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Summary
Summary
The most outspoken and combative coach in NBA history--and one of the most successful, amassing more than 1,175 victories, the sixth best winning record ever--reflects on his life, his career, and his battles on and off the basketball court in this no-holds-barred memoir
A man of deep passion and intensity, George Karl earned his bad boy reputation while playing at the University of North Carolina, a rap that continued through the five years he spent with the San Antonio Spurs--and long after he stopped playing.
Karl's beery nights, fistfights, and barking followed him into a thirty-five-year coaching career. In a game defined by big stakes and bigger egos, rabid fans and an unforgiving media, Karl was hired and fired a dozen times. After leading a team beset by injuries and with no superstar to its best season of all time--an achievement that earned Karl the title NBA Coach of the Year--he was dumped by the Denver Nuggets in 2013. Less than a year and a half later, Karl was at the helm of the Sacramento Kings, snarling and bellowing on the sidelines before being cut loose in May 2016.
Intense, obstinate, and loud, Karl has never backed down from a confrontation, whether with management, officials, or star players, as NBA legends from Allan Iverson to Gary Payton to Carmelo Anthony to Demarcus Cousins can attest. Telling his story, Karl holds nothing back as he speaks out about the game that has defined his life, including the greed, selfishness, and ass-covering he believes are characteristic of the modern NBA player, and the rampant corruption that leads all the way to the office of the NBA commissioner, David Stern. Karl also reveals how he's learned to deal with the personalities, the pressure, and the setbacks with a resilience he acquired from his three bouts with cancer.
Raw, hard-hitting, and brutally honest, Furious George is as thrilling, unpredictable, and entertaining as the game that has defined Karl's life.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In his first book, Karl, a successful, well-traveled NBA head coach (most recently of the Sacramento Kings), writing with Sampson (The Masters), promises to settle old scores and get in the last word. Given his history of talking openly, this is a delightful promise-but his work soon proves annoying and guarded. There are highlights, such as his descriptions of what it's like to coach a game and how his intensity for work isolated himself from his family, including his son. He examines his relationships with mentors such as Dean Smith to players they coached. He says Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony was a "conundrum" and a "user of people," and his star player in Sacramento, DeMarcus Cousins, "was the most disrespectful person I've ever been around," but his criticism is more petty than revealing. Though Karl talks about how his 2010 diagnosis of throat and neck cancer changed his approach to work and diet, he mostly fails to address his own performance at his six NBA coaching stops-all of which ended on less than congenial terms. After a rocky, abbreviated stint in Sacramento, the 64-year-old Karl hints that he'd like to coach again. That may explain the frustrating honesty-with-limits approach employed here. Agent: Byrd Leavell, Waxman Leavell Literary. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Karl, in his mid-sixties and fifth on the all-time NBA coaching wins list, has almost always fielded competitive teams that improved when he arrived and got worse when he left. He's also outspoken. If he thinks he's coached badly, he'll say so; if a star player doesn't play defense, he'll bench him. Honesty makes for a good memoir, and, not surprisingly, he delivers great anecdotes on life in the NBA, many of them lighthearted and self-deprecating. Beyond the basketball, Karl has come to grips with some hard truths. He was so focused on his career that he was a poor husband and father. Some of the clarity he displays here came to him during two bouts with cancer and through helping his son, Coby, through his own cancer diagnosis and treatment. Great NBA insider stuff, family advice, health tips, and unequivocal candor, all in one book. Expect considerable demand where NBA interest is high.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2016 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Karl (b. 1951) provides a candid account of his career as a player and head coach in professional basketball. His philosophy of passionate, team-orientated play led him to over 1,100 wins as an NBA head coach with half a dozen teams, notably the Seattle Supersonics and the Denver Nuggets. This memoir recounts the difficulties of managing a team's competing egos as players vie for more playing time, exposure, and money. Karl also shares his criticisms of everything from NBA officiating to myopic owners that fire winning coaches to the work ethic and playing style of current players, especially his former players Carmelo Anthony and Demarcus Cousins. On a personal level, Karl provides insight into how the grind of an 82-game season contributed to the dissolution of his first marriage but created comradery between coaches over pregame rituals and late-night drinking. He describes the frustration of his coaching failures, in particular the sixth place finish of the U.S. team at the 2002 World Championships. Karl's bond with his son and his battle with cancer are softer moments that define this narrative. VERDICT This well-written memoir will interest basketball fans looking for a coaching counterpoint to Phil Jackson's Eleven Rings.-Chris Wilkes, Tazewell Cty. P.L., VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Intorudcion | p. ix |
| Chapter 1 Passion Play | p. 1 |
| Chapter 2 Fun, with Anger | p. 11 |
| Chapter 3 Fernando | p. 33 |
| Chapter 4 George Karl has Lost It! | p. 53 |
| Chapter 5 Switch Everything | p. 97 |
| Chapter 6 How to Beat Michael Jordan | p. 111 |
| Chapter 7 Fired, Hired, Fired | p. 135 |
| Chapter 8 We're Number 6 | p. 159 |
| Chapter 9 Nothing to do but me | p. 167 |
| Chapter 10 How Entering the Game for the Lakers | p. 185 |
| Chapter 11 Please Demit $470,000 | p. 203 |
| Chapter 12 Big Brother | p. 221 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 229 |