Why Rick Carlisle is the best coach in the NBA

Credit to naptown seth from Pacers Digest.

Rick Carlisle is the best coach in the NBA, period. And I'm gonna back that statement up with facts so good, noone will be able to dispute them.

From 2001-2002 (Ricks 1st season) untill this past season, Rick Carlisle is #3 in total Coach of the Year points. However these points can be a little misleading, as someone like Mike D'Antonio or Eric Musselman can have 1 great coaching season and be skyrocketed to near the top of the list.

In those 4 years, 4 coaches have been voted top-5 in multiple seasons.
Jerry Sloan, Nate McMillan, and Rick Adelman have each been named in the top-5 twice. Rick Carlisle has been named in the top-5 all 4 seasons.

Only 1 coach has been named in the top-2 multiple seasons - Rick Carlisle, who did it twice, finishing #2 in 2004-2005 and winning the award in 2001-2002.

Rick Carlisle got his lowest finish ever - 5th - the season before last. The season in which he lead the Pacers to a record of 61-21, the best record in the NBA. This same feat was good enough to win Mike D'Antoni the award this past season, so why it was only good enough for Carlisle to finish 5th, I don't know.

Only 1 coach recieved points all 4 seasons - Rick Carlisle. As a matter of fact, only 2 other coaches recieved points in atleast 3 seasons - Rick Adelman and Gregg Popovich.


Here's total points rankings and number of top-5 finishes:
Jerry Sloan 567, 2
Hubie Brown 513, 1
Rick Carlisle 472, 4
Mike D'Antoni 326, 1
Nate McMillan 241, 2
Eric Musselman 231, 1
Gregg Popovich 224, 1
Scott Skiles 199, 1
George Karl 97, 1
Rick Adelman 95, 2
Flip Saunders 76, 0
Stan Van Gundy 62, 1
Terry Porter 54, 1
Don Nelson 33, 0
Larry Brown 30, 0
Maurice Cheeks 27, 1
Jeff Bzdelik 25, 0
Byron Scott 23, 1
Frank Johnson 22, 0
Paul Silas 18, 0
Eddie Jordan 14, 0
Phil Jackson 12, 0
Isiah Thomas 4, 0
Rudy Tomjanovich 3, 0
Jim O'Brien 2, 0
Mike Fratello 2, 0
Alvin Gentry 1, 0
Doug Collins 1, 0

That proves so much.

Thank you, Indy.

That proves so much.

I agree.

OMFG, we have a new Jesus! He's perfect! Lebron with vagina!

I've always thought Carisle was the best coach in the league.

If he's so great why didn't Reggie leave with at least one ring?

I've always thought Carisle was the best coach in the league.

That's Pops or Brown, you decide.

Hmm, I've always felt that Pops should've been higher, or at least above Carlsie.

Would someone be posting this if Rick was still coaching Detroit?

i used to hate carlisle because he would always shitkick my wizards when MJ was around

but i agree with indy, with what happened to the pacers this year and how he managed to muster the detroit/indiana series to 6 games without ron artest, an aging reggie miller and the gay wallace brothers defending JO is simply remarkable.




on another note, i think larry brown is a fag and i hate him.

on another note, i think larry brown is a fag and i hate him.

You have to admit though, if he gets the Knicks above .500, he's a damn good coach ( )

Is Rick coaching the Pacers next season? if so how many years does he have left in his contract?

on another note, i think larry brown is a fag and i hate him.

You have to admit though, if he gets the Knicks above .500, he's a damn good coach ( )

no doubt, he's a great coach.. probably one of the best of all time
but he's still a fag
and i still hate him

if knicks get to 2nd round larry brown will be the best coach

You have to admit though, if he gets the Knicks above .500, he's a damn good coach

If he doesn't play Trevor Ariza he'll still be a fag in my books.

I'd rather have Flip Saunders or Rick Carisle or Greg Popovich than Larry Brown. I value loyalty from a coach and Larry Brown is too damn un-trustworthy for me.

if knicks get to 2nd round larry brown will be the best coach

Because he'll get them into the second roung? Let's just forget Red & Jax because Brown got them into the second round, ofcourse.

I've always thought Carisle was the best coach in the league.

That's Pops or Brown, you decide.

Zen!!

Good to see Jerry Sloan on top of everybody.

Good to see Jerry Sloan on top of everybody.

Stop ruining threads.

Rick is pretty good, i'm sure most teams would love to have him.

