This article says that Carslisle will talk to a third team, that is unnamed. Perhaps that is us? No way he would choose Clips or Wizards over us. The question is whether the Rox are interested. CD, you better talk to him at least. This guy is going to be driven like mad to prove the Pistons wrong. Carlisle to interview for Clippers' post -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESPN.com news services Rick Carlisle, fired Saturday as Pistons coach as the team made room for Larry Brown, will interview for the Clippers job in the next few days, ESPN has learned. Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor called him to request an interview at the pre-draft camp in Chicago. Carlisle will also meet with the Wizards in the near future. The Clippers also have interviewed Mike Fratello, Mike Dunleavy and interim coach Dennis Johnson. Carlisle had said recently that he planned to pursue coaching jobs with three teams. The identity of the third team remains unknown. . . .
1. This time find a place that actually has parking available so no one is worried about getting towed. 2. Brown's perception is way ahead of Carlisle. That's a given. However, the Perception theory does not go away and is not binary. The real issue is: Now that the top choice is gone, who has the best skills to help this team accomplish the most in the least amount of time. This should be the ultimate goal. Is it Jeff van Gundy? Is it Mike Dunleavy? is it Rick Carlisle? Ok, let's look at the 3. Van Gundy. Who knows. How many players on this team can even remember what Van Gundy did with the Knicks and more importantly, do they care. Somehow he was considered a very good coach, left, and reincarnated into a raging phoenix reborn to conquer basketball land. I don't know how this all happened but based on the "demand", Im convinced that people watch too much TV. Dunleavy. I like him the least because he's so blah. He's like a neutron, neither positive or negative, just there. He did a good job in LA. He did a piss poor job in Milwaukee. he did a good job in Portland until he lost control of the team. You can make all the excuses but what's his rep? I don't know, what is it? Blah. Carlisle. Ok, this is the guy everybody knows. Fired from Detroit. Sitting next to the man who just fired him. Did you look at Dumars' face? You would think he's about to face a firing squad. Dumars looked as sad as Carlisle. That speaks volumes. So why was Carlisle fired? Because he couldnt make nice nice with the 80 year old owner's secretary, blah blah blah... Big freaking deal. Les Alexander made his millions on Wall Street trading securities. This man is ruthless and he's not the king of PR. He wants to win and he's the best owner in Houston. He won't be offended by Carlisle's reputation as a hard ass. What has he accomplished? He coached under Chuck Daly and Larry Bird. he has turned a mediocre Detroit team with no viable superstars into a winner defeating teams with greater talent, more veterans, and supposedly "better coaches". He did what any coach is supposed to do with losing teams. He made them win. He did a Larry Brown except he's not a flaky SOB, just a mean one. So what's his rep? Rookie Coach, Coach of the year. Hard Ass coach but very good at maximizing talent. Fired and replaced by a HOF coach. Fired not based on talent or skill but personality conflict. Won't play a rookie unless he proves he deserves it. Playing time will be distributed based on skill, not reputation, or PR expectations. Will publicly support his players and go to bat for them. Who does this team need ? They need Rick Carlisle.
RIET (your name makes me think of Real Estate Investment Trusts), I don't think people fully appreciate the importance of the "street cred" of the coach that we hire. It impacts the players' willingness to buy into the coach's teachings and system. It's not about whether the players like the coach as a person. It's whether the players respect the coach and buy what he's selling. That was perhaps the most attractive thing about Voldemort (I can't refer to LB by name anymore. I'm so bitter). Right now, I can only imagine that Carslisle would have greater credibility with the team because of his recent success. I can see a group of young, semi-intelligent 20 somthings sitting around in a group, making fun of JVG because of his bad hair and ankle biting days. Perhaps that would change with time, perhaps not. Finally, with regard to Carslisle's ability to direct an offense, I think Detroit's offense was just fine. It featured much more motion and team play than did the Rockets. There were screens, cuts and movement. Unfortunately for him, most of his players were unable to make shots. If the Rox had that much movement, they would have far more success scoring the ball. Ultimately, I'd be ok with JVG or Carslisle, but I have a preference for Carslisle. Dunleavy would be intolerable, not due to any lack of ability, but he offers no presence. More than anything, our team needs a hard ass disciplinarian.
RIET, I was serious when I said that I've read pretty much all your posts in the last week. You are still repeating yourself...like the Wall Street Securities thingie,,,still don't know what that means. But thank you for not repeating that you think Carlisle turned Brown's Indiana failure around more than Reggie et al already had it in them, nor saying Carlisle is the "best Xs and Os man in the game." I like Carlisle, from all that I know. Why make me choose integrity for the history of the game over your passion for announing Carlisle as the only thing left? Now we are closer to agreeing and having a conversation. I think I have a new take on our different takes. But I won't repost it here. It's in the NBA Dish under the Brown thread there. bottomline is: you give more credit to coaches and more blame to coaches than I. I think the game is 80-90% players, and some players have this "perception" thing going on just like Brown, where they have teflon against blame? For instance, I don't think Brown disciplined Iverson like you hector about. I think Brown knew Iverson had him, and was impervious to accusations from the standpoint of threatening his position as team leader of the 76ers. Brown was more at Iverson's mercy than the other way around. Another guy with teflon against blame? Francis probably gets the least blame of a 4th yr lottery All-Star player that I've ever witnessed before. I don't need Brown to tell me who to blame. And I don't think Brown is the man to fix Francis. Francis could not handle what Brown tried to dish out at Iverson. Iverson is the real Teflon Man.
