Don't You Hate Canada? (Or, How George Karl Saved the Nuggets)

Hopefully nobody remembers this, but a couple of weeks ago I wrote some predictions for the NCAA tourney.

On the plus side, I correctly called that North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan State and Louisville would all make the Final Four.

On the down side, that’s all a lie, except for North Carolina, and I think even a Canadian could’ve picked that one. I actually predicted Syracuse (which had a thrilling run all the way to the Somewhat Sixty-Four), Wake Forest (totally lost by the end of its Thanks-for-Coming Thirty-Two defeat), and Arizona to come out of their regionals.

Arizona deserves its own paragraph for the way they handled the end of that Illinois game. Wow. I don’t think anyone on that team had ever seen a full-court press before. You’d think head coach Bill Walsh would’ve run that one by ’em in practice a few times. The only Wildcat with any poise was Hassan Adams, who doesn’t let little things like the clock or scoreboard get to him. What mental toughness!

I filled out a bracket based on these, uh, “educated” guesses, entered it in ESPN.com’s Tourney Challenge, and currently reside safely in 1,671,698th place (I wish that was a joke).

Like Mark McGwire, I’m not here to talk about the past, but the point is, I’m not right all the time.

Yet I can’t remember being more wrong about a sports move than I’ve been about the Nuggets’ hiring of George Karl.

A year ago I was sitting in the newsroom of The World’s Greatest Newspaper when the topic of Jeff Bzdelik’s then-future but clearly inevitable firing came up. I asked one of the editors who exactly we’d get that would be better for the team, and he suggested Karl’s name.

I made a face. George Karl? Are you serious?

Hey, that’s just what they’re saying, he told me.

I always agreed with Charley Rosen, now with FOXSports.com, who calls Karl an “I won but they lost” type of coach who makes scapegoats out of his players. And he’s definitely butted heads with stars in the past.

Fortunately, I haven’t seen any of that in Denver (except when he publicly challenged Carmelo to play a little defense. All I can say to that is: Hallelujah!).

Instead, it’s been Karl’s willingness to set high standards that has saved the Nuggets’ playoff hopes.

An early-season skid finally gave Kiki Vandeweghe the excuse he craved to fire Bzdelik. So the Nuggets hired their resident coach-in-waiting, assistant Michael Cooper, who did nothing for the won-loss record but immediately improved our post-game interviews with his rambling stream-of-consciousness answers and a jawline straight out of Wallace & Gromit.

Vandeweghe finally got to hire the man he wanted (even if it was a year later than he wanted), and Karl has definitely turned things around. Even after last night’s loss to the Suns, the Nugs have won 14 of 16 since the All-Star break (with both losses coming against Phoenix).

How have the Nuggets done it?

Running: Just like the Broncos talk up their overpriced defensive acquisitions each year (and anything more than $5.50 an hour qualifies guys like Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown as overpaid), so the Nuggets annually talk a big game about pushing the pace at altitude.

But with the pickup of Karl, the Nuggets are actually doing it. The boys in baby blue have averaged 110.7 points in the eleven home games since the break. Credit Karl and assistant Doug Moe, who have finally brought movement back to Denver’s attack.

Defense: Just as notable has been the improvement in the Nuggets’ defensive energy. Part of that’s been the coaching staff’s emphasis on defense, but it’s also been the players-or, rather, who’s playing, as Karl has been giving big minutes to defensive-minded role players like DerMarr Johnson, Greg Buckner, and Eduardo Najera.

To be honest, Najera annoys the crap out of me. I really hate watching him play-he’s got to be in the starting five of players I can’t stand. While we’re on it, I think that lineup would look something like this:

Eduardo Najera, Denver-His game is completely devoid of anything resembling grace or skill, and his ability to draw cheap charges is umatched. And there’s nothing worse in basketball than a cheap charge, when a no-talent hack can jump in front of a real baller and somehow draw a foul.

Raja Bell, Utah-Bell’s long been one of those obnoxious guys who hustles just a little too much, but he really pushed it into overdrive last year, when he a) joined the Jazz (and Jazz fans are about as bad as Yankees fans) and b) called out Carmelo Anthony for thinking he (Melo) deserved to make the All-Star team over Andrei Kirilenko. Bell delivered a delightful mini-sermon to the press praising Kirilenko’s all-around game as more valuable than Melo’s one-dimensional scoring contribution. Of course, that’s still one more dimension than Bell brings to the table. And that’s not even mentioning that he’s named after the lion from Aladdin.

Kobe Bryant, Lakers-No explanation necessary.

Jason Kidd, New Jersey-When he’s not getting his coaches fired, Kidd pulls the same jump-in-front-of-people routine that Najera does. He just grates on me. I’d rather watch The Ring 2 again than this guy. (By the way, if you haven’t seen it, please don’t.)

Sam Cassell, Minnesota-There’s nothing better than hearing Charles Barkley compare him to Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Cassell’s so cocky out on the floor, you’d think he made a career out of something other than riding the coattails of players like Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. And yes, Sam, I get it, you disagree with the refs, quit beating me over the head with it.

(There’s a good chance chest-thumping Kenyon Martin would have made this list last year, though now all I got against him is the “I hate the world” glare he stole from Vince Carter and gives every time he dunks.)

Anyway, as far as Najera goes, it’s easy to get carried away and overstate the contributions of role players. But he’s chipped in with his defense and been a more productive rebounder than I thought he’d be. I’d still rather sit through a Rockies-Devil Rays tripleheader than root for the guy, though.

And finally, as cheesy as it sounds, teamwork. Karl has done a fantastic job challenging his players and getting them to focus on winning. He’s such a miracle worker, even Carmelo’s buying in.

The offense runs much smoother than it has in years, now that it has plays other than isolating Anthony and making sure no one else touches the ball. Carmelo’s minutes and shot attempts are down under the new regime (I love that coaching changes are always referred to as new regimes, as though the old guys were violating U.N. sanctions or something), but opponents can’t square in on him as much and he’s been much more efficient. In March, Anthony is averaging 20.5 points in just 29.8 minutes per game.

And the Nuggets are making this playoff run despite some obvious roster holes. Unless you think it’s 1998 and that Wesley Person or Bryon Russell is some kind of long-term solution, we still need a shooter, though Voshon Lenard ought to be back next year. (What a coincidence, his best days are behind him, too.) As it stands, Carmelo is our only real post-up threat, and squandering our precious cap room on Andre Miller and Martin probably ended any chance of fixing that anytime soon.

Yet the Nuggets keep on winning.

New coaches always get too much credit when things go right (anyone remember when Lawrence Frank was a cross between Red Auerbach and John Wooden?), and it’s ludicrous to expect the Nuggets to keep winning at quite this rate.

But George Karl has worked out so far, and he’s a definite answer for years to come.

I think.

But I’ve been wrong before.