If everyone (especially his players) hated him they wouldnt have won 50 games each the last 2 seasons. They wouldnt have made the Eastern Conference Finals. That isn't a team that could just dominate on talent alone. He won with a one-dimensional rebounding wizard, a middle range jump shooter, and a bunch of scrubs or castoffs from other teams. Nobody on Detroit has the talent or potential of either Yao or Steve. Carlisle's aggresiveness would be a good match with Les. Remember, Les used to trade securities on Wall Street. You don't become that succesful being thin skinned.
actually I think this speaks to the quality of his assistants. Obviously they must have spoken in practice but I don't get the impression he was interested in one to one talks. The players at Detroit played with a lot of heart and the assistants must have been very good communicators if Carlisle wasn't. He may be a good coach with a bad personality. If his assistants are willing to come with him then I'd like to at least give this guy an interview. My concern would be how would Yao react to a guy that was harsh to him all the time. I don't get the impression that the big man would respond well to this at all. (I use Yao because everyone explodes whenever you talk about any other player in the league even having feelings. Also we've still got to lock Yao into a 7 year deal before we risk hurting his feelings.)
Bobby Knight got quite a few teams to overachieve, too. When it comes to the carrot and stick approach, sometimes the stick approach works better. For a while, at least, until the team tunes you out.
Well RIET I hope you are right. But like JBC said, that tiype of approach can only work for so long before players tune you out. He did do a good job of getting scrubs to ball.
uh hello Rudy was tuned out too!! Rocks didn't make the playoffs either, ya'll get a grip.Even if he an't a players coach, The man got results he wanted.So did the team(eastern finals). Rick Carlisle be perfect for this team imo. We had a player's coach and he's gone.Time fo a change.
Rick Carlise on sporting news radio in about 45 mins... left navigation..listen live. http://radio.sportingnews.com/shows/brown_wetzel/index.html
