George Karl introduced as third Kings head coach of the season
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After more than 1,100 wins, a trip to the NBA Finals, and a Coach of the Year award in his final season in Denver, George Karl still feels he has some unfinished business in the NBA.
So Karl left a cushy job as a television analyst to take over one of the league's least successful teams when he was introduced Tuesday as the new coach of a Sacramento Kings team that has lost the second most games in the NBA over the past nine seasons.
'' I've missed the gym and I love the game,'' Karl said. '' I wanted one more shot to try to win a championship.''
He is joining a team that is far from that level, having not made the playoffs nor had a winning record since 2005-06. Karl is the third coach this season for the Kings, taking over for Tyrone Corbin, who lasted just two months after replacing the fired Michael Malone.
The second in-season change comes after general manager Pete D'Alessandro committed to Corbin for the rest of the season. But after watching the team go 7-21 under Corbin following a promising 11-13 start under Malone, D'Alessandro decided to make another change to a coach he was familiar with from his time in the front office in Denver when Karl was on the sideline.
“You get to the point where you say I know who I want to coach the team and he's available,'' D'Alessandro said. ''Sometimes, you have to acknowledge what we've done is wrong.''
Karl had been watching the Kings closely in his job as an analyst at ESPN and said he saw a team that lost confidence in recent weeks.
He wants to spend the final 30 games trying to build that back up and figure out what kind of players he has heading into the offseason.
''I think there's enough talent on this team to win games, enough talent to come back and connect with one another in a way that you can be a solid to good basketball team night in and night out,'' Karl said. ''It will take some time.''
Karl last coached in the 2012-13 season, when he won NBA Coach of the Year with the Nuggets before being fired following a firstround playoff loss to the Warriors. (AP)