NBA Coach of the Year George Karl Canned

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, who coached his team to a team record 57 wins and was named NBA Coach of the Year, is out of a job.  Karl, who had one year left on his contract, was reportedly pushing for an extension, and was shown the door instead.

On the surface, it looks like Denver management has lost its mind.  Besides that record number of victories this season, Karl has a lifetime .599 winning percentage in 25 years as an NBA coach with five teams and led the Nuggets to the playoffs all nine years he coached them.  However, his teams were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs eight of those nine years, including the last four in a row (they lost to the L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference finals in the 2008-9 season). 

Karl has not won an NBA title, and has made the NBA Finals only once, when his Seattle Supersonics lost to the Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls in the 1996 Finals.

Several teams are already reportedly interested in Karl, and he’s almost assured of having a new head coaching job this fall.  He’s unquestionably a very good coach as his 1131-756 lifetime record in the regular season would indicate.  But he’s only 80-105 in the postseason, and if he’s going to go down as a great coach, he’ll need to improve when it counts the most.