George Karl Discusses Carmelo Anthony’s Suspension

March 3, 2009
by Jeremy

George Karl has spoken with the Denver Post’s Benjamin Hochman (who is the go to guy for Nuggets news right now) and shared the events that took place that resulted in Carmelo Anthony’s suspension.  As we surmised from the game it was indeed at the timeout with 1:13 left in the quarter and reportedly it was due to the fact that Melo felt like he was finally heating up.  

The players do not sound very thrilled that they will be facing a tough opponent in a negative environment.  Some interesting quotes from the article include the following:

Asked if the suspension shows the players that the coach is in charge, forward Kenyon Martin said: “I guess that’s what they’re trying to prove.”

Will it work?

“I don’t know,” Martin said. “We’ll see. I hope it doesn’t affect anything that we have built so far this year. But you never know. Only time will tell. I hope it doesn’t.”

and:

Asked if the suspension was fair, Billups said: “I’m not going to speak on the fairness of it, but definitely there’re always rules to everything. He knows he made a mistake. I don’t think he was doing it to say ‘screw the team’. He was doing it because he wanted in the basketball game. There’s a fine line between that. There’s rules to everything and punishment to every rule. But he’s taking it with a grain of salt and he’s going to be fine. It’s something that I’m sure he wishes he didn’t do.”

The Nuggets can go two different directions on this.  Realize that George Karl is in charge and put forth a strong effort tonight or feel sorry for themselves and let this situation produce a negative impact on the remainder of the season.

Posted on March 3, 2009 at 2:00 pm | filed in News | 3 Comments
  • Nuggets4

    I’m slowly nearing the conclusion that we need to get rid of both Melo and Karl this off-season.

  • Stumbleweed

    Melo’s not excused for disobeying the coach by any means… but this is just another reason to show George the door after this season… his rotations and defensive scheme (if you can call it that) are the main reasons, of course.

  • Othe33

    Now that all of this has been developed and fleshed out by the media, it is hauntingly similar to the “beef” that GK and Kmart had a few years back. Things start to go wrong with the team, and it seems like George feels he has to be authoritative to make a point. I just don’t understand it.

    I can understand the benching from the organizational perspective. You can’t have players undermining the coach, regardless of the player or the situation. Rex Chapman’s comments on the topic are right on – citing a violation of team policy and leaving it at that. Very professional.

    Karl, however, loves a tape recorder in his face. I don’t understand airing locker room issues in the media. How can that help the team, the franchise, or the player involved? Instead of being reprimanded by the team behind closed doors and being given the privacy to recognize his mistake, Carmelo is now (fairly) pissed about his mistake being thrown in his face every time he comes to the gym.

    Once again, I’d like to point out that the truly top-level coaches in the league would never have taken this to the media. Pop, Sloan…no chance. That is why they’re respected in such a way that a player would never disagree with their decision.

    Is it a coincidence that all of this has occurred while the Nuggets have taken a serious turn towards the 8 seed? Not at all. Regardless of who’s fault it is, this team is losing it’s rudder and moving backwards. It’s hard to watch as a fan, that’s for sure.


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