 Lost in First Round
DEN 2007–08 825032.6102nd in Northwest404.000 Lost in First Round
DEN 2008–09 825428.6591st in Northwest16106.625 Lost in Conf. Finals
DEN 2009–10 825329.6461st in Northwest624.250 Lost in First Round
DEN 2010–11 825032.6442nd in Northwest514.200 Lost in First Round
DEN 2011–12 663828.5762nd in Northwest734.429 Lost in First Round
DEN 2012–13 825725.6952nd in Northwest624.333 Lost in First Round
SAC 2014–15 301119.3674th in Northwest---– Missed Playoffs
Career 19151142773.596 18580105.432

See also

References

External links