Denver Nuggets: George Karl on the Hot Seat?

George Karl’s status with the Denver Nuggets is “unsettled,” according to an ESPNLosAngeles.com report. (Flickr.com photo by Krob)

Sources told Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com late Saturday night that the status of reigning NBA Coach of the Year George Karl is “unsettled” with the Denver Nuggets.

With the departure of general manager Masai Ujiri—who was named Executive of the Year—to the Toronto Raptors, the situation for the coach who led the Nuggets to an NBA franchise-record 57 victories has changed.

While the sources insist Karl is in no imminent danger of losing his job, it appears he will enter the final year of his contract without any plans to discuss an extension after the departure of Ujiri and Denver’s first-round playoff exit to the lower-seeded Golden State Warriors.

Reportedly, the Los Angeles Clippers have had discussions with the Nuggets about Karl, but have yet to formally request permission to speak to the longtime NBA coach about their vacancy. The Clippers fired Vinny Del Negro on May 16.

The Clippers have yet to interview a candidate for the post, but have reportedly had preliminary talks with former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, as well as Indiana Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw, former Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry (also a former coach of the Clippers) and former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Byron Scott.

According to sources, candidates have been told the Clippers would prefer a coach with experience, but Shaw has strong endorsements from several players, most notably Lamar Odom, because he has coached or played in nine conference finals and has championship experience with the crosstown Los Angeles Lakers.

Nuggets president Josh Kroenke told the Denver Post after the season:

George is under contract for next year. At this point in time, we haven’t really given any thought to making any change whatsoever. As we do at the end of every season, we’ll have internal meetings and George will obviously be a major part of them.”

Karl came to Denver in 2005 as the franchise was digging its way out of the worst period in franchise history.

Mike D’Antoni had one forgettable season as coach of the Denver Nuggets in 1998-99. (Photo by Matt Hickey/Flickr.com)

After upsetting the Seattle SuperSonics as a No. 8 seed under coach Dan Issel in 1994, Issel resigned after 34 games with an 18-16 record in 1994-95. After going 3-13 under interim coach Gene Littles, Bernie Bickerstaff was hired and stabilized the club, engineering a 20-12 finish that allowed the Nuggets to sneak past the Sacramento Kings for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference at 41-41.

They were swept in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs, however, and wouldn’t see the postseason again for nearly a decade.

Denver won 35 games in 1995-96 under Bickerstaff, who was fired early in a 21-61 season in 1996-97—which was the worst season in franchise history. After hiring former defensive stalwart Bill Hanzlik as coach, the Nuggets set a new low-water mark in 1997-98, threatening the NBA record for futility before finishing with an 11-71 mark. The team went 14-36 under Mike D’Antoni in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 campaign and Issel returned the following season, leading the team to 35 and 40 wins, respectively, but missing the postseason each year.

Jeff Bzdelik took over in 2002-03 and went 17-65, but after drafting Carmelo Anthony with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 draft, the franchise’s fortunes turned around and the Nuggets returned to the playoffs in 2004.

Karl replaced interim coach Michael Cooper with the club mired at 17-25 and led them to a 32-8 finish in 2004-05.

Denver has made the playoffs every year under Karl and advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2009 before losing to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.

The problem is that those two series wins in 2009 are the only ones the club has under Karl—they have been bounced in the first round in nine of Karl’s 10 seasons, including the last four in a row.

Karl has always been a solid regular-season coach—his teams have made the playoffs in all but one season he finished during his career (he was fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers late in the 1985-86 campaign and by the Golden State Warriors after 64 games in 1987-88).

But for all of his regular-season success (a career record of 1,131-756), his teams are just 80-105 in the playoffs and have been eliminated in the first round a whopping 14 times. He did lead the 1995-96 SuperSonics to the NBA Finals and took the Sonics and Milwaukee Bucks to the conference finals in 1993 and 2001, respectively.

But mostly, Karl’s teams have underachieved once the playoffs have arrived.

So while it may appear absurd on the surface to be unsure about retaining one of just eight coaches in professional basketball history to win 1,000 games, it’s hard to ignore the string of one-and-done postseason appearances.

That makes it possible the Nuggets will be in the market for a new bench boss sooner rather than later.