By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After 13 years on the Dallas Mavericks bench, Rick Carlisle stepped down in the summer of 2021 despite having two more years on the contract. He felt like he’s overstaying his welcome in the organization and had the timing to easily land a job on another team – the Indiana Pacers.
While the whole ordeal passed without much fuss and at first glance no big disagreements, the true nature of the whole story is far from it. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon looked into it and surfaced quite a bit of detail from the inside.
A big part of Mark Cuban’s decision to search for a different coach was Carlisle’s inability to form significant relationships with his players, especially so with team superstar Luka Doncic.
Carlisle handed the team over to Doncic on the court and tried to get on his good side whenever he got the chance but their direct relationship wasn’t the problem. Until it was.
Carlisle’s behavior towards other players was what bothered Doncic the most and it slowly but surely led to the collapse of their link.
“It wasn’t really about how Rick treated Luka,” a Mavs player on the 2018-19 team said. “Luka hated how Rick treated other people.”
Although exploding quickly to superstar status and getting complete freedom on the court, Doncic was also in a good relationship with teammates. Two guys, Dennis Smith Jr and Salah Mejri, were very close to Doncic and it was Carlisle’s treatment of those two that bothered Luka the most.
Multiple players were shocked during one early-season team meeting when Carlisle accused Smith of being jealous of Doncic. The players considered it incredibly unfair to Smith, who wasn’t playing well but was making an honest effort to mesh with Doncic on the court.
Doncic particularly resented what he perceived as Carlisle’s attempt to pit him against his friend and teammate.
Carlisle always had a ‘bone to pick’ with Smith as the coach wanted the Mavs to draft Donovan Mitchell, and had completely soured on Smith midway through his rookie campaign.
On the other hand, Mejri felt belittled by Carlisle, believing the coach targeted him with unnecessarily harsh criticism – usually in front of the team.
And Mejri functioned as a big-brother figure for Doncic. Mejri had played for Real Madrid before signing with the Mavs in 2015. He looked out for Doncic when he was promoted to the Spanish club’s top team as an adolescent. Doncic was so close with Mejri that he agreed to an interview with a local television station as a rookie on the condition that Mejri, a fringe rotation player, would also be part of the sit-down.
Kristaps Porzingis didn’t escape dissatisfaction either. The Latvian talent wasn’t happy at all with the role coach Carlisle was giving him, which gradually moved him to the sides of the court, playing heavily as a spot-up shooter, or off a pick and pop play.
The underlined frustration with Carlisle started to show as Doncic on more than a few occasions challenged the coach on the court when it came to various decisions.
“Who’s in charge — you or Bob?”
He was referring to the then-Mavs director of quantitative research Haralabos “Bob” Voulgaris, whose rise in power played a role in Dallas’ front-office dysfunction and who many players believed dictated lineups and rotation decisions to Carlisle.
Doncic would also get very frustrated when getting subbed despite wanting to play through foul trouble. There were also instances when Luka was surprised by the lack of reaction coming from Carlisle in from of late-game time-outs.
With Jason Kidd coming to the bench, the focus was on creating a positive atmosphere and chemistry that would then translate to the court. And while the Mavs haven’t been exactly shining with a 14-13 record, the players seem to be happier and seeing a path to success.
“If you’re not having fun, then it’s tough to play and give your all. I feel like this year we have that kind of environment,” Porzingis said recently.
Doncic also preached togetherness as the main factor.
“We’ve got to stick together. This is what real teams do in tough times, is stick together. It’s easy to stay together when it’s all good, you know? The tough times, that’s when you have to stay together.”