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Dallas Mavericks: 2015-16 Solidified Rick Carlisle’s Greatness

By Cole Mentzel

Mar 28, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle looks on in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. The Mavericks defeated the Nuggets 97-88. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle looks on in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. The Mavericks defeated the Nuggets 97-88. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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Whether it was his coaching for the Dallas Mavericks or his former assistants finding success, head coach Rick Carlisle solidified his elite status in 2015-16.

Since 2011, the Dallas Mavericks have been a team trending in the wrong direction. Every year, the front office has been stuck in the same process of tossing one-year contracts out before seeing many players leave the next summer, then doing it all over again the next year.

Despite a process that seems to be heading towards ultimate disappointment, two things have remained the same throughout the storm. One is Dirk Nowitzki. The other is Rick Carlisle.

Since joining the team back in May of 2008, Carlisle has been nothing but pure class for a Mavs organization with high standards. His rising journey during the years leading up to the championship. Bringing experience to the table in the midst of a run to the NBA Finals in 2011. Using unique coaching strategies to keep the team relevant post-2011. Carlisle has been one of the most reliable members of any coaching staff since he came to Dallas.

If there were any doubt as to if he was actually one of the best coaches in the league, it was erased after the Mavs’ 2015-16 campaign ended.

Heading into the season, Carlisle faced another task similar to the one he had faced in past seasons: coaching a team that had lost multiple starters. The scenario was a little different this time around though. The Mavs had just lost three starters that were all considered stars.

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Rajon Rondo (though he didn’t play like a star for the team), Monta Ellis and Tyson Chandler were all gone. Their replacements came in the form of an injury-prone Deron Williams, a recovering Wesley Matthews and Zaza Pachulia.

Carlisle began the season by giving playing time to just about everyone on the roster but quickly trimmed down minutes during the grind of the year, often rolling with an eight or nine-man rotation, not counting players who appeared in garbage time.

Towards the end of the season, he began to toss rookies into the mix, and even when the team lost players like Chandler Parsons and Deron Williams, they still fought hard and stayed within striking distance of the Oklahoma City Thunder during games in their first round matchup.

It wasn’t necessarily the fact that Carlisle helped an average team get to 42-40, the same team that some projected to finish last in the West. It wasn’t even how he coached them into the sixth spot in the playoffs. It was how he used a broken roster to generate offense and defense against some of the elite forces in the NBA and help a team achieve goals that they probably shouldn’t have achieved in the Western Conference.

But even taking a more broad look at things, it’s obvious that Carlisle’s impact wasn’t seen purely in Dallas this season.

Go back to 2011. Carlisle’s bench, though it consisted of talented players, had some great coaching minds. Assistants Terry Stotts and Dwane Casey were instrumental pieces in player development and execution down the stretch as the Mavs closed out the Miami Heat in six games.

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    • Jump back to 2016. Terry Stotts is now the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. They began the season without four of their five starters from 2014-15 as Nicolas Batum had been traded while Wesley Matthews, LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez all found new teams in the summer.

    Just like Carlisle, Stotts made something out of nothing, coaching his team to a 44-38 record, good enough for fifth in the West.

    Then there’s Dwane Casey, who is the head coach of the Toronto Raptors. With one of the best backcourts in the NBA, Casey coached the team to its best record in franchise history (56-26) and the first 50-win season for the lone Canadian franchise.

    The influence of Drake along with All-Stars playing in Toronto has given the city new life as they head down a road of success with an experienced coach to lead the way.

    Though Carlisle’s team may not be in the playoffs anymore, his two former assistants, Stotts and Casey, have their respective teams battling in opposite conferences during the second round of the playoffs.

    After a tough season, it truly is testament on Carlisle’s behalf to look back on what he did with the pieces he had and what coaches from his coaching tree are doing right now.

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    The leadership and intelligence of one man has spread from his own team out into the rest of the NBA. Rick Carlisle is arguably the most valuable individual the Mavs have today.

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