George Karl has never been the type of coach to buy into the hype. He’s also never been the type of coach to give players ‘superstar’ treatment. However when the Nuggets acquired center JaVale McGee last season people assumed he only started in 5 out of 20 games because Karl didn’t want to mess with the teams chemistry. The Nuggets were a surprise success in the West last season, and many assume McGee will be a big piece of the Nuggets attack from the opening tip to the season.
Not so fast. In the Nuggets media day this weekend Coach Karl made some waves by telling the media he wasn’t sure if McGee would start, in fact he stated he was leaning towards having McGee come off the bench with point guard Andre Miller as they seem to have good chemistry playing together.
His on and off the court eccentricity aside, McGee would be considered by most coaches to be a starting caliber center. But once again, George Karl isn’t ‘most coaches’….
Q: You’ll likely start Ty Lawson at point guard, Iguodala at shooting guard, Gallinari at small forward and Kenneth Faried at power forward. What about center?
A: Training camp is going to tell me who plays. My idea right now is Mozgov would start with Faried and JaVale would stay with (reserve point guard) Andre Miller. But again, I don’t (care) about starting lineups, and you guys are already stirring the pot. It’s all about how many minutes you play, who you play with, how well you play and how we play (when you’re on the court). Kosta Koufos is in the mix, too. Let’s make sure you understand that. In the last 15-20 games of the season, when Timo got hurt, Kosta not only played well but good enough to get us to the playoffs. (via)
