Ranking Rick Carlisle

[Cabbage bulls]

How do you rank/view Rick Carlisle? He's 15th all time in wins. He'll get to top 10 all time before his career ends most likely. 1 championship. Hasn't had many elite teams tbh. You look at a guy like Doc Rivers - he has consistently had stacked teams. Rick, not so much.

Where ya got him?

[The_Hater]

Among current coaches and throughout his career, he’s consistently been a top 5-6 coach.

All-time? I don’t see how he ranks outside the top 10.

[zonedefense]

One of the best x`s and o´s coaches. Great in game adjustments. Great offensive scheme (flow offense). Gets the most out of his role players. Overall clearly overperformed with limited talent.
Downside: Can be really stubborn. Clashed with some stars (Kidd, Rondo). Probably not the best coach for a banana boat crew that wants to be in control of roster decisions and rotations.

[JJ_PR]

He's one of the best in the business as of right now.

[Big J]

He's at the top. He actually holds guys accountable and knows how to coach. Dude's absolutely depantsing Lue this series.

[raptor jesus]

His teams play smart basketball. Even when they were tanking, it seemed they'd always compete and make the right play. IIRC they had to go to great lengths - i.e. "rest" players - in their efforts to tank.

[Beethoven]

We'll see where he ranks after tomorrow.

[Pharmcat]

We'll see where he ranks after tomorrow.

The clippers have far more talent than mavs

[The_Hater]

We'll see where he ranks after tomorrow.

That shouldn’t matter. Ignoring that we have almost 20 years of coaching evidence so one game won’t alter things, nobody was picking the Mavs to win this series anyways and yet we’re going to game 7. ESPN writers were 17-1 picking the Clips. CBS was 8-0 Clippers. SI was 9-1 Clippers.

[cupcakesnake]

Very rare kind of coach that gives his teams a big advantage in the playoffs. His adjustments come quick and are often unpredictable. He's currently playing chess to Lue's checkers, and it's one of the biggest reasons the Mavs are a coin flip away from beating a much stronger roster.

Some Carlisle highlights
- Taking the 2014 Spurs to 7 games (something neither the Heatles or Thunder could manage that year). He did that with Monta Ellis as the leading scorer, Jose Calderon as the other starting guard, Sam Dalembert as his starting center, and Dirk and Vince in their late 30s. It was maybe the best coached series I have ever watched.
- Made the 2016 playoffs on the backs of Wes Matthews (Achilles rupture recovery year), Raymond Felton, JJ Barea and 37 year old Dirk. They even managed to steal a game from that Thunder team with peak Durant.
- Finished .500 with this roster.
- 2011 title. Beat 3 different teams that were favored to beat Dallas. It's very rare to beat favored teams in the NBA playoffs. Dallas swept a 57 win Kobe/Pau Laker team, was too much to handle for 55 win Durant/Westbrook/Harden team. and a 58 win super team in Miami. Insane.
- Great job coaching the early 2000s Pistons. Missed out on getting to coach Sheed and possibly winning a championship.
- Great job coaching the Pacers immediately after. Malice at the Palace ruined this Carlisle coached contender.
- Almost always creates one of the best bench lineups in the league, using random parts of the scrap heap.

I don't know how to rank Carlisle, or any coach, all-time. Too many old coaches that I don't have a strong enough handle on. But I know that, in this era, he has a very real argument for best coach. Obviously Pop is the consensus guy, (and I'd probably still go Pop), but I think Carlisle has done such impressive coaching in a wider variety of situations.

[Theo Ratliff]

He hasn't been out of the first round in 10 years. Most coaches would have been fired by now.

[TheEndIsNigh]

He's number one in my book. He's steadfast and reliable season after season. He is always coaching with purpose. The number of times I've read, "wtf is Carlisle doing with these rotations" posts early in the season, only to see his rotations solidify and his teams over perform expectations not long after is many.

He's not always the flashy or fun choice, but if I could pick one coach in the NBA to come coach the Bulls tomorrow it would be Rick. Yes, even over Pop.

[HeartBreakKid]

He hasn't been out of the first round in 10 years. Most coaches would have been fired by now.

He hasnt had a roster that was expected to get out of the first round in that same time span. That's a pretty important part.


Rick Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the league and of all time. He was just active during a rebuild period, that's it. Never had a stacked roster in his entire career.

[dirkforpres]

He sucks

[anotherhomer]

What are the notable moves that he's making in this clippers series?

Very rare kind of coach that gives his teams a big advantage in the playoffs. His adjustments come quick and are often unpredictable. He's currently playing chess to Lue's checkers, and it's one of the biggest reasons the Mavs are a coin flip away from beating a much stronger roster.

Some Carlisle highlights
- Taking the 2014 Spurs to 7 games (something neither the Heatles or Thunder could manage that year). He did that with Monta Ellis as the leading scorer, Jose Calderon as the other starting guard, Sam Dalembert as his starting center, and Dirk and Vince in their late 30s. It was maybe the best coached series I have ever watched.
- Made the 2016 playoffs on the backs of Wes Matthews (Achilles rupture recovery year), Raymond Felton, JJ Barea and 37 year old Dirk. They even managed to steal a game from that Thunder team with peak Durant.
- Finished .500 with this roster.
- 2011 title. Beat 3 different teams that were favored to beat Dallas. It's very rare to beat favored teams in the NBA playoffs. Dallas swept a 57 win Kobe/Pau Laker team, was too much to handle for 55 win Durant/Westbrook/Harden team. and a 58 win super team in Miami. Insane.
- Great job coaching the early 2000s Pistons. Missed out on getting to coach Sheed and possibly winning a championship.
- Great job coaching the Pacers immediately after. Malice at the Palace ruined this Carlisle coached contender.
- Almost always creates one of the best bench lineups in the league, using random parts of the scrap heap.

