National Basketball Association

George Karl: Carmelo Anthony was 'a user of people, addicted to the spotlight'

Published Dec. 22, 2016 7:36 a.m. ET

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Nate Scott

George Karl has a new memoir coming out, and in it he doesn't mince words about his former player Carmelo Anthony.

Karl coached Anthony for six seasons in Denver, and while he admitted that Anthony was the most talented offensive player he ever worked with, he said the star player was  "a user of people, addicted to the spotlight" and that his refusal to play defense was exasperating to work with.

The New York Post obtained an advance copy of the book, and provided an excerpt:

“Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him.” Karl wrote. “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.”

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