Karl, an old-fashioned, defensive-minded coach who has spent his last decade in the NBA watching his teams in Milwaukee and Denver light up the scoreboard and more often than not fail to sprint back to the paint to deny baskets, said this team is the faster, quicker and more athletic than any one he's coached in Denver.

Iverson, known more for his ballhandling skills than his steals, said he's willing to commit to playing better defense, too.

"I've been in this league going on my 13th year and I've been to the finals once. I would have thought I'd have been there five or six times by now and won a championship," Iverson said. "So, obviously, the commitment is there from me to sacrifice my game, do whatever the team needs me to do."

Karl isn't expecting miracles, just movement.

"All we want is a consistent commitment," Karl said. "I've coached a lot of guys that when they came into our team had a reputation of being a bad defender. But if they just do the concepts with good focus, we understand that they might not be able to cover the guy that they're assigned to. But if they send them to the right place or the right position, we will help and have that covered up.

"We don't expect A.I. and 'Melo to become stoppers or Defensive Team vote-getters," Karl said. "But I would just want a commitment on transition defense (from everyone). ... No one plays the defensive end of the court with perfection. But you can play the defensive end of the court perfect conceptually."