George Karl has won 1,000 NBA games. The rebel has gone legitimate.
For much of his coaching career, Karl has been the outsider, the fighter. He was notorious for scrambling the game defensively. He appeared to take perverse joy in criticizing his own players publicly. He had his fights with management, he quit one job in frustration and he even moved to Spain to coach Real Madrid for a couple of years when he needed the work.
He was a terrific coach—18 straight years for three NBA franchises without a losing season speaks for itself. Yet, upon the high platform shared by the six others who have won at least 1,000 NBA games, Karl has usually been seen as the edgy one.
Often he seemed to be arguing for respect. He framed his complaints as if he was defending the principles of the game itself. He wanted to win a championship as badly as anyone, and yet he refused to allow his standing to be relegated by that lonesome failure of his career. He acted like a candidate for burnout but here he stands now, 59 years old and suddenly an unmistakably inspirational figure.
Karl fought another battle with cancer last season, and recovered fr ...
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Elite Company: Nuggets’ Coach George Karl Joins 1,000 Wins Club
December 10th, 2010 by NFL Guru Leave a reply »
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