MVN - Most Valuable Network

Sources: Rick Carlisle to become new Mavericks head coach

I guess I was a little late to this party.  I had wanted to blog out a short list of the possible candidates to replace Avery Johnson as the Mavs’ new head coach for next season, however upon awaking this morning I saw a number of reports indicating that Dallas had already chosen its guy: Rick Carlisle.

DallasBasketball.com is where I first read that the search was over.  ESPN.com confirmed that Carlisle flew to Dallas for a second interview with Mark Cuban on Friday, and the New York Post’s Peter Vecsey reports that the two parties have already agreed to terms.

Before I get into how I feel he’ll do in Dallas and what Carlisle, 49, brings to the table, let’s look at his past accomplishments:

1. Began his coaching career as an assistant under Chuck Daly in New Jersey from 1989-1994.
2. Was an assistant in Portland under P.J. Carlesimo from 1994-1997.
3. Served as “offensive coordinator” under the Indiana Pacers’ Larry Bird from 1997-2000.  Helped them get to the NBA Finals in 2000.
4. Guided the Detroit Pistons to a 100-64 record from 2001-03 and went 12-15 in the playoffs.
5. Named 2001-02 NBA Coach of the Year.
6. Went 181-147 while coaching the Indiana Pacers from 2003-07, not including his 18-17 record in the playoffs.
7. Led the Pacers to a league-best 61-21 record in 2003-04, but lost to his former team, the Pistons, in the Conference Finals.

Since stepping down (or being fired) from the Pacers in 2007, Carlisle has been working as an NBA studio analyst for ESPN.  In watching him this season, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s very knowledgeable on the intricacies of the game and he seems like a pretty affable, down to earth kind of guy.

Carlisle supposedly has a reputation for employing a conservative, demanding coaching style (sort of like Avery), and that somewhat scares me.  I was hoping they would go for a guy who brings a different style to the table.  However, to me he is a better candidate than someone like Jeff Van Gundy or Mike D’Antoni, who both seem to favor defense and offense in their teams’ respective styles of play.  The team, as well as some of the players, have said recently that they want someone who uses a good balance of offense and defense in their schemes, and I agree with that.

In order for Cuban to hire Carlisle, it’s a virtual certainty that he still believes that this team can win with a two-man nucleus of Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd (notice I didn’t throw Josh Howard in there).  Hopefully Carlisle will bring in a new style of play that suits both Kidd’s and Nowitzki’s offensive strengths as well as opens up the offense with more movement and creativity (read: no more isolation plays every other time down the court).

Much, much more on this reported hiring later on.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am and is filed under Rick Carlisle, Avery Johnson, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.