Ian Begley, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Dad and the Zen Master: Coby Karl's two legendary mentors

If Coby Karl had a question about his craft last season, he could head down the hallway and knock on the door of an 11-time NBA champion. Or he could scroll through the contacts on his phone and call a coach who has won more than 1,100 NBA games.

Good luck finding a pair of coaching mentors more accomplished than Karl's first NBA boss, Phil Jackson, and his father, George Karl. Between the two coaching legends: 2,330 wins, 42 playoff appearances, 11 championships and an endless repository of basketball knowledge.

"I couldn't really ask for a better situation," Coby Karl said.

An assistant coach with the NBA D-League’s Westchester Knicks last season, Karl will find himself in a new situation in 2016-17. He was hired earlier this month as the head coach of the D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders.

In a sense, Coby will be following in the footsteps of his mentors, both of whom began their head-coaching careers in minor league hoops.

“Phil and my father got their start, or honed their skills, in the CBA [Continental Basketball Association]," Karl said. "That’s why I look at this as such a powerful position or such a great opportunity for anyone. The only way that we become better at what we do is to practice it. My ambition is to be a head coach at the highest level one day, and the only way to practice something is doing it.”

Karl got plenty of practice last season with Westchester. He spent the year working on head coach Mike Miller's staff, helping to implement the club’s triangle offense and tutor players individually. Karl also compiled scouting reports for half Westchester's games, splitting the load with fellow assistant and former NBA player Derrick Alston.

It often wasn't glamorous work. Unlike their NBA counterparts, D-League teams and their staffs don't stay in five-star hotels on road trips. They don't fly charter, so Karl and the rest of the team had to deal with airport delays and cancellations, just as any other commercial traveler would. And there were long hours. Some nights last season, Karl headed to bed around 2:30 a.m. and was up around 6:30 to prepare the next scouting report. Many coaches keep the same sleep schedule, but that doesn't make it any less taxing.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy, but that's what makes it all fun," Karl said. "If it's easy, it's not as fun."


There might be some who see Coby Karl’s new role in Los Angeles and assume he used his last name to gain an edge. But those who know Coby say assuming as much would be a mistake.

In many ways, Karl has spent a lifetime preparing for his new gig. Growing up, he often hung around his dad's Seattle SuperSonics and Milwaukee Bucks teams.

As a ball boy for the Sonics, he sometimes attended coaches' meetings before road shootarounds and practices, and he heard firsthand the frustration his father and others experienced when they couldn't reach one of their players. He has also seen the other side of things, when coaches and players worked together to produce unexpected results.

"I grew up on that side of the ball," Karl said. “I watched [assistant coach] Tim Grgurich in Seattle work with guys and saw Jason Hart make himself an NBA player. I saw Eric Snow, Michael Redd make themselves NBA players. Those guys would show up hours early and work. That's stuff that no one really saw, but I was able to.”

Karl still remembers life lessons he learned from former players Nate McMillan, Shawn Kemp, Hersey Hawkins, Gary Payton, Frank Brickowksi and Sam Perkins.

“When I was younger and I was really molding who I was as a person, I learned a lot from those guys," he said.

One lesson from Perkins stood out. During a playoff series, Karl was positioned under the basket, tasked with mopping up wet spots on the floor. On one possession, Perkins slipped on a spot on the floor, saw Karl and screamed some unkind words at him.

“I’d never seen him like that,” Karl said of Perkins, who was known as one of the nicest guys in the NBA.

Before the next game, Perkins sought out Karl and apologized. It left an impression on a young Karl.

“Seeing a man step up, admit his mistake and apologize, as a young kid, that taught me something,” he said.

Karl’s basketball résumé, of course, includes much more than working as a ballboy for the Sonics.

He was a standout high school player in Milwaukee. At Boise State, he led the team in scoring as a junior and senior. After college, Karl signed as an undrafted free agent with the Lakers in 2007. He spent parts of two seasons with Los Angeles and the Cleveland Cavaliers and later had a 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors. Karl also played in Spain, Italy, Germany and in the D-League, most recently with the Reno Bighorns in 2015.

In the summer of 2015, he was considering signing another contract with an overseas club when his father intervened.

"I told him to go into coaching," George Karl said. "I said, I'm tired of you playing and then moaning and groaning in the middle of January [of a season overseas] saying, 'Why the hell am I doing this?'

"You say you want to coach, and then someone offers you $150K to play in Europe, you're going to Europe. Money should not be your motivator right now. [Your motivator] should be your passion."

Coby Karl mulled things over, and when an opportunity to join his father's staff in Sacramento fell through, he decided to join Jackson and then-head coach Derek Fisher in New York.

"I kind of look at my time with my dad as a ball boy and then as a player as a 20-year internship for this," said Karl, who, like his father, is a cancer survivor. "I want to affect people's lives in a powerful way through the teaching of basketball and through the things I've learned in my life."

Karl eventually wants to coach in the NBA, but climbing the coaching ladder can be a long, arduous process. He understands that better than most.

"He's ready to work," George Karl says of his son. "He's ready to serve his time."


George Karl believes his son’s perspective as a player will help him in the coaching profession.

“I think Coby’s seen some great things,” George Karl said. “He’s played with LeBron, played with Kobe. He’s been on championship-caliber teams. ... He also kind of has a piece, from a psychological standpoint, of how [coaches] touch and motivate players.”

That experience certainly helps Coby Karl relate to young D-League players. But naturally, there were some challenges in his first season transitioning to the bench.

Karl said helping players improve their weaknesses last season was more difficult at times than he'd hoped. And players' taking the coaching staff's corrections and translating them to games "didn't happen as often as you'd like."

Both George Karl and Jackson can probably relate, which is what made their coaching conversations with Coby so valuable.

Coby Karl said he called his father about once a week last season to talk basketball strategy. Dad shared with his son some of the scouting videos the Kings have put together on opponents.

“He’s been through so many situations, and he’s had so many players and different teams and successes and failures that basically, it’s an encyclopedia of situations,” he said of his dad.

With Jackson, Karl spent time talking basketball philosophy.

“Phil is obviously a unique person. I don’t know if he ever gave me advice," Karl said. "We exchanged stories, and I asked questions. He talked about some of his beliefs, his experiences and the way that he sees the game."

George Karl smiles when asked about his son seeking advice from Jackson, a man he competed with on the bench for many years.

“The great conversation Coby and I have is that [Phil and I] are really different, but we’re really saying the same things,” he said. “I think Coby’s witnessed that. He’s experienced that."

Coby Karl will take the advice of both Jackson and his father with him to the D-Fenders’ sideline this year, advice that includes a theme both men followed almost religiously.

“The one thing I’ve learned from both of them: There’s not one way to do it. Do it your own way. Be yourself. Find your way,” he said. “Mostly, there was a sense that I’m going to have to figure it out for myself, enjoy the ups and downs of it and enjoy the experience.”

That approach seemed to benefit Phil and George. It should work well for young Coby too.

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