Carlisle won't return as Pacers head coach

[miami_fan]

Rick Carlisle is stepping down as coach of the Indiana Pacers, team president Larry Bird announced Wednesday.


Bird said he and Carlisle "mutually agreed its time for him to move on ," Bird said. "It's time to close the chapter on this season and move forward. "


Carlisle has a 181-147 record in four seasons in Indiana and a 281-211 overall mark in six seasons with the Pacers and Detroit Pistons. But his victory total has declined each season since the Pacers won 61 games in 2003-04.

Carlisle managed to get the Pacers into the playoffs in 2004-05, despite the chaos caused by the team's brawl with Detroit Pistons fans and losing Ron Artest, who touched off the brawl, to a season-long suspension as a result. He also steered the Pacers into the playoffs in 2005-06, when Artest demanded to be traded halfway through the season.

But this year, distractions and injuries mounted and the team missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons.

Carlisle was the 2001-02 NBA coach of the year, as the Pistons improved from 32-50 to 50-32 and reached the Eastern Conference finals.


I would like to hear the behind the scenes stuff on this one. I thought the season's disappoinment would have been chalked up to the problem children on the roster. Could Bird have wanted changes on the coaching staff?

[rkmsuf]

Good thing the C's gave Doc an extension. :rolleyes:

[Deattribution]

I found it interesting that none of their previous 5 or 6 coaches have made it past the 4 year mark. I'm not real sure of a typical tenure in the NBA but that seems like a pattern for a short leash.

[rkmsuf]

I found it interesting that none of their previous 5 or 6 coaches have made it past the 4 year mark. I'm not real sure of a typical tenure in the NBA but that seems like a pattern for a short leash.

rare for any of them to coach in the same place for 5 years now

[Daimyo]

I found it interesting that none of their previous 5 or 6 coaches have made it past the 4 year mark. I'm not real sure of a typical tenure in the NBA but that seems like a pattern for a short leash.

I don't think its anything wrong with the franchise. Their last four coaches have been

Larry Brown - never stays long anywhere and left after a poor season
Larry Bird - left on his own after reaching the finals - team wanted to keep him
Isiah Thomas - mistake from the start
Carlisle - players never liked playing for him and team was stuck going backwards

[Drake]

Carlisle was essentially the guy that Larry Bird credited with getting the Pacers to the NBA Finals when Bird was the coach. It's a shame that it didn't work out so well with Carlisle on his own.

[spleen1015]

This is what happens when you trade all of your touble making good players for good boy mediocre players.

[miami_fan]

This is what happens when you trade all of your touble making good players for good boy mediocre players.

What kind of message are you trying to send here?;)

[MrBug708]

I'll trade Jackson for him. I'll even through in Smush Parker!

[Neon_Chaos]

The report on sports.yahoo.com. Bird says that ANYONE on the team is tradeable right now.

Pacers fire coach Carlisle after 4 tumultuous seasons
April 26, 2007

Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird announces that coach Rick Carlisle will not return to coach the team during a news conference in Indianapolis, Wednesday, April 25, 2007. Carlisle coached the team for four season and compiled a 181-147 record. The Pacers missed the playoffs this season with a record of 35-47.
AP - Apr 25, 3:07 pm EDT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Larry Bird's first big move after becoming the Indiana Pacers president four years ago was to oust Isiah Thomas as coach in favor of old Boston Celtics teammate Rick Carlisle.

Near-constant turmoil since the 2004 brawl between Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans during Carlisle's second year led to ever-growing loss totals and Bird's announcement Wednesday that Carlisle was being fired after a season in which the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Carlisle spoke with reporters just minutes after Bird, saying he had talked with his old friend about his coaching future in recent days and understood that it was time for the Pacers to hear a "new voice."

The Pacers finished the season 35-47, their worst since 1988-89. Indiana was 29-24 shortly after the All-Star break, but lost its next 11 games to fall out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

With the first major postseason move out of the way, Bird said anything is possible -- and the new coach might have to adjust.

"We don't know the direction," he said. "We have an idea, but if there's something out there that can be a major trade, we'll probably do it if it benefits us. He's got to understand going in that we will trade any one of these players, and it might not be what he likes, but he's got to know that going in."

"Any of these players" includes forward Jermaine O'Neal and point guard Jamaal Tinsley, the team's top commodities. O'Neal says he's not interested in being part of a rebuilding project and Tinsley could follow Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson as Indiana players traded following off-the-court offenses.

O'Neal averaged 19.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in one of the best seasons of his 11-year career. He's a six-time All-Star who finished third in fan voting this year for the Pacers' 40th anniversary team.

But O'Neal missed 13 games with various injuries and illnesses. He had surgery Wednesday to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee that hobbled him the last two months of the season. He has missed 82 games the past three seasons -- an amount that equals an entire regular-season's worth of games.

Tinsley had one of his best seasons and was more durable than usual. He averaged 12.8 points and 6.9 assists in 72 games, the most games he's played since 2002-03.

But Tinsley's off-the-court problems include a felony charge he faces from a February bar fight in Indianapolis. He also was present in October at a fight outside a strip club that has Jackson facing charges for firing a gun.

Bird's pledge to continue to crack down on such behavior puts Tinsley's status as a Pacer in jeopardy.

"It's an embarrassment," Bird said. "What we've done is we've gotten rid of the players. We traded them guys, and we will continue to trade them in the future if we have trouble with them."

Carlisle's tenure was less about wins and losses and more about his struggle to manage talented but volatile players. He always will be linked with Artest and Jackson, the two most prominent players in the 2004 brawl, which started the unraveling of a team that had the potential to make several title runs.

In the Pacers' first year under Carlisle in 2003-04, they went 61-21 for the best record in the NBA, and the club reached the Eastern Conference finals. But the Pacers lost more games each of the next three seasons and Carlisle ended with a 181-147 record.

Bird said he's not interested in coaching the team he led to the NBA Finals in 2000 with Carlisle as one of his assistants.

Carlisle and Bird said the coaching search could include candidates already with the organization. Carlisle said Pacers assistants Johnny Davis and Chuck Person are ready to step in. Davis has made head coaching stops in Orlando and Philadelphia.

Even with the brawl year, Carlisle said this season was the toughest he's had in coaching, and the situation was made more difficult because of his close friendship with Bird. Carlisle said he spoke with Bird on Tuesday and they decided that whichever of them dies first, the other will read the eulogy.

"I've seen other friends part ways and never speak again," Bird said, "but that's not the way it's going to be with us."

[st.cronin]

Chuck Person, heh.