Karl Glad He's Not in D'Antoni's Shoes

DENVER -- It was Johnny Paycheck who sang, "Take This Job and Shove it."

George Karl might have said something similar had be been offered the New York Knicks job in the summer of 2008 in the situation in which Mike D'Antoni eventually got it.

"I don't think I would have done that if I was interviewed by a team that says we're going to go to the bottom (even if the team is) going to pay you a lot of money,'' Karl, the Denver Nuggets coach, said before Friday's game at the Pepsi Center against New York. "My preference probably would have been, 'Why don't you call me in three years when you're in a different place.'"

Karl has great respect for Knicks president Donnie Walsh and D'Antoni. But he doesn't like the idea of tearing down a team to create salary-cap room while the record suffers.

New York and New Jersey are implementing that philosophy as the summer of 2010 approaches. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh could headline a star-studded list of free agents.

"I think the plan was definitely there before Mike got there,'' Karl said of the Knicks. "My feeling, though, is maybe you make Mike vice president of basketball and let him coach the practices and give the losses to somebody else.''

Karl believes D'Antoni, whose Knicks entered Friday at 3-12 after going 32-50 last season, will survive as New York's coach. But he doesn't like, how in many of these rebuilding situations, coaches have their records suffer and often get fired while the team executive often sticks around for a while. He also doesn't like how fans often are given a perception that rebuilding might take less time than it really does.

"A lot of the (situations) are still yet to be determined,'' Karl said. "But the plan is given to the fan base, I think it's sold as a two- to three-year plan. But history says it's not a two- to three-year plan. It's a two- to three-year plan if you get lucky, if you really hit a home run. If (the Knicks) get LeBron, it's probably a two- to three-year plan. Most of the plans sold to the fans have to be readjusted and re-identified. The guys that lose is the coach, and the guys that win and get a new contract are the philosophizers (team executives).''

Karl doesn't deny the Knicks could land James, but said there is a price to play with tearing down a team the way New York has.

"Losing is painful,'' Karl said. "I don't care how strong and tough you are. It takes away your confidence. And I think probably Mike and Donnie will survive this and be strong. And, if they hit the grand slam and LeBron is playing in New York, so be it. That could happen. I don't think there's any question that that could happen.

"But I think there are just more and more bad coaching situations that I think that somehow, some way we should respect coaching a little bit more. And again, Mike D'Antoni is not doing a bad job. He's probably doing a good job. But when you put losses after losses on there, no one's going to give him that due, especially in probably New York City.''

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson.