A permanent friend (no matter what I write about him or those in his profession; yes, there is actually such an animal) is forever telling me not to expect anything out of people, especially those you work for.
“That way you can never be disappointed,” he preaches.
Despite being regularly disrespected the older he gets, my friend’s dissertation is unshakable:
“You do your job to the best of your ability and get paid for it. Other than that, your boss doesn’t owe you a thing.
“If he strokes your ego, that’s wonderful. If he acknowledges your contribution in front of co-workers or in public, accept it graciously. If he throws a bonus bone your way, frame it. But don’t expect any of this stuff and your feelings can never get hurt.”
As implausible as this may be for you to believe, I don’t subscribe to, abide or so much as loosely live that philosophy. People persistently disappoint me. Not the peripheral population; I mean strictly those I’ve established referential relationships with over time and, therefore, expect them to do the right thing by me — and others.
George Karl is the latest in that long line of disillusion-ists. Three days ago, reveals a source, the Nuggets head coach, whose opulent contract was extended several months ago, fired top assistant Adrian Dantley.
OK, fired might not be the correct word. Karl’s aide for eight seasons was not signed past this month. One way or the other, his immediate superior, theoretical friend and throat cancer survivor, who you’d think might have accrued approximate compassion for other peoples’ plights during his harrowing ordeal, did not notify Dantley he was done until the majority of jobs throughout the NBA were filled or promised. And, oh, yeah, with a league lockout looming a week away.
Why would Karl leave Dantley hanging and then put him on the unemployment line like that? Fact is, he has done it before to his right hand man. For years, Terry Stotts (currently assisting Rick Carlisle in Dallas) sat alongside Karl in Seattle and Milwaukee. When things went bad with the Bucks, Karl signed a richer deal and dumped Stotts, as if his assistant were responsible for the team’s troubles.
Had friction occurred in Dantley’s case? Not as far as the Hall of Fame forward is concerned. Karl obviously felt differently about a quandary that surfaced during the season.
Without Dantley’s knowledge, either one or two lower-level assistants went to Karl and (hoping to get more exposure, I presume) asked to sit on the bench instead of behind it; league law allows three up front.
Karl alerted Dantley to the request and mentioned a possible rotation, yet never demanded it or set it in motion. Not looking to create any waves, A.D. shifted one row back without being ordered to.
While the move drew little, if any, attention in Denver, the league’s coaches took notice of Dantley’s apparent demotion and wondered why Karl would do him like that. After all, this was the man who was put in charge of the Nuggets for the final 13 games (seven wins) of the 2009-2010 season and their first-round playoff series (2-4) against the depleted Jazz. The guy who took a beating for him when Karl’s cancer treatments made it impossible to eat, much less go to work.
Many ignorantly believe Denver would have beaten Utah had Karl been able to coach, as if Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin (bad knee), J.R. Smith and the rest of the Nuggets knuckleheads have ever let anybody coach them. What’s more, Nene missed Game 6 due to injury. Regardless, Dantley took the fall in spite of being in no position of power to confront players who relied early and often on their customized excuse to lose.
None of that background disharmony, I submit, factored into Dantley’s termination. I reprocessed it just to illustrate how he absorbed the brunt of criticism without rancor and how he remained a good company man until the end.
In late May, Karl told Dantley he was thinking about making a change. “You didn’t look happy this season,” he told him, raising the back-of-the-bus, er, in-back-of-the-bench situation.
“I’m fine. It didn’t bother me to sit there,” Dantley said. “I like being here. I want to stay.”
Karl pledged to give him the word within the next couple of days. Despite being around each other on at least two occasions after that, Karl kept Dantley in the dark for more than three weeks.
In a subsequent meeting with his retained assistants, Karl told them, “A.D.’s firing was your fault.”
* So many draft gurus kept pointing out the deficiencies of the new crop of point guards: Jimmer Fredette can’t defend; Kyrie Irving lacks athleticism; Kemba Walker’s too short.
“In other words, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul,” column contributor Sam Lefkowitz wryly notes.
Kemba didn’t drop out of sight, but eight teams definitely held his height against him. His size doesn’t concern me in the slightest. At least it didn’t, until Kemba stood next to David Stern and the commissioner appeared to tower over him.
I’m not really worried about that. I am worried Michael Jordan believes Kemba can play. He felt the same about Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison and Sean May.
This just in: Monta Ellis says Kemba and D.J. Augustin won’t be able to play together.
peter.vecsey@nypost.com