Pacers Fire Carlisle
The Pacers fired Rick Carlisle today. Actually, they didn't "fire" him—Carlisle and the Pacers "agreed that he'd step down as coach." The Pacers offered their recently ousted coach a job in the front office.
I think that Rick Carlisle is probably one of the ten best coaches in the NBA, but I agree that he needed to go. In his first year, Carlisle's Pacers won a league-best 61 games; in his second year, Carlisle took a team that had been depleted by suspensions to the second round of the playoffs. But Carlisle couldn't hold the team together after Reggie Miller retired. He didn't know what to do with Stephen Jackson and Ron Artest—granted, very few people do—and the team has underachieved ever since. The Pacers lost 23 of their last 29 games this year, but they failed to lose enough games to keep their first-round draft pick.
(The Pacers' first pick this year goes to Atlanta as part of the Al Harrington trade unless the Pacers pick in the top ten. If they don't win one of the top three picks in the lottery, which is extrememly unlikely, the Pacers—rather the Hawks—will pick eleventh. By contrast, the Minnesota Timberwolves successfully tanked their season and will not have to trade their top-ten pick to the Clippers.)
On the other hand, Rick Carlisle only deserves a little of the blame for the Pacers' woes. Most of the blame goes to Ben Wallace and the Pistons fan who threw his drink at Ron Artest on November 19, 2004. Most of the rest of the blame goes to the front office for including Al Harrington and Sarunas Jasikevicius in the get-rid-of-Stephen Jackson trade and not getting enough in return. After the trade, the Warriors went 23-19 (with a former Pacer leading the team in scoring in 11 of those 23 games) and made the playoffs for the first time since Bill Clinton's first term. The Pacers went 15-28 and missed the playoffs for the first time in ten years.
I'm not sure who the best replacement for Carlisle might be, but I find this rumor intriguing.
I think that Rick Carlisle is probably one of the ten best coaches in the NBA, but I agree that he needed to go. In his first year, Carlisle's Pacers won a league-best 61 games; in his second year, Carlisle took a team that had been depleted by suspensions to the second round of the playoffs. But Carlisle couldn't hold the team together after Reggie Miller retired. He didn't know what to do with Stephen Jackson and Ron Artest—granted, very few people do—and the team has underachieved ever since. The Pacers lost 23 of their last 29 games this year, but they failed to lose enough games to keep their first-round draft pick.
(The Pacers' first pick this year goes to Atlanta as part of the Al Harrington trade unless the Pacers pick in the top ten. If they don't win one of the top three picks in the lottery, which is extrememly unlikely, the Pacers—rather the Hawks—will pick eleventh. By contrast, the Minnesota Timberwolves successfully tanked their season and will not have to trade their top-ten pick to the Clippers.)
On the other hand, Rick Carlisle only deserves a little of the blame for the Pacers' woes. Most of the blame goes to Ben Wallace and the Pistons fan who threw his drink at Ron Artest on November 19, 2004. Most of the rest of the blame goes to the front office for including Al Harrington and Sarunas Jasikevicius in the get-rid-of-Stephen Jackson trade and not getting enough in return. After the trade, the Warriors went 23-19 (with a former Pacer leading the team in scoring in 11 of those 23 games) and made the playoffs for the first time since Bill Clinton's first term. The Pacers went 15-28 and missed the playoffs for the first time in ten years.
I'm not sure who the best replacement for Carlisle might be, but I find this rumor intriguing.
posted by Tinley | 7:13 PM
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