George Karl: Criticizing Individuals vs. Team
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.
Here, Karl explains his approach to correcting players. Generally, he tries to correct the team as a whole during practice, rather than singling out individuals, though he recognizes it is not always possible to stick to that "script." He also is a big believer of the "criticism sandwich" and to ensure that the tone of practices does not turn too negative, occasionally bans use of the word "no" in certain practice sessions.