The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today!
Lost among all the headlines about Denver Nuggets superstar Carmelo Anthony and his contract stalemate were the departures of Jamahl Mosley and Tim Grgurich, two of coach George Karl’s key assistant coaches. Mosley, a former University of Colorado basketball standout, left to join the coaching team in Cleveland, and Grgurich departed after the team chose not to extend the contract of his friend Mark Warkentien. So when Karl bounced back to the bench after overcoming another cancer scare, he scrambled to find a quality assistant coach. He ended up grabbing Melvin Hunt, a former assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Hunt has also spent time with Team USA, where he helped coach the league’s best players, including Melo, notes The Denver Post, which wonders if a relatively unknown coach could help keep Melo in Denver.
On that front, the Colorado Springs Gazette talks to Karl about Melo’s likely exit and the addition of Hunt. “Nobody is loyal to anybody anymore,” Karl says, in a dim indictment on modern society. “And then you try to coach a game of trust without loyalty.”