Rick Carlisle once called the head coaching job of the Indiana Pacers the best job in sports. He no longer has that position.
ESPN indicates that Carlisle will replace Avery Johnson as the head coach of the perennial playoff contenders, the Dallas Mavericks.
Carlisle has now flown to Dallas to have his second interview with the team and it sounds as though Carlisle will be the next coach to try to lead them to a championship.
For those of you who don't know, Carlisle started his coaching career as an assistant coach in New Jersey under Bill Fitch and Chuck Daley.
In 1994, he joined the Portland Trail Blazers as an assistant coach under P.J. Carlesimo. In 1997, Carlisle came one step closer to attaining his dream as Pacers head coach when he accepted a position as the Indiana Pacers assistant coach under his former teammate, Larry Bird.
After the 1999-2000 season where the Pacers reached the NBA Finals for the first time, Larry Bird stepped down as head coach and gave Carlisle a good word to management to hire him.
Instead, the Pacers hired Isiah Thomas. Smart, huh?
For the 2001 season, Carlisle accepted a position as head coach of the Detroit Pistons. In his two years there, he led them to back-to-back 50-32 seasons, earning Coach of the Year honours in 2002.
After the 2002-2003 season, the Pistons fired Carlisle to hire coaching legend Larry Brown.
In the 2003-2004 season, Carlisle was finally hired as head coach of the Indiana Pacers to replace Thomas. Carlisle led the Pacers to the league's best record (61-21) in his first year there.
In the playoffs, they lost to Brown's Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. Carlisle was later fired after the injury-depleted Pacers missed the playoffs.
Now, there is a very good chance that Carlisle will join the Mavericks. If all goes well for them, Carlisle will lead them to their first NBA Championship.
Can he do it? Only time will tell. I think he will fit in well there, and he will enjoy a long coaching career in Dallas.
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2 months ago
I think he will be a good coach for them, I was thinking it might be Jeff Van Gundy, but Carlisle should fit in good.
2 months ago
Mavs are done no matter who the coach is!!! The little roach couldn't do it what makes you think that big mole on his left cheek is gonna be able to do!!!
from 2 months ago
Chill with the little roach b.s. Stephen. We don't need to read that crap.
2 months ago
I think this is a horrible move for the Mavericks. Why would you bring in a guy who is more controlling than Avery Johnson (which is what was supposedly Avery's downfall), who is less successful than Avery has been? Horrible move. It would've taken more guts to stick with Avery than this gutless move. Why not reach out to another inexperienced coach, so that when this all falls apart in Dallas, you can blame that coach again instead of the players that you're still stuck with for another few years?
2 months ago
Dallas will be fine. This is a great opportunity to have Avery go and continue his career after the lessons learned in Dallas, and for Carlisle to finaly have a chance to set up shop and stay with a real contender. The players for the Mav's are all talented and have a good foundation set up. Cuban's energy and $$$$$ will get them back into shape. There is no downside to this. The Mav's would have lost to the Lakers if they would have gone to the final round anyway- there is no stopping Kobe and Gasol. That's what the Mav's need to concentrate on, how to beat the best teams in the West, since New Orleans is fast and Utah, Houston, and Phoenix are all even talent wise with Dallas.
2 months ago
The Indiana Pacers , as a professional team of NBA, is one of the major teams that has fans all around the world. It is quite normal if Indiana Pacers tickets are so pricy or hard to find because such great teams tickets worth any price. It doesn’t matter if we pay a respected price for Pacers tickets because we satisfy our eagerness to watch good games and more than that when we go to watch a game it’s because we love this team and we shouldn’t be mean.
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