George Karl Blasts Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith & Kenyon Martin in New Book

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Why now. . . . .

It’s unlikely that George Karl and most of his former stars after Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp will see eye-to-eye with him; but the veteran head coach has shockingly ripped into some players in his upcoming new memoir. The book, titled Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection, is set to hit shelves and online marketplaces on January 10th.

Through an early copy obtained by the New York Post, Karl praised Carmelo Anthony as the best offensive player he’s ever coached, but said he had issues with sharing the spotlight with co-star players. He also criticized J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin, calling them both AAU babies after their arrival to the Denver Nuggets – and even cited the pipe feeling a sense of entitlement in the league.

However, looking back at the Melo to Knicks trade for Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, he went to say, “We won this trade, definitely.” We’re sure this will be addressed down the line from players involved, but take a look at Karl’s side of the story below.

On time in Denver with Carmelo Anthony.

“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. The volume of questions about Carmelo eventually wore me down. Sometimes I got so sick of talking about him that I’d just throw up my hands and say: I don’t know what he is and I don’t care. want as much effort on defense — maybe more — as on offense. That was never going to happen with Melo, whose amazing ability to score with the ball made him a star but didn’t make him a winner. Which I pointed out to him. Which he didn’t like.”

On coaching J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin.

“They were the spoiled brats you see in junior golf and junior tennis. J.R. had a huge sense of entitlement, a distracting posse, his eye always on the next contract and some really unbelievable shot selection. His father, Earl Sr. urged his son to shoot the ball and keep shooting it from the very moment I put him in the game. When we traded J.R. in 2011, I was disappointed that I hadn’t helped a clearly talented player advance his game more.”

Update: Kenyon Martin Responds

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