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Indiana Pacers Betting That Rick Carlisle Is The Right Coach To Advance Franchise

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The Indiana Pacers have hired Rick Carlisle, a 19-year head coaching veteran with championship experience, to be the next head coach of the franchise.

The hiring comes on the heels of the Pacers letting former head coach Nate Bjorkgren go after a tumultuous first season in Indiana. Bjorkgren struggled at the “human management” aspect of coaching, as Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard called it, and didn’t lead his team to enough wins to overcome that weakness.

Carlisle resigned from his head coaching role in Dallas just over one week ago, and the Pacers took advantage quickly by agreeing to a deal to bring him back to Indiana. Carlisle, 61, coached the Pacers from 2003-06 and lead the team to a 181-147 record while guiding them to the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals.

“Rick is a proven winner with a championship and will be a Hall of Fame coach. He has demonstrated throughout his career an ability to build something with sustainable success,” Pritchard said in a team-issued statement. “He has great respect for our franchise and our fans from his previous times here. We are very happy to welcome him back to Indiana.”

Carlisle’s coaching resume is sublime. In his nearly two-decades leading NBA teams, he has amassed a 836-689 record, which puts him 15th on the all-time wins leaderboard by an NBA head coach. He has reached the conference finals as a head coach with three different organizations — once with Detroit in 2003, once with Indiana in 2004, and once with Dallas in 2011. Additionally, he has been on a coaching staff for two different NBA Finals teams — he was an assistant coach for the 2000 Pacers, who lost in the finals, as well as head coach for the 2011 Mavericks, who went on to win the championship over the Miami Heat. His history of success is impressive, Pritchard called him a hall of famer for good reason.

In Dallas, Carlisle showed off the many abilities he has as a head coach. Beyond winning a championship, he helped create a winning basketball culture that lasted for over a decade while also adapting his team’s playstyle throughout various roster makeups. He simultaneously developed many younger players into more talented pros and was a clever tactician for squads built around two different superstars — Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Dončić. Carlisle has a ton of positive head coaching traits.

“Rick Carlisle is also one of the best coaches in the league. He knows how to get the best out of his players,” former Mavericks center Andrew Bogut said in 2016. “He’s very, very smart and makes great adjustments. He’s a guy you want to play for.”

Carlisle, as previously stated, has prior ties to the Pacers organization. He was an assistant coach for the franchise from 1997-2000 before becoming the head coach of the team for a quartet of seasons in the mid-2000s. He led the blue and gold to their best ever record during the 2003-04 season, accumulating 61 wins, and guided the roster to three straight playoff appearances in his first three seasons. The infamous “Malice at the Palace” derailed the franchise for much of his first tenure as the Pacers head coach, though.

Carlisle told the Indianapolis Star that his familiarity with the organization was a factor in his return to Indiana. “Familiarity with the organization is a plus for me,” he said.

Former Pacers forward Metta Sandiford-Artest (then Ron Artest) praised Carlisle on Twitter in 2020. “Just listen to this guy and you will have a killer career,” he said. Sandiford-Artest had his only All-Star season with Carlisle as his head coach.

Carlisle brings a strong offensive mind to the Pacers. During the 2019-20 season, his Mavericks set the then-NBA record for offensive rating, scoring 115.9 points per 100 possessions, and Dallas had a top-10 offense seven different times under Carlisle. He also guided Indiana to a top-10 offense in the 2003-04 season — he has been able to create successful offensive schemes even as the NBA has evolved over the last two decades. He’s one of the best coaches in the league at finding ways to generate points.

It’s hard not to call this a marvelous hire for Indiana. Carlisle was one of the best available head coaching candidates this summer, if not the best. It’s massive for the Pacers that they were able to come to an agreement with Carlisle — he is skilled enough to be the coach that guides the team out of the mediocre stretch that they are currently in. That said, there was optimism that both former head coaches in Indiana, Nate McMillan and Bjorkgren, could help build on prior successes, so there is some natural hesitation from fans in Indiana. They will need to see results.

Carlisle, though, is on a level above either of those coaches. Both of them had human management issues in Indiana, but if the same problems persist under Carlisle, then it has to be considered that the communication hitches in the locker room are a result of misguided expectations from players rather than a specific coaching trait. Sure, rifts are still possible — Carlisle is a no nonsense guy and doesn’t mince words. He can’t be considered blameless immediately in any negative locker room matters. But if there is chafing between players and coaches again, for the third season in a row in Indiana, the roster needs to look in the mirror — Carlisle isn’t going anywhere with a contract like his, barring extenuating circumstances.

The Indiana front office, after giving Carlisle a lengthy deal, will likely have their coach’s back in the coming seasons. They hired Carlisle, so it’s clear they think he’s the right man for the job. The organization is sending a strong message about their thoughts on his coaching abilities and his potential to carry this roster to new heights — according to numerous publications, Carlisle’s contract with Indiana spans four years and totals $29 million. That is a huge commitment from the Pacers and their ownership, especially after the team just hired Bjorkgren last summer to a shorter, less expensive contract. The blue and gold believe Carlisle is the right man for the job, and they are putting up the money to show it.

It’s a big bet from the Pacers. If it fails, they are still tied to Carlisle financially for nearly a half decade, and they will still be paying Bjorkgren this coming season. But the team is at a crossroads after a 34-38 campaign, and changes were needed. Swapping out Bjorkgren for Carlisle is a huge change, and it may not be the only one coming in the Circle City.

Regardless of any other personnel alterations within the organization, Indiana brass displayed with two numbers — four years and $29 million — that they think Carlisle can take the Pacers to the next level. Pritchard and company are all in on their new leader. If the team doesn’t take a noticeable step forward in the coming campaigns, it won’t be the head coach that is swapped out, it will be something else. That’s the natural progression of changes after a major coaching move.

Rick Carlisle has a fantastic resume, and with Indiana’s roster full of players with unique skillsets, he could be a perfect fit. The Pacers sure think he is going to be. They invested in a strong, established coach in the hopes that he can change the fortunes of this franchise. If Carlisle’s history tells us anything, it’s that the Pacers placed their hope in the right coach. But as the blue and gold have learned in past seasons, they will have to wait and see what the actual results are.

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