There are 2 types of coaches in the NBA< and one is becoming extinct. There are Larry Brown type coaches, who expects professional basketball players who will execute a team strategy and go for the playoffs, hard. This type gets fired more & more every year.

The 2nd type of coach is a teaching/developer coach like Phil Jackson, who isn't as worried about Xs & Os and more concerned with player development and (in PJ's case) player environment & relationships. He's almost a Deanna Troy of the NBA. PJ didn't institute his own offense/defense when he inherited the Bulls, he looked to his assistant coaches Tex & Bach for both offense & defense, surprising at the time.

To be successful these days, coaches need to do more & more of the 2nd type. Owners are actually less worried about your # of wins and more worried about whether you can develop LeBron (or fill-in-the-blank) into achieving his true potential.

The 2nd aspect is what Larry Brown doesn't want to deal with. He hasn't made much effort to develop Darko, Delfino, or the other youngsters. His handling of his relationship w/ the Pistons and Dumars was atrocious towards the end of the season.

So we'll see about Rick, i think Rick can do some of both, but the longevity & development of the current Indiana crew will determine how the owners in the NBA see him, as much (or even more) than his W-L record.

The reason the league needs more of the "player" coaches opposed to the "x's & o's" coaches is because almost every player seems to have an ego the size of God knows what. It's hardly about basketball anymore, it's more about who is the star and who is the go to guy & who gets more playing time.

Look at the last two teams to win the championships, stars that didn't get their panties in a bunch to be in the spotlight. The players of San Antonio each know their roles. They know Duncan is the center piece of the team, they don't quarrel to be "the man". This way Pops doesn't really have to be the "player" coach but can just focus on the X's & O's. Look at Detroit, no one is a real star but they still managed to win a championship. Why? Because everyone knows their role.

In the days of the Shaquille O'Neal's & Kobe Bryants, they need a coach that will stroke their ego. As long as they know they are the man, they will play according to what the coach wants.

Lets not kid ourselves, Jackson isn't a x's & o's coach. But that isn't why he was brought back either, he knows how to handle Bryant. He's a rare exception that when you don't have to focus on ego's, you can just focus on x's & o's. He doesn't do the whole x's & o's thing, he does mind games & does them well.

I can't say much about Rick Carlisle, he isn't one to play up the media (Jackson) so I'd think he belongs to the types of Brown's & Pops.

In any case, I wish him the best with his career.

Rick is pretty good, i'm sure most teams would love to have him.

There are 2 types of coaches in the NBA< and one is becoming extinct. There are Larry Brown type coaches, who expects professional basketball players who will execute a team strategy and go for the playoffs, hard. This type gets fired more & more every year.

The 2nd type of coach is a teaching/developer coach like Phil Jackson, who isn't as worried about Xs & Os and more concerned with player development and (in PJ's case) player environment & relationships. He's almost a Deanna Troy of the NBA. PJ didn't institute his own offense/defense when he inherited the Bulls, he looked to his assistant coaches Tex & Bach for both offense & defense, surprising at the time.

To be successful these days, coaches need to do more & more of the 2nd type. Owners are actually less worried about your # of wins and more worried about whether you can develop LeBron (or fill-in-the-blank) into achieving his true potential.

The 2nd aspect is what Larry Brown doesn't want to deal with. He hasn't made much effort to develop Darko, Delfino, or the other youngsters. His handling of his relationship w/ the Pistons and Dumars was atrocious towards the end of the season.

So we'll see about Rick, i think Rick can do some of both, but the longevity & development of the current Indiana crew will determine how the owners in the NBA see him, as much (or even more) than his W-L record.

maes.. blasphemy! phil jackson is hardly a teacher/developer. maybe when he was still an assistant coach w/the bulls, he helped out with pippen. but's that it.

name one nba rookie that he developed on any team he has coached. closest thing to that i can think of was scott williams, a third center

he seldom plays rookies to begin with and the situations he's been in, he's there to win the finals.

if anything, larry brown is the teacher type. just not to euros lol

from what i remember before the big suspensions, rick carlisle is a rather meticulous coach and if he had it his way, every single play would be scripted.

I hate the Pacers. Let me say that first. I also want to say it's hard to ignore facts.
So if we go by Indy's facts then he is right Carlisle is the best.
(That is adding COY points)
In our own eyes we will all have a different opinions but u cannot argue that he is not in the top 3-4.

Indy, u must clarify that u mean in the game today correct?

Larry Brown is good but the guy is a total asshole. I was like whatever until he and his agent started saying "I am so hurt...I cannot believe this etc..."

Horseshit.