LINCICOME: Hot seat? Not for these coaches

By Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The sentiment to fire George Karl is understandable, and Joel Quenneville, too, if not the norm around here.

We need look no further than Clint Hurdle, presiding over Rockies loser after Rockies loser, and had the natural course of events taken place, the last World Series would have been without wit or chewing gum.

Mike Shanahan is a decade beyond his greatest moments with the Broncos, and just to provide perspective, the usual squirm time after Super Bowl victories is about half that.

Three of the seven coaches who won Super Bowls after Shanahan are now gone, though Brian Billick in Baltimore is the only one actually fired. But Super Bowl finalists Jim Fassel and Mike Martz and Bill Callahan are gone, John Fox and Andy Reid shaky, and even Mike Holmgren and Lovie Smith are on a short leash.

Tom Coughlin was fortunate to last long enough to take credit for one of the great Super Bowl upsets and never likely to become a coaching icon in New York.

One has to figure that if Hurdle can get a new contract after losing four games a week for years that getting to the World Series makes him manager for life.

The trigger finger to fire coaches around here seems more to be a thumb, and fans' patience stretches like taffy.

So stunning is the rare reproach that one blogger who was cheeky enough to poke at Karl was threatened by Karl's lawyer, who suggested ominously that the cost of free speech is bankruptcy.

Yet there is no grand mutiny in the stands, which does not mean that Karl and Quenneville should not be concerned, nor that they do not deserve to be replaced by the next empty sweat suit.

Clearly, if neither the Nuggets nor the Avalanche makes the playoffs, someone must take the blame. In the case of the Broncos, it is usually the defensive coordinator, but firing an assistant in basketball or hockey is like rotating tires.

The rap against Karl is simple. High payroll, second-rate results. Everyone, including the Nuggets themselves, know they should be doing better.

With two starting All-Stars in Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, the incumbent defender of the year in Marcus Camby, a healthy and periodically interested Kenyon Martin and assorted role figures, the Nuggets would seem to be a team as good as any.

Why are they not? Injuries are the popular excuse, though, to be honest, those who are injured are a shadowy bunch, little known and lightly regarded, including the unfortunate Nene.

There is certainly enough left to compete with any team, even in the very competitive NBA Western Conference.

So, what's the problem? Self-interest mostly. Iverson and Anthony are like those old magnets we used to play with as kids, those Scotties that could never really get together no matter how close you pushed one to the other.

What good does it do to have two scorers in the top four if the team is in the lottery?

Karl's failing then is to consistently merge the talent into a cohesive and effective whole, and there are examples of how good the Nuggets can be when it happens.

Could another coach get it done? Should a coach be fired if his team is playing .600 ball? The answers are no and no.

Not to repeat myself, but Iverson is the problem. He cannot dominate the ball, doing all the wonderful things he does, and ever expect the Nuggets to mesh as they should. Anthony's leadership on the national team is sung loudly and yet he yields his place on his own team.

So, fire George Karl? Not yet.

As for Quenneville, injuries truly have decimated the Avalanche, and Quenneville has made less of a real problem than Karl has of a minor one.

The chief problem of the Avs for too long was inconsistent and infuriating goaltending, that now being corrected by the transformation of Jose Theodore from washed-up bum to honest worker, seeing the puck, stopping the puck, inspiring his teammates.

The addition of Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote and Ruslan Salei may be offset by still more injuries, those to Ryan Smyth and Marek Svatos, and yet the Avs have climbed from out of the playoffs to within a point of the division.

This recent recovery has no more to do with Quenneville than the struggles earlier did.

So, fire Joel Quenneville? Don't even think of it.

As for Shanahan . . .

lincicomeb@RockyMountainNews.com

• March 8, 2008

  2:23 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  JasonM writes:

  I'm so sick and tired of people blaming everything on Iverson. To outsiders, he is the main reason that team is even winning right now and without that guy that Nuggets team would be struggling to be a .500 team in the West this year. The only person stopping Carmelo Anthony from being a true leader is CARMELO. And i'm tired of hearing people talk about his leadership with Team USA, that was like two years ago now (J-Kidd was the main leader and reason they did well in Vegas last Summer)... scoring points does not make someone a leader.

  Carmelo has done great these past few games, but he needs to continue to learn how to get involved and help his team out when his shots aren't falling and learn how to keep his head in the game and not get easily effected when the game is not going his way. This power trip that some of the Denver media and their fans have with the whole "Iverson vs Melo" thing is starting to get out of hand. Some of you people are some of the most jelous and condesending people I have ever seen in my life. Iverson was brought there to try to help lead that team...not to fade into the background and defer every single time he gets the ball just so Melo can have his shine. Melo needs to step up and help lead that team instead of hiding behind Iversons leadership. They should be standing side by side. Iverson is one of the biggest alpha dogs in sports, so the guy isn't just going to stand around and wait for things to come...he is going to make things happen. They play for the same team and i'm sure Iverson wants Carmelo to succeed just as much as Melo wants to help AI get a Championship....these articles are starting to get annoying. This is worse then the Shaq vs. Kobe fans...only Melo and AI really like eachother in real life.