Tag: George Karl

Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio shocks with Trump-flavored tweet

Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio stunned on Twitter with a Trump-flavored tweet.

Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio came out swinging Tuesday night on Twitter.

The former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders made clear his feelings on the United States of America in a tweet.

This evoked a response from another coach, basketball’s George Karl.

 

Anyone who has been around George Karl …

Anyone who has been around George Karl would tell you he’s not one to keep his opinions to himself. That hasn’t always gone over well with the players he’s coached, but Karl’s candor is a reason any conversation with him is never dull. So, it’s no surprise that whether it’s through his podcast, “Truth + Basketball with George Karl,” which he co-hosts with Brett Goldberg, or in conversation, Karl is forthcoming about his thoughts on the NBA and the world.

“When I started the podcast ‘Truth + …

“When I started the podcast ‘Truth + Basketball’ I thought it was just a title, but what I’ve enjoyed over the 15 or 16 episodes that we’ve done is I think the fans want a little more truth instead of a two- or three-minute blurb on the radio or a Twitter account,” Karl told The Athletic. “I didn’t want to blow up anybody, I just wanted to tell the truth and tell it from my side of the story. There are some people who like it and some people who don’t like it. I think it’s good to have the truth out there from my standpoint and let it be what it is.”

Karl, who last coached in the NBA in …

Karl, who last coached in the NBA in 2016 with Sacramento, talked about his time with the Kings, the state of the NBA, the country and more. He was as candid about his time with the King, as he was on a recent podcast discussing his 112-game stint as coach, which started with the final 30 games of the 2014-15 season. He had no idea the wackiness he was stepping into when he accepted the job. There were already rumblings there would be conflict before Karl arrived, because late-agent Dan Fegan, a known Karl antagonist, represented Kings star DeMarcus Cousins. Fegan had clashed with the Kings’ front office over its treatment of Cousins and how it was going to best help Cousins win. Fegan didn’t believe hiring Karl would work. Fegan’s business partner, Jarinn Akana, was on Denver’s coaching staff when Karl was hired in 2005. Karl did not keep Akana on staff. That relationship was said to be the reason Karl was not hired sooner. When contacted, Cousins declined to comment.

Still, Karl wasn’t prepared for what …

Still, Karl wasn’t prepared for what Sacramento had become as a franchise. “I never ever thought there would be that much drama almost on a daily basis,” Karl said. “It feels like the motivation was to talk about someone else’s job and not do your job. The organization had so many people that wanted to talk about coaching or talk about the weight program or wanted to talk about this or that. The thing was just let us do our job. And everybody instead of being paranoid, being defensive about doing their job, let us do our job. And I don’t think it ever got to that point.”

Nor did Karl ever get to a point where …

Nor did Karl ever get to a point where he and Cousins were on the same page. Karl owns his part in that relationship being fractured. It began during a late-season media session when Karl was discussing ways to improve the team in the future. “I’ve said it many times,” Karl said. “I commented on not being smart enough to say DeMarcus wasn’t tradeable. I think that was the biggest mistake.”

“I’ve had some great players and I’ve …

“I’ve had some great players and I’ve never had one player that I have said is untradeable,” Karl told the Sacramento media at the time. “You always got to be ready for the possibility of a great trade that could come your way.” That statement didn’t sit well with the players, specifically Cousins or his agent, who had issues with the coaching legend in the past. Karl would later apologize for the comment, but not before trying to move his star player during the summer, which Walberg confirmed during the taping of the podcast. “The thought was maybe to try to do what we did in Denver when they flipped Carmelo, that changed Denver pretty big time,” Walberg explained. “See if there is somebody out there that would want to flip DeMarcus.” According to Walberg, then general manager Pete D’Alessandro was in the room for the discussion. He would leave the Kings organization shortly thereafter and made it known, at least to his new employers in Denver, that Cousins was on the block.