Karl named coach of the year

George Karl, the coach of the Denver Nuggets has been named the NBA Coach of the Year for 2012-2013 it has been announced today. Karl has guided the Nuggets to the third seed in the Western Conference play-offs and to a league best home record of 38 wins against 3 losses. It is the first time that Karl has won the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year.

As with all other NBA awards, a panel of 121 broadcasters and print journalists from Canada and the United States cast their votes to determine the winner. Karl picked up a total of 404 points and 64 first place votes; hardly a landslide but still enough to give the veteran tactician the award.

It may come as a surprise that in his 25th season this will be the first NBA Coach of the Year award that George Karl has won, especially considering his standing in the game. Karl passed Larry Brown this season to become the sixth winningest coach in league history by securing the 1,100th win in his NBA career. He has since added another 31 wins to that tally.

Karl has also tied with Phil Jackson this season for the coach with the longest non losing consecutive streak. This was the 21st season that George Karl has finished with a winning record, equalling Jackson’s own 21 season run that lasted from 1990 to 2011.

In his ninth season with the Denver Nuggets, George Karl helped the franchise to its best ever home record, a 38-3 statistic that ranks 14th of all-time in NBA history. Throughout the campaign, Karl picked up two Coach of the Month awards for the Western Conference and guided the Nuggets into the NBA play-offs.

Geroge Karl has previously been the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Seattle Supersonics. He currently has one year left on his Denver Nuggets contract.