Karl surprised by book backlash, apologizes to Kenyon Martin

George Karl did a lot of talking in his new book, "Furious George," and it's generating more chatter than he expected.

The former NBA coach said Thursday on ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" that he was surprised by the negative response, particularly regarding his comments about Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and J.R. Smith.

"Yeah," Karl said. "There's no question. Surprised. I guess there's no question we all want to be liked a little bit, but the backlash is interesting. And a couple of things I learned from, I think, too. I think the big thing is ... I probably should have studied. I didn't know, I probably should have studied what I was writing a little bit more than I did."

Martin criticized Karl for excerpts from the book that referred to him growing up without a father, though Karl said in the ESPN appearance that he wanted to honor "superstar single mothers" who raised NBA players, and the excerpts didn't come out exactly as he said them.

"I said it poorly and I'm sorry that I said it poorly and I'm sorry for the reaction," Karl said. "Because I know Kenyon. The one thing I love about Kenyon Martin: he is a good father."