I don't know how to rank Carlisle, or any coach, all-time. Too many old coaches that I don't have a strong enough handle on. But I know that, in this era, he has a very real argument for best coach. Obviously Pop is the consensus guy, (and I'd probably still go Pop), but I think Carlisle has done such impressive coaching in a wider variety of situations.

[Wagonband]

What are the notable moves that he's making in this clippers series?

Well he made a great plan at the start with just focusing on Luka getting switched on by Zubac and crushing the Clippers that way. After they won 2 games he didn't adjust well for 2, but then had a stroke of genius with starting Boban, who barely played in the series. The Mavs won. The Clippers it seems made an adjustment to that, and now the ball is back in the court of Carlisle to figure out something new.

The Mavs have a far worse roster than the Clippers. If they manage to win, a lot of it is on Rick

[Onlytimewilltel]

We'll see where he ranks after tomorrow.

The clippers have far more talent than mavs

But that doesn’t fit with “what you’ve done for me lately” ! Lol

Who cares if the other team has far more talent, if the Mavs lose Carlie clearly sucks

[cupcakesnake]

What are the notable moves that he's making in this clippers series?

- Changing up how he guards Kawhi. This Mavs team isn't well equipped to guard Kawhi and Carlisle knows it, so he tries to mix things up and overplay different parts of Kawhi's game. He noticed Kawhi was making a concerted effort to attack the basket to score or generate kickouts. So the Mavs in game 5 overplayed his drives somewhat comically and brought help specifically to block Kawhi's preferred passing lanes. Kawhi would see the defense bringing too much help, get ready to pass, and find that was more so the thing they were most ready to defend. In game 6 Kawhi figured this out and was ready to counter with quick midrange pull-ups. Kawhi is overwhelming but he's not the quickest adjuster or read maker and you can tell Dallas has spent time in the film room figuring this out.
- The big lineup. The 2-3 zone was a weird, considering how many shooters the Clippers have. It did stymie Kawhi drives like I mention above. In the next game though, they were less predictable on defense and actually won those Boban minutes. I think most coaches would have given up on that look after how the Clippers tore apart that lineup the game before. I think going super big does rattle the Clippers and gives a potential edge to the Mavs.
- Dictating matchups. The Mavs have been very disciplined all series with which players to attack. All their offensive action is designed to get Luka attacking the juiciest option. Get Zubac involved in pick & roll if he's on the floor every play, immediately post up Reggie Jackson or Rondo if they end up guarding Luka. Get Kawhi off him and drag him to the corner. Make Morris guard the perimeter etc. etc. Again you can almost picture the film room sessions where the Mavs went over these actions a million times. They hunt them and rarely settle for anything else on offense.
- I think Carlisle notices all the adjustments Lue ISN'T making. Oh you're still going to use Zubac in drop coverage when we screen for Luka? Ok let's attack that 5 times in a row then! Oh you want to run pick & roll with Kawhi no matter what? We'll keep this 2-3 zone if you aren't going to break it with passing.

The Clippers are the better team, I just see them winning all these little battles to stay in the game and make up that difference.

[Pg81]

He hasn't been out of the first round in 10 years. Most coaches would have been fired by now.

[anotherhomer]

What are the notable moves that he's making in this clippers series?

- Changing up how he guards Kawhi. This Mavs team isn't well equipped to guard Kawhi and Carlisle knows it, so he tries to mix things up and overplay different parts of Kawhi's game. He noticed Kawhi was making a concerted effort to attack the basket to score or generate kickouts. So the Mavs in game 5 overplayed his drives somewhat comically and brought help specifically to block Kawhi's preferred passing lanes. Kawhi would see the defense bringing too much help, get ready to pass, and find that was more so the thing they were most ready to defend. In game 6 Kawhi figured this out and was ready to counter with quick midrange pull-ups. Kawhi is overwhelming but he's not the quickest adjuster or read maker and you can tell Dallas has spent time in the film room figuring this out.
- The big lineup. The 2-3 zone was a weird, considering how many shooters the Clippers have. It did stymie Kawhi drives like I mention above. In the next game though, they were less predictable on defense and actually won those Boban minutes. I think most coaches would have given up on that look after how the Clippers tore apart that lineup the game before. I think going super big does rattle the Clippers and gives a potential edge to the Mavs.
- Dictating matchups. The Mavs have been very disciplined all series with which players to attack. All their offensive action is designed to get Luka attacking the juiciest option. Get Zubac involved in pick & roll if he's on the floor every play, immediately post up Reggie Jackson or Rondo if they end up guarding Luka. Get Kawhi off him and drag him to the corner. Make Morris guard the perimeter etc. etc. Again you can almost picture the film room sessions where the Mavs went over these actions a million times. They hunt them and rarely settle for anything else on offense.
- I think Carlisle notices all the adjustments Lue ISN'T making. Oh you're still going to use Zubac in drop coverage when we screen for Luka? Ok let's attack that 5 times in a row then! Oh you want to run pick & roll with Kawhi no matter what? We'll keep this 2-3 zone if you aren't going to break it with passing.

The Clippers are the better team, I just see them winning all these little battles to stay in the game and make up that difference.

That's pretty amazing how Rick literally pull out one or two wins
by literally winning on the smallest of margins

- Definitely noticed how they pull Kawhi away from Luka on defense
- the first one, is amazing how they were able to take game 5 that way, with the passing lanes and 2-3 zones

Would be very interesting to see how Rick and Nurse stack up against each other in a playoff series.
Would actually think it's equal, though Rick does seem more stubborn towards younger players while Nurse literally overplays his favorite players.