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George Karl: Coaching Is Connecting

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George Karl (@CoachKarl22) is a basketball lifer. He learned his basketball playing and coaching from Dean Smith, the late, great University of North Carolina coach and PCA National Advisory Board Member. Karl became just the seventh coach in NBA history to reach 1,000 career wins. He earned the NBA Coach of the Year Award in 2013 and has served as head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Albany Patroons (CBA), Real Madrid (EuroLeague), Seattle SuperSonics (which he led to the NBA Finals), Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, and Sacramento Kings.

In this video, Karl says "Coaching is connecting." All the knowledge in the world won't help the coach who can't communicate that knowledge to players.

Karl emphasizes the importance of coaches meeting players "where they are." Coaches will encounter a wide variety of attitudes among players. For example, some will want their coaches involved in their personal lives and some won't. "Sometimes you need to be a bulldog and sometimes you need to be a puppy."