Nuggets coach George Karl: Right now, team development trumps playing rookies

The finicky thing about youth is its reluctance to just go away after one season. It holds on. Nuggets coach George Karl looks at his team and sees a good number of his players still in basketball elementary school. Some of those players – Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, among them – play significant roles in the Nuggets’ success. They are not rookies, yet remain far from seasoned veterans. They continue to need development. It is part of the reason he rolls his eyes at the growing insistence of many to play rookie Kenneth Faried, chiefly, among other rookies or young players, whose playing time has been either limited or inconsistent or both. His team is second in the Western Conference, winning big and overall running smoothly in this early portion of the season. And he’s got players to continue to mold. Faried has played in just two games this season, a total of 19 minutes of action. Fans clamor to see more of him, the player nicknamed “Manimal,” than any other roo...