Between the Nuggets’ on-court and front-office chaos, and worrying about his son’s battle with cancer, coach George Karl has seen enough to openly question his future. A day after his team’s playoff exit, Karl would not guarantee his return next season.
While he emphasized Tuesday that he remained emotional after the Nuggets’ Game 5 loss and still hungers to win a championship, he said there was a “slim chance” he might not come back.
“I’m not doing this for the money anymore,” he said as players cleaned out their lockers at the Pepsi Center. “I’m doing this for my lifestyle and my life love. I don’t think I fell in love this year.”
Karl is also fretting over his son, Coby, who this week is undergoing another round of radiation treatments in his battle against thyroid cancer.
Talking about his basketball team didn’t brighten Karl’s mood.
“Winning became a relief rather than exhilaration,” he said. “I don’t want to live a life of relief. I want to live a life of feeling good. Maybe that’s the NBA. Maybe that’s just where I’m at.”
Karl’s return could depend on what happens next with forward Kenyon Martin, whom Karl suspended for the final three playoff games after Martin’s halftime outburst directed at the coach during the Nuggets’ Game 2 loss. Martin did not attend a brief, season-ending players meeting Karl held Tuesday. If the two are to reconcile, the coach said it likely will be after a few weeks so both can cool down.
At that point, Karl said he hopes to have a long talk with his forward, who battled pain in his left knee most of the season and is under contract for $71.9 million for the next five years. Martin could not be reached for comment.
Asked what he would have done differently this season, Karl did not talk about how he handled his team, which appeared to fracture during the playoffs, but what personnel the team needs – particularly more shooters.
Forward Carmelo Anthony and center Marcus Camby talked openly after the Game 5 loss about discontent in the locker room.
“It was obvious guys didn’t want to be here,” Camby said.
On Tuesday Camby praised Karl’s coaching ability but said players became frustrated.
“He knows the game so well,” Camby said. “(But) he had a hard time of guys buying into his system. Some guys were frustrated. They didn’t know if they were playing or not. I think a lot of guys didn’t know their roles.”
Karl acknowledged the team’s chemistry problems, which blew open during the playoffs.
“The frustration of Melo and Marcus is we all want players who want to be here, who want to be committed to being a Denver Nugget family,” he said. “Why we didn’t get that done this year, I have no idea. I don’t want to point fingers or blame anybody, but I got back into the game to get back into the gym, to get back with a basketball family.
“And this year’s family was a little dysfunctional.”
Anthony said after Monday’s loss that he needed to sit down with Karl in the offseason to talk about getting players in Denver who want to be on the team. He did not make himself available to the media Tuesday.
Karl’s first major on-court offseason issue appears to be finding peace with Martin, already the subject of heavy trade speculation. Karl spoke only conditionally about Martin playing in Denver next season.
“I want Kenyon Martin healthy, for him and maybe for the Denver Nuggets,” Karl said. “It’s got to be a mutual agreement.”
The coach said he hopes Martin gets “mentally and physically healthy,” at which point a decision can be made on his future. “Then we can figure out if he wants to be with us, if we want him with us,” Karl said. “If he doesn’t, we work on that.”
Martin was not the only Nugget to battle Karl this postseason. Forward Ruben Patterson criticized Karl over Martin’s suspension and after a Game 4 loss Saturday argued with Karl over his lack of playing time. Karl did not play Patterson in Game 5, partly as punishment and partly because he wanted more shooters in the game, Karl said. Patterson declined comment on his benching.
Karl, in his first full season as Nuggets coach, pointed to plenty of successes, including Anthony’s improvement, the contributions of role players such as Greg Buckner and Francisco Elson and a Northwest Division title during a season with more injuries than the coach said he had ever seen.
But the positives were shaded in a season that most experts forecast the Nuggets making a run at becoming one of the elite teams in the Western Conference.
Camby called the team’s performance “a big step back.”
Forward Eduardo Najera said, “Chemistry-wise, boy, we didn’t look very good.”
General manager Kiki Vandeweghe added, “The team, I don’t think, ever really jelled the way people anticipated, although I still think this is a very talented team.”
Camby and Najera expressed hope that Karl would return.
“I really like him as a coach,” Najera said. “I really like him as a person. I know that he has a good heart and he has great intentions for his players. I’m talking about everybody, even K-Mart. (Karl has) been trying to talk to him at all times. Like I said, right now he’s really stressed out. You’ve got to give him a couple of weeks to relax and think back to all the positive things we did this year.”
Despite a late-season swoon and the poor playoff showing, Karl said he viewed the season as a good one. He shrugged when it was suggested that elements of the NBA have gone seriously adrift, with the discontent that abounds.
“I think most people think the pendulum’s swinging toward insane behavior,” he said. “As a coach, you want to have an ability to have a team that shows the world they’re drifting toward sanity. This team, I don’t think people would say it was drifting toward sanity.”
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at
303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
