Rick Carlisle: The Wrong Man for the Dallas Mavericks

Rick Carlisle is the wrong man for the Dallas Mavericks if they want to build for the future. 

During his head coaching tenure in Detroit and Indiana, he took both up and coming teams to the conference finals.  He even led Indy to the best record in the NBA once.

But he was tossed out the door in both stops. Once, so Larry Brown could win a title with Detroit, and second, so Indiana could move past the brawl with the Pistons. 

So, he's presided over a team that couldn't get to the finals until he moved on, while he coached another that was a train wreck with a bunch of headcases. 

So what does he have in Dallas? 

A team not good enough to get to the Finals?  Check. 

A team full of headcases?  Check.

So is Carlisle any better than Avery Johnson? 

Probably not, but he's different, which is why he just might work out. 

Rick Carlisle's coaching resume has some eery similarities to Avery Johnson's. With the "good but not good enough" teams, to the players seeming to tune him out at the end. 

Fans of the Pacers and the Mavericks both watched teams quit on these two coaches at the end of their tenures with the teams. 

However, in Carlisle's defense (and Avery's for that matter), in his first two years with his teams, he took them to the upper echelon of the NBA. 

Rick Carlisle can turn a team around.

That being said, I didn't want Rick Carlisle. 

Right now, I think the team is really behind the eight ball with their personnel: Josh Howard is a mess and has little trade value right now.  Jason Kidd is another mess with an expiring contract.  Jason Terry is doing well but has a bad contract.

Erick Dampier (nevermind), and the role players are all unsigned. 

Dirk Nowitzki and Brandon Bass are really the only contributors who are playing at or above the level of their contracts. 

The Mavericks also have no first round pick in two of the next three years. 

So how will the Carlisle experiment work out? 

Probably better than I actually want it to. 

Dirk Nowitzki, who spent an hour talking to Carlisle about post play in his interview (what the heck?), will probably gain a little new life being barked at by someone else. 

Maybe Josh Howard will benefit from a coach who is thankful that he's not Stephen Jackson or Ron Artest, and start to play like an All-Star again.

Maybe Jason Kidd will benefit from being away from the "Little General". 

Maybe Mark Cuban can get creative with the salary cap and get an athletic swingman in Dallas. 

Maybe this will work, at least for next year. 

Maybe the Mavericks will get back to the Conference Finals. 

Then, these same guys (minus Jason Kidd most likely) will tire of Rick Carlisle, and Dirk will call Mark Cuban to find someone who fits his style more again. 

The Mavericks will dump Carlisle, and start building for the future with a then 32- year-old, Nowitzki, and without a first round pick. 

Then, I think Mark Cuban will finally choose the coach we all wanted this year:  Donnie Nelson.  Yep, you got it, another Nellie coaching the Mavs. 

Maybe then Cuban won't trade Dirk to the Suns because he's getting too old.