George Karl will get out of the NBA’s doghouse one game earlier than expected.
The Nuggets coach still must miss the first two games of the regular season – Tuesday at San Antonio and the following night at home against the Los Angeles Lakers. But the NBA announced Tuesday that it reduced his suspension from three games to two, allowing him to make his season debut Nov. 4 against Portland.
The league suspended Karl this past summer and fined the franchise $200,000 after the coach broke league rules by attending a predraft workout at Marquette University. Among the participants was Utah lottery pick Deron Williams. Karl has maintained that he was there only to watch his son, Coby Karl, who plays for Boise State.
“I don’t deny I was shocked by the length of it, the amount of the fine,” Karl said of his original punishment. “It was my fault. I broke the rule. I made the mistake. The thing is, I was celebrating the season. I’d been out of the league a couple of years. All of those things are rationalizations, but they’re honest, happy rationalizations. Then, to be slapped with a severe fine, it was shocking. I understand what the league’s trying to do. The league’s trying to stay in control of certain situations they think are very important.”
Karl thanked Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, and Indiana coach Rick Carlisle and Michael Goldberg, who are president and executive director of the NBA Coaches Association, respectively, for their behind- the-scenes work in getting the penalty reduced. The NBA did not issue an explanation of why it reduced the penalty.
In a recent interview, NBA commissioner David Stern explained the original punishment and tweaked Karl for another run-in he had with the league last season for wearing a throwback jersey to coach a game.
“Our fines and penalties tend to me incremental based on earlier ones, letting people know exactly what the standards are,” he said. “I think we set a clear standard of behavior. This was a no-no. It doesn’t change the fact that George is one of my favorite people and my idol as a dresser.”
Assistant coach Scott Brooks will coach Denver’s first two games. Brooks coached the the Nuggets’ preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers last Thursday and will handle Denver’s final preseason game, Friday at Utah.
“The game I didn’t coach in L.A. was very uncomfortable,” Karl said. “I’m sure all of them are going to be. It’s tough to feel. You want to be relaxed. You want to be intense. I don’t know what to be.”
He will not be allowed to attend either the Spurs or Lakers games. Asked what he would do, Karl said, “Maybe I should go drink beers.”
He later added San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich might help. “I have a lot of friends in San Antonio. I’m sure Pop will send me a couple of bottles of wine.”
Footnotes
Swingman Bryon Russell has a torn medial meniscus with a defect on the tibia of his left knee that will require surgery, tentatively scheduled for next week. Karl said Russell might need over a month to rehabilitate. Russell is not a lock to make the team, though Denver could still hold on to him. League rules require teams to pay injured players until they are deemed fit to play again. Since Russell’s contract is not guaranteed, the Nuggets could cut him to give another player their final roster spot, but his salary would likely count against their salary cap. …
Center Marcus Camby practiced Tuesday and said he felt well enough to do so again today. He has been bothered with a sore foot. Kenyon Martin was limited again as he recovers from his surgically repaired left knee. “I’m not sure any of our bigs, any of our starting bigs, are ready to play 30, 35 minutes,” Karl said.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears contributed to this report.
Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
