Sports Radio Interviews

Rick Carlisle: “We Are in This to Make it Work in a Big Way, Without Question”

The Dallas Mavericks are coming into the 2009-2010 season with high hopes and possibly a last shot of making a title run with an aging team.  Carlisle has been around very good teams in the past and this one has some quality players in a real competitive conference.  The Mavs bring back Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitski and Josh Howard as their go to guys and brought in Shawn Marion for their final piece.  The Mavs were 50-32 last season losing to Denver, 4-1, in second round of the playoffs.  Getting back to the playoffs doesn’t look like a problem, but the Western Conference is loaded again with teams like the Lakers, Nuggets, Hornets and Spurs that will make it rough for Carlisle’s bunch. 

Carlisle is one of the NBA’s better coaches. His teams rarely underachieve as he usually squeezes just about everything he can get out of his roster. If the roster stays relatively healthy (not getting off to a great start in that matter), they should be a playoff team and if they go far in the playoffs, Carlisle could be back in the Coach of the Year race once again. Rick Carlisle joined Galloway and Company on ESPN 103.3 in Dallas to talk about the upcoming season for the Mavs, playing in the preseason not at full strength, and the expectations of the team this season.

Asked about the Josh Howard injury situation:

“We don’t have a specific timetable.  The one thing I can tell you is that he has been participating in contact stuff for the last 8-10 days and been progressing gradually.  I don’t know when he is going to play for sure, but when he decides he is ready, he will come in and talk to me and we will have him playing.  There won’t be a lot of fanfare because we are not going to have a Josh watch every day, because that’s not good for anybody.”

Asked about where to the Mavs fit in the Western Conference:

“Well it’s a deep conference, let’s face it.  There were six teams in the West that had 50 wins or more and in the East there were only three.  And there is a huge difference, if we were in the East we would have been the three or four seed.  The Western Conference is going to be tough, you’re going to have 25-30 one possession games during the course of the regular season.  We did extremely well in close games last year.  We are going to have to carry that into this year.”

Asked if this team would resemble the run and gun Don Nelson teams in the early 2000’s:

“We are a running team, last year we were the top two or three in the league in fast break points and we were top one or two in converting missed field goals into baskets.  That’s why we have place even more emphasis at the defensive end this year, because when you get stops that’s when you can free flow and run.  Look we love (Shawn)Marion how he fits well into this team, he is a perfect complement to Dirk, because Dirk is more of an outside guy and Shawn an inside guy at the three position.  We are in this to make it work in a big way, without question.  We don’t back away from my expectations, we like them, that’s why you come to a situation like this, and hey that’s why you come on a show like this once a week to get your ass grilled a little bit.”

Listen to Rick Carlisle with Galloway and Company on ESPN 103.3 in Dallas 

Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitski, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, NBA, NBA Finals, Rick Carlisle, Shawn Marion, Western Conference