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Starting anew

For the NBA, and George Karl, it's a brave new world

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Posted: Tuesday January 26, 1999 02:16 PM

Karl: "We're going to be aggressive. We could be more aggressive than we were in Seattle." AP

By John Donovan, CNN/SI

ATLANTA -- The 1998-99 NBA season has been chopped into a 1999-only season. Michael Jordan is playing golf. Dozens of players are on the move, there are new coaches in three of the four divisions, fans are mad, players are out of shape, Latrell Sprewell is back ... and George Karl is sitting smack dab in the middle of his element, even if that element is now in Milwaukee.

Welcome back to the NBA -- such as it is.

"I don't know what's going to happen, how it's going to happen, when you get to maybe five, six legitimate basketball teams, without Michael, that have a chance [to win a title]," Karl said from his office in Milwaukee, where he's beginning anew with the Bucks. "I think it's going to be exciting, especially in the East. I don't think anybody has a huge edge on anybody, in either conference."

If there's anything becoming increasingly clear in this asterisked NBA season, it is that everything is wide open. So the teams who jump out to a fast start may have the edge in getting to the playoffs.

That's the one factor that is scariest to Karl and the other six coaches in the league who are with new teams. With shortened training camps and a chopped-down season, it's critical that these new coaches figure out their personnel, implement their new systems and get players comfortable with it -- and fast.

Maybe no one has a bigger challenge with that than the Bucks, a team that went 36-46 last season and finished in seventh place in the Central Division. The Bucks have less room than most to maneuver under the salary cap, so Karl is stuck with mostly the same players Milwaukee had last year.

Essentially, he's going to have to teach the old Bucks his new tricks.

"My demands are fairly simple," Karl said. "It's nothing different than North Carolina basketball: Play defense, pass the ball to the open man and play with team intensity. My desire is to make [other teams] adjust to us. That's my desire."

In better than 6 1/2 years with the Seattle SuperSonics, Karl established himself as one of the most successful coaches in the league. He had a 384-150 (.719) regular-season record in Seattle, but his failings in the playoffs with the Sonics, and his falling out with team management, prompted his move to Milwaukee. The Bucks gave him a four-year, $20 million contract with the charge to rebuild the once-proud Bucks.

Karl's teams in Seattle were known for defense, thanks largely to point guard Gary Payton, one of the best defenders in the league. Karl is looking for someone like that in Milwaukee and hopes Ray Allen, a 6-foot-5 guard entering his third season in the league, can be the one.

"We're going to be aggressive. We could be more aggressive than we were in Seattle," Karl said. "We don't have the one-on-one defenders that we had in Seattle. So you don't have them try to compete in those situations. You camouflage it."

That means a lot of trapping rather than straight man-to-man, though Karl will expect plenty of nose-on defense from Allen. It'll be interesting, especially to the fans in Milwaukee, to see if players like Allen, Glenn Robinson and rookie Robert Traylor latch on to Karl's way.

"I think you're going to see me challenge Ray Allen. He's got the body, the long arms, the quick hands ...," Karl said. "I just don't know if he's made the focus to be a defensive player yet."

One plus Karl has going for him is that most of the Milwaukee players have been together for some time, so they know each other's tendencies. That will help in implementing the defenses and some of the offensive ideas Karl will try.

How soon the Bucks will come together under Karl is anyone's guess. Even Karl figures that it will take most teams 10-15 games to get back in shape and start to feel comfortable as a team. That gives the veteran teams, and the teams without a new coach, that out-of-the-gate edge.

It'll also be interesting to Karl and many others to see how much work it takes to get fans back in the seats after the six-month lockout. Last week, Milwaukee fans ran through a supply of about 37,000 free tickets to a Bucks practice and an exhibition game in about 90 minutes.

And, the way Karl figures it, if the Bucks can win, that'll help, too.

"I don't think it's going to be a problem getting the fans back," he said. "If we're attentive to them."

 

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