“You must work a lot,” George Karl quipped to the golfer, whose tee shot at 15 went sailing toward 16.
The Nuggets’ coach was the honorary chair of Monday’s Hope Invitational, played at The Club at Pradera near Parker and hosted by the American Cancer Society. At the par-3 15th, Karl bet foursomes that if nobody’s tee shot hit within a “flagstick’s distance” of the hole, they must make a $100 donation to the ACS. But if someone’s shot did, they got $100 out of Karl’s pocket.
Sure enough, another member of the man’s foursome hit a brilliant drive near the pin, and Karl regrettably handed the man a $100 bill.
Monday indeed was a fun day, and The Denver Post’s Benjamin Hochman caught up with Karl to talk links, Lakers and the coach’s contract.
Q: You’re under contract for one more season. Has the team talked to you yet about a contract extension?
A: There are whispers. There was excitement and conversation, but the exact policy of what they’re planning on doing, I can’t say I know what that is.
Q: Is this correct — you would hope you could get an extension this summer, but you don’t know if that’s going to happen for sure?
A: I think there’s a possibility of that happening. For me to address that is unfair. It’s their choice. But the decision has an impact — upon me, upon my staff, upon some of the players, upon the philosophy of what is the future game plan. I’ll be honest with you, the challenges that we have overcome and what we’ve pushed the team to, to make a change now or to play philosophical musical chairs, I think, would be very confusing to a lot of people.
Q: You’ve told me before that you’d love to end your career in Denver.
A: I love Denver. I think I’ll live in Denver even (after). I think I have one more four- to six-year stint of being involved (with basketball). Is that all coaching? That can only be determined by the stress — how you handle it, your health and all that stuff. I would like, after I coach, to have an opportunity to be a management guy. I love the game that much.
Q: What have you been told about (center) Nene’s left forearm, injured in the final game?
A: He broke the lower bone in his arm, and it will take time to heal. It’s probably going to be something he can’t really push, but he’ll be fine for training camp.
Q: Will he play for the Brazilian national team this summer?
A: No, I don’t think so.
Q: J.R. Smith improved last season. You’ve said he will likely start next season. But whether it’s as a starter or playing starter’s minutes, what does he need to do more consistently?
A: I think all great talents, from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant, it’s developing how to be a special talent, with the team always being the most important thing. The “team-ness” when Chauncey Billups got here, or just the general changes we made with team being first, it has to continue to grow. It has to continue to be the factor. When you have great individual offense scorers like Carmelo (Anthony) and J.R., those are guys who sometimes break away from that arena. J.R., we know that we’ve got to put up with some of his craziness and wildness, but the more he becomes team-efficient, the better he’ll become as an all-star type player.
Q: What will it take to become the best team in the Western Conference?
A: I think it’s continuing the commitment to the culture of playing the right way. You have five, six young kids — from Melo to Nene to J.R. to Renaldo Balkman — that can get better, substantially better. Our veteran guys have to stay in shape and stay committed. They’re not the guys who are going to spend a lot of time in the gym, but they’ve got to come back in great shape and understand that we’ve got to go a couple more wins than 54 to get to where we want to go next year. They all understand the power of the home- court advantage in the playoffs. And the second thing is being more of a mature team at the end of games and understanding fourth- quarter basketball a little bit more. I think we were good at that in the regular season, but not in the playoffs. . . . There will always be thoughts toward tinkering, and we do have free agents we’ve got to figure out. Sustaining will be harder than people think it is. We didn’t make a little step, we made a double-step.
Q: Tell me about this golf event. What makes it so special for you, especially as a cancer survivor?
A: The ACS came to me three or four years ago, and I thought it was just a perfect fit. My gut has always been to do charitable work for children, and now I do work for cancer research and children. I’ve befriended a lot of people who know a lot about the cancer society and the history of it. They have funded 42 Nobel Prize winners. Everybody’s excited this year, probably more than ever, because President (Barack) Obama, in the $800 billion recovery bill he did, there was I think a $10-$12 billion grant to cancer. There are some good things about that. He promised he will double the endowment to the institute of cancer. I think we have a president who’s really committed. . . . For me, my thing is, I think every dollar raised by cancer societies should be doubled by the government.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
