Nuggets coach George Karl said he has appreciated the way assistant coach Mike Dunlap handled the business of coaching the team and fielding calls from colleges interested in his services.
“He’s been upfront and honest … Nothing has caught us by surprise,” Karl said. “He always brings stuff to (vice president of basketball operations) Mark (Warkentien) and I before it happens. We don’t want to limit him, but we want him with us.”
With a number of coaching vacancies along the Front Range and out of state, Dunlap has been a wanted man. However, he said he is “not pursuing one job right now. Those people are calling me. I will not pursue a job, per se. If someone wants to talk to me, I’ve been open to everybody that’s called.”
Karl believes Dunlap “didn’t really want” the Colorado job.
“I hate talking for him, but my feeling is he came here to learn,” Karl said. “He’s been impressed by how much he has learned, and he wants to continue to do that.”
Dunlap wouldn’t rule out a return to college coaching but said he’s enjoyed his season with the Nuggets so far.
“I have entertained the University of Colorado, so obviously college is something that is easy for me, or easier,” Dunlap said. “But I’m certainly smitten with the NBA and Coach Karl and the staff and the players. I’ve enjoyed it. As witnessed by this, I’m not in a rush to leave it.”
In the semantics
Karl and the Nuggets’ coaching staff have tried to make things clearer for players by simplifying terminology.
The latest is a Dunlap-influenced change on defense from “early rotator” to “third defender” in describing who helps out in screen-and-roll situations.
“The whole thing is the amount of mixture that we’ve had with the trades and lineups and young players,” Karl said. “You don’t know what teams, what units, what plays work with them. And then you get (Allen Iverson), who offensively likes different things. It sounds like little stuff, but in the end the mixture of your ingredients is (important).”
Footnotes
A technical foul Iverson received Sunday in Sacramento was rescinded after the guard appealed the call. Monday, Iverson commended the NBA for its ruling. “A lot of people talk about things not being fair when it comes to this league and different rules and the way things are. … I feel myself that some things aren’t fair. But just them overturning it like that, it was fair.” … Guard J.R. Smith (knee) played in his first game since March 6. He scored three points in 15 minutes and was 1-for-6 from the field. Said Smith: “It’s good. … I can backpedal. I can cut. I can do a lot more things out there than before.”
