The first thing to know about Coby Karl is that he looks at the 4-inch scar that stretches across the front of his lower neck as a conversation piece.
But to others who listen more closely, the scar isn’t just an ornament but a reminder that Karl is a cancer survivor.
“I kind of enjoy the fact that scars make a person,” Karl said. “It’s another story to tell. I can act like I’m tough because I survived it.”
Karl was at his first official NBA workout session Wednesday for the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, along with seven other NBA hopefuls. It came less than two weeks after his father, Nuggets coach George Karl, gave him a pep talk, at a time when Coby’s recovery from thyroid cancer treatment seemed to be lagging.
“There wasn’t anything he said specifically, but he’s a rock of motivation for me,” Coby Karl said. “He has a weird way of getting your mind out of the (dumps). I wasn’t prepared to feel sick and out of it. Once I started getting into basketball again, I realized my body still was able to do it. You start building confidence and you get the cockiness you had before.”
Coby Karl can talk about his fight with cancer, but he’s looking ahead to a future in basketball. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 17.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a junior at Boise State this past season. He has not hired an agent, so he’s eligible to withdraw his name from the draft by the June 18 deadline and return for his senior year.
“I was a little nervous and excited to be on the floor today with players like this,” Karl said. “I was fortunate to have a cancer that is curable and caught at a decent stage. My doctors have given me every impression it won’t affect my life span. I appreciate things a lot more.”
As a father, George Karl would like to see Coby return for his senior season. But as a coach, he believes Coby can play at a higher level.
“He’s a winner,” George said. “He feels the game more than he thinks the game. He has instinctive reads and senses that not a lot of basketball players have.”
The elder Karl said he would like to coach Coby in the pros.
“He’d get the most out of me,” Coby said. “It might be easier to play for someone else, but it wouldn’t be better.”
Monarch grad struggles
Forward Louis Amundson, out of Monarch High School in Louisville, also worked out. The 6-9 Amundson played inside for UNLV but would be used more as a wing if he makes the NBA. Amundson said he has not been happy with his individual workouts; the Nuggets were his fifth.
“It might be nerves, but I don’t think I’m playing like I want to,” he said. “I need to improve my shooting.”
Let’s get together
George Karl hopes to begin player meetings as early as this week and have them completed by the June 28 draft. He offered no timetable for sitting down with disgruntled forward Kenyon Martin, who was suspended during the playoffs for conduct detrimental to the team.
“I’m not necessarily going to make a flight to China to see Andre (Miller), or Carmelo (Anthony) or Kenyon or whoever,” Karl said. “I’m going to fit everyone into my schedule. We still have plenty of time to start talking about next year.”
Footnotes
Former Nuggets general manger Kiki Vandeweghe wouldn’t comment on whether he had been contacted by Portland about its vacant GM position. “I would not speculate on that,” Vandeweghe said Wednesday. Portland did not renew the contract of general manager John Nash this week. … The NBA announced the Nuggets will play Golden State in a preseason game Oct. 14 in Monterrey, Mexico.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
