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Karl Had Interest in Magic Coaching Position Before Taking Job With Kings

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

March 6, 2015

ORLANDO – So eager to return to coaching, George Karl admitted on Friday that he in fact had interest in both full-time vacancies with the Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings.

As fate would have it, Karl ultimately became the head coach of the Kings on Feb. 17. A veteran of 25 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, Karl has worked for Cleveland, Golden State, Seattle, Milwaukee, Denver and now Sacramento. He’s had 21 consecutive seasons with a .500 record or better and he’s taken teams to the playoffs 22 times. During his last coaching stint, he led Denver to 57 wins and he was named the 2012-13 NBA Coach of the Year.

The Kings, who have had three head coaches this season, started 2-1 under Karl, but came into Friday having lost three of the last four games.

``I knew in October that I wanted to get back into the gym. I’ve never been a political coach from the standpoint of politicking for a specific job or a championship team job,’’ Karl said. ``What I miss is the gym, so whether it was in Sacramento or Orlando or wherever … Yes, of course (he wanted a job), but I didn’t want them to make a play that was going to wasteful of their time or my time. I don’t know many people in this (Orlando) organization, so I don’t have any qualms. I just wanted to get back into the gym one way or the other, and I think we have a really good talent and I think (the Magic) have really good young talent.’’

Orlando fired Jacque Vaughn on Feb. 5 and named James Borrego the interim head coach. Borrego, who started 4-2 but is 4-6 in his first 10 games as head coach, was informed on Feb. 18 that he would be the team’s head coach for the remainder of the season.

In between his last coaching gig and landing the Kings’ job, Karl worked as an analyst at ESPN – someplace he said that he wouldn’t mind working again ``in four or five years.’’ For now though, he said he couldn’t be happier about being back in the NBA as a head coach.

``Everybody says there are only 30 of these jobs, but the truth of the matter is there are only about five (openings) every year,’’ Karl said. ``To get back in and be told by an organization that is allowing me be their coach, commander, leader, mentor, I think I have the passion to get it done one more time.’’

WHO IS HE? Magic center Nikola Vucevic was a late scratch from Friday night’s game, costing him an opportunity to face off against Sacramento all-star center DeMarcus Cousins. Both Vucevic and Cousins missed the first meeting in December because of various injuries, and the Magic center was out on Friday night because of a sore left ankle.

With Vucevic out, Dewayne Dedmon shifted from power forward to center and Channing Frye was reinserted to the starting lineup after playing as a reserve for one game.

When Vucevic came to the Magic three years ago, he was an unknown commodity for the most part and thought by many to simply be a throw-in piece in the massive four-team, 12-player transition that included Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Bynum and others.

Now, three seasons later, Vucevic has become a foundation piece for the Magic and one of the game’s best all-around centers. At 19.7 points and 11.2 rebounds a game, Vucevic is seemingly on the verge of becoming the only player in the Eastern Conference to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds a game.

Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, New Orleans’ Anthony Davis and Cousins are the NBA’s only members of the 20/10 club – one that Vucevic could soon gain entry into when healthy. Vucevic said there are plenty of times during his down time when he thinks about how far he has come as a player for the Magic.

``I always have it in my mind, from where I was when I first got here -- everybody was like, `Who is this guy that we got for Dwight?’ – but that was a reality because nobody knew who I was,’’ Vucevic said candidly. ``But I was OK with that because I knew that I just needed time to improve myself. I just had to get stronger and work on my skills. That helped get to where I am now, but I’m not satisfied. I want to keep going, keep getting better and make this franchise a winning franchise. But definitely when I look back I can say that the coaches, my teammates and the Magic organization had a huge impact on me improving so much in the last few years.’’

SHORT-HANDED MAGIC: Even before Vucevic’s late scratch from the game, Orlando was already scheduled to be without guards Willie Green (sore right Achilles), Evan Fournier (sore right hip), Luke Ridnour (sore right hamstring) and rookie Devyn Marble (detatched retina in left eye).

All of the injuries meant more playing time for power forward Kyle O’Quinn and guard Ben Gordon – players who were regular contributors early in the season but have been shuffled out of the rotation of late.

O’Quinn, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, failed to get into four of the past five games and on the other he played only five minutes. He had been passed in the rotation by Dedmon and Andrew Nicholson, but was expected to see playing time on Friday with Vucevic out.

``My playing time hasn’t been limited; it’s been eliminated. It’s tough,’’ O'Quinn said. ``But, you know, the team is making strides. I’m still a part of the team. To see the team grow, I’m still a part of that. So it feels somewhat good still.’’

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