Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle has been with the organization since 2009, and helped lead them to their first championship in 2011. He's widely regarded as one of the league's brightest basketball minds, and had much success in previous stops as head coach of the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers.
But now, at 55 years old, coming off a disastrous season in which he alienated a talented four-time All-Star point guard, is it worth asking if some of Carlisle's previous success clouds how we view his current ability? After all, Dallas hasn't been out of the first round since they won the title.
Here's more, courtesy of SB Nation's Mavericks blog Mavs Moneyball:
"This wasn't necessarily Rick Carlisle's finest season, even with the Mavs hanging tough against the Rockets for most of the first round. He often stuck with lineups like the Nowitzki-Stoudemire frontcourt pairing in spite of the on-court results. He's still one of the league's top five coaches but the ending of the last few seasons have shown us that's irrelevant without enough talent on the court."
At the end of the day, the NBA is a player's league. Teams with talent go far in the postseason. Teams that don't have talent eventually lose. Judging Carlisle too harshly on his team's struggle isn't right because he didn't have any All-Stars. But time after time he (mostly) gets the most out of the players his front office gives him.
That's the ultimate sign of a good coach.
(h/t: Mavs Moneyball)
