George Karl says he still wants to coach

Sam Amick | USA TODAY Sports

George Karl's energy is still there.

Oh boy, is it still there.

It's almost entirely positive, whether the 63-year-old whose coaching career was put on hold two summers ago is having his daily chats with NBA contemporaries or analyzing the game in unfiltered fashion as an ESPN analyst. If anyone has the wherewithal to hold onto the big-picture perspective, it's the man who has beaten cancer twice (prostate and throat) and kept building on a body of work that includes the sixth-most wins in league history (1,131) and a winning percentage (.599) that is fourth among the eight coaches who have ever won 1,000-plus games (behind Phil Jackson at .704, Pat Riley at .636, and Jerry Sloan at .603).

But sometimes, Karl will admit, a tinge of negativity creeps up that won't likely go away until he's back on a bench again.

"There are days where I get down," Karl, who was fired by the Denver Nuggets in the summer of 2013 despite having been the Coach of the Year the season before, told USA TODAY Sports. "There are days where I'm disappointed that the phone's not ringing. But I would say that on the majority of my days, I say, 'George, you can't get bitter now, because you've been blessed. You've been given jobs when you probably shouldn't have gotten jobs.' I was given an opportunity when I was 33 years old to coach a (Cleveland Cavaliers) team where I probably shouldn't have been given that opportunity. So I look back at my career as a blessing. I want to do it one more time. My hope and my feeling is that the league will figure it out and give me that opportunity."

He thought that opportunity may have arrived last month.

When the Sacramento Kings fired Michael Malone on Dec. 15 and almost immediately began talking about a desire to inject life into their offense, Karl's name rose to the surface. Not only has he long been known as an innovative offensive mind, but his deep ties to some of the more-influential members of the Kings' management group made it seem all the more likely that he would get the job. Or so it seemed.

With fans calling for Karl's hiring on social media, local talk radio and even within the team's arena, the Kings opted to promote lead assistant/former Utah Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin and plan to reassess the situation this summer. Yet still, Karl's Kings connections — which range from his more-recent Denver Nuggets days with Sacramento general manager Pete D'Alessandro, assistant general manager Mike Bratz and director of player personnel Dean Oliver to his tumultuous time spent 30 years ago coaching Kings advisor Chris Mullin while with the Golden State Warriors to ties with the representatives of the centerpiece player DeMarcus Cousins — will remain relevant once that time comes.

"You know, there's too many guys in Sacramento who I know (to not have spoken about their situation)," said Karl, whose son, Coby, was represented by Cousins' primary agent, Dan Fegan, for years and who once had Cousins' day-to-day agent, Jarrin Akana, reassigned from Nuggets assistant coach to Nuggets scout when he took over for coach Jeff Bzdelik in 2005.

"There's obviously been communication. But have they ever talked to me about being the head coach? We've talked around it, but we've probably never talked about that situation. Do I feel I'm on their list? Yes, but I think they made it very clear when they made the decision to give Corbin the opportunity to coach that that was what they were going to do."

His history with Mullin is ancient, to be sure, but still part of this picture that even Karl isn't quite sure what to make of. And as Mullin's title (advisor to the chairman) clearly indicates, he is known to have serious sway with second-year Kings owner and chairman Vivek Ranadive and D'Alessandro.

Mullin, who some believe is interested in coaching the team next season, played under Karl early in his career for the Golden State Warriors when both men were going through a tough time in their respective lives. They got off to a good start, with Golden State making the playoffs for the first time in a decade in the 1986-87 campaign that Karl's first with the Warriors and Mullin's second in the NBA. But it all fell apart in the following season, as Mullin was out for a month as he went through an alcohol rehabilitation program and the then-35-year-old Karl resigned when a flurry of trades and Mullin's absence led to the Warriors losing 48 of 64 games.

Even Karl admits he's not sure how to read all the tea leaves when it comes to all those prior relationships and how they affect his chances at the Kings job, but he's still hopeful that Sacramento might be the next coaching stop. As for the Kings' plans, a person with knowledge of their situation told USA TODAY Sports that – barring an unexpected playoff push by Corbin — Karl is likely to be among the candidates who receive consideration this summer. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the coaching search process.

There could be unexpected candidates who become available, too, coaches like Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City) and Tom Thibodeau (Chicago Bulls) who could find themselves on the hot seat this season and who would certainly be of interest to the Kings. Alvin Gentry — the Golden State Warriors associate head coach who has been a head coach for the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns — is also expected to be a candidate. Coincidentally, Gentry interviewed for the Kings' lead assistant job under Malone last summer before ultimately deciding to join the Warriors and partner with head coach Steve Kerr.

Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson has been discussed internally as well, and even had an informal visit with Mullin, D'Alessandro and Cousins at Sleep Train Arena on Dec. 17 that lasted nearly two hours, but his chances at the job appear to be minimal.

For Karl's part in it all, he knows this much: there's a better ending in store than the one he had in Denver.

NBA 5 Stories: Cavaliers still showing red flags USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick discusses the hottest topics around the league.

After winning the NBA's Coach of the Year award in 2012-13 season in which the Nuggets went 57-25, Denver fell to the Golden State Warriors in the first round that included a season-ending injury to small forward Danilo Gallinari. Karl, who had one season left on his contract, would later push owner Stan Kroenke and his son, team president Josh Kroenke, for a contract extension that he felt he deserved. Instead, he found himself getting pushed out the door.

"The things that we did in my last year in Denver, I think can be bigger and better than they were that last year," he said. "I'm into the game. There's excitement to my thoughts on the game. I'm not bored. I'm not dull. I'm kind of like pumped to get that opportunity. So there's a youthful enthusiasm and energy that comes when you don't work for a year and a half."

For reasons even he doesn't fully understand, the coaching grind — and all the restless nights that come with it — is still calling.

"In the NBA, it is a fight," Karl said of the coaching life. "It is a daily fight to be a good basketball team, and that's good. Now if you want to be a championship basketball team, it's almost a 24-hour fight. Coaches don't sleep for a reason. They don't sleep because it's a danger zone every night. Very seldom do you ever get two or three days off … The lifestyle of coaching in the NBA is a tremendous challenge that gives you tremendous highs but also tremendous lows."