Former NBA head coach George Karl has a book coming out in January titled, "Furious George" in which he talks about his time with the Denver Nuggets coaching Carmelo Anthony, JR Smith and Kenyon Martin.
According to an advanced copy obtained by the New York Post, Karl didn't have many nice things to say about that team, specifically Carmelo and his "addiction to the spotlight" as well as his "lack of commitment."
Karl does make note that Melo was the best offensive player he ever coached, but the praise stops right there. He said the Nuggets "won" when they traded Carmelo to the Knicks, and said it was "a sweet release for the coach and the team, like popping a blister."
Via NYPost:
"Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him."
"He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it."
“He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal — probably every coach’s ideal — is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.”
He also referred to Melo and his former Nuggets teammates, JR Smith and Kenyon Martin, as "AAU babies" and compared the trio to "the spoiled brats you see in junior golf and junior tennis."
“Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man,” Karl wrote.
Additionally, he says JR had "a huge sense of entitlement, a distracting posse, his eye always on the next contract and some really unbelievable shot selection."
Carmelo will surely be asked about this by the New York media ahead of tonight's game against the Magic so stay tuned for his reaction.