The George Karl lynch mob is shopping for rope
“To the “fire George Karl” crowd, elimination and the hands of Golden State would be a definite final straw. A decent percentage of Nuggets fans fall into that camp already. If Karl can’t motivate his team to take down the six seed many, many more will join the lynch mob.“
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It’s still too early to say whether or not the Denver Nuggets will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs again. Last nights blowout loss to the Warriors was definitely not a good sign, though. Nuggets fans have grown weary of early playoff terminations and are understandably skittish. Fool me once, fool me twice…
To the “fire George Karl” crowd, elimination and the hands of Golden State would be a definite final straw. A decent percentage of Nuggets fans fall into that camp already. If Karl can’t motivate his team to take down the six seed many, many more will join the lynch mob.
The National perspective on the Denver Nuggets is that they have far exceeded expectations already. For a team with no superstars and nobody being paid a “max contract”, the team has performed admirably. There’s no denying the fact that this regular season was the finest in franchise history. For people outside the Denver market the frequent criticism of George Karl by Denver fans is baffling. But to people who have been down this road with Karl year after year the constant failures to advance is maddening.
Every aspect of the Nuggets has been reshaped over and over again across the past few seasons – except the man they call coach. Karl has been the sole constant in a constantly aggravating pattern of regular season success followed by post-season failure.
If the Nuggets were to once again fail to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs there would be a loud and clear call for a change at the head coaching position – and it would be justified. Perhaps nobody can name a specific person who could do a better job (besides Phil Jackson), but the idea that Karl’s leadership has stagnated would be tough to debate. The Nuggets would be in a position where a case could finally be made for change just for the sake of change.
The best fans can hope for is that the Nuggets rediscover their aggressiveness and topple the Warriors. Then all sins will be forgivable moving forward. Nobody is going to call for George Karl’s head because he lost to the Spurs in round two. If that were to happen Nuggets fans could assume the “there’s always next year” position that they have grown accustomed to. But, if this team does lose to the Warriors, there may not be a next year for Coach Karl.