I repeat this stuff because this is one of the most important issues . Moreso than almost anything else. Bottom Line: Carlisle didnt get along with Detroit's 80 year old owner. Bottom Line: Les Alexander's occupation is indicative of his personality. There are stories that the owner couldnt stand Carlisle. People lose their jobs for different reasons. Les would have much more patience than Carlisle's former employer and Carlisle probably learned a little people skills. This combination is critical to Carlisle's success should he become the Rocket's head coach. If the owner hates you no matter what you do on the court, it's over. I don't think Carlisle will face that type of adversity if he does his job here. That's important. I still don't know what you mean by this. I still claim and believe that Rick Carlisle played an integral part in Indiana's success. Bird knew Carlisle was an excellent assistant. He was a laid back coach and needed good assistants because he needed to macromanage and not micromanage. That does not take away anything Carlisle accomplished while he was there. He worked hard and as a result was considered for head coaching jobs. Bird was the perfect head coach for that team and I never disputed that. As far as the "X's and O's". How did Carlisle turn Detroit around with mediocre talent? By building it around the team's strengths. How did he make them winners? Smokes and Mirrors? Certainly not through his engaging personality. I have no idea what you mean by this. As far as the players, I won't go into this. I am a big believer that everything matters. Every player (not just the super stars), the head coach, the assistants, etc. They might not matter all the time but they could matter at anytime. Unless it is unattainable, you should always strive to get the best. Best starters, best bench warmers, best coaches, best arenas, best everything because you don't know when it will matter. Is Greg Popovich a great coach because Steve Kerr came in and drained 4 3pointers? Was Tim Duncan a better player because of it? Was San Antonio a better team because their geriatric bench warmer played the game of his life? In the public opinion, nobody cares. In the end, it's all about Duncan and Popovich.
I don't understand all this jibber jabber about Carlisle. We need a guy who can get the most out our talent and Carlisle has done that in Detroit and Indiana while not quitting on his team like Van Gundy. If in fact the Pistons players didn't like him it sure didn't affect them on the floor. None of this stuff affected the team's performance there. Who cares if he's yelled at a few employees, this is about winning on the court not who you feel comfortable riding in an elevator with. If Steve Francis needs his ego stroked he can just call RudyT after practice.
Please Les - sign Carlisle. He's the only coach out there that has caoched in a zoned NBA. He's the most recent COY available. He's the best coach out there. While JVG knows man-to-man defense, I don't think I can stand to watch the Rockets become a 70+ point a night team.
I've hashed thru all this enough, so I won't explain. I'll just state my preference: Van Gundy, Dunleavy, Carlisle.
Rick Carlisle? No. First that gosh-boy-howdy I'm-not-bitter press conference with Dumars; then some well-placed kiss-ass phone calls; but it all comes down to this... If his players didn't like him (and most didn't; sounds like he only related well to Stackhouse the Star), and if he doesn't play young players until absolutely necessary (and we have only young players, Glen Rice excepted), then how does this team go from Rudy "Most Well-Liked Coach" Tomjanovic to Rick the Pr**k? Sure we need Xs and Os and discipline. But there has to be communication between the players and the staff. The Rockets will only hire Rick Carlisle if Les is more concerned about pulling a cheap-O Donald Sterling. I still say Van Gumby.
This is what I wanted. 1. Pat Riley 2. Larry Brown 3. Rick Carlisle 4. Jeff Van Gundy 5. Doc Rivers 6. Paul Silas 7. Rudy Tomjanovich 8. Mike Dunleavy Well.....it seems like my last choice will be coach.
Become? Let me see what were we in PPG game last year? pretty damn low. I'd rather be winning games 85-79 nightly then win 110-107 one night then lose 89-73 the next night. How about you? This is a team that should be stressed to play defense because we have gotten no where the past 3 seasons. Eddie Griffin has no role. Steve Francis cannot run the point. Cuttino Mobley is a hopeless cause. Yao Ming doesn't get the ball. Face it... Kelvin Cato is about the only player last year that understood his role. Van Gundy is exactly what this team needs... consistency.
You stress that we need Van Gundy because he'll get us to play defense. And which team led the league in team defense last year and who was their coach?
Where did you hear his players didn't like him? Billups had nothing but good things to say about him during a recent interview...he said the friction was more between the owner and carlise than anything.
I see. So when Van Gundy's team plays defense it's because of his great system. However, when Carlisle's team plays great defense it's only because of Ben Wallace.
<i> Once again, that's assuming it's true. When Bob Levy asked Carlisle last night on ESPN about the allegations, Carlisle said he was very surprised by the allegations. And if you saw the interview, you wouldve seen someone shocked and depressed than bitter and angry. I can also point to several articles where it's not exactly certain whether the stories were true and to what extent they were exagerrated.</i> Ok, since it looks like Van Gundy will be offered the Rocket's, why do you think that the Rocket's didn't even bother to interview Carlisle? He's young, been successful and would probably come cheaper than Van Gundy. So, if it's not his behaviour, then what is it?
aelliott, I think I already know what the response would be... Because the Rox mgmt and owner are a bunch of idiots!!! That is the general feeling around this board.
