SEATTLE — As soon as Adrian Dantley’s name was mentioned in the pregame head coaches’ news conference, Nuggets coach George Karl beamed.
“I think we all know where he is, and I’m very happy about that,” Karl said. “I’m very proud of him.”
That place is San Antonio, where today the Nuggets assistant coach will be announced as part of the 2008 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Dantley found out Thursday. “He’s a funny cat, because he didn’t want to take the phone call because he thought he was going to get rejected again,” Karl said. “I kept saying: ‘Tell him to take the phone call! It’s gonna be a yes!’ ”
Dantley never has been shy about talking about his apprehension to answering the phone when the Hall calls.
“Every time around the last week of March, I start feeling kind of funny, seeing whether they are going to say yea or nay,” Dantley said in an interview with The Post in February. “It’s a weird feeling when the guys say, ‘Sorry you didn’t make it, you’re eligible for next year.’ . . . The last couple of years I haven’t even answered my phone.”
But this time he did. And the answer was yes. Karl told the team Friday.
“It was a good moment for the team,” Karl said. “The team enjoyed it when we found out about it.”
Dantley played 15 years in the NBA for the Buffalo Braves, Jazz, Pistons, Pacers, Lakers, Mavericks and Bucks, and finished as the league’s ninth career leading scorer with 23,177 points when he retired in 1991. He shot 54 percent from the field for his career.
He led the league in scoring in 1980-81 and 1983-84 with averages of 30.7 and 30.6 points, respectively. He was most known for his years with the Jazz, from 1979-86. The Jazz retired his jersey last season.
Nene no-no.
Nene did not play Sunday because of a strained right groin. He is day to day.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
