Rick Carlisle On The Hot Start Of Dirk Nowitzki: “There’s definitely been a big difference in his energy level, the bounce in his step, his sort of overall enthusiasm.”
November 24, 2009 – 9:30 am by Michael Bean
Rick Carlislie has the Dallas Mavericks playing at an extremely high level early on in the 2009-2010 NBA season. The Mavs are 11-3 and are in 1st place in the Southwestern Division out West thanks to a 5 game winning streak over the course of the past 10 days. Perennial All Star Dirk Nowitzki looks fresher and hungrier than ever. Coach Carlisle speculates that the spring in Dirk’s step may be a product of the 7 foot German not not playing for the German national team this summer unlike in years past. The Mavs are also getting nice contributions from their young bench guys – most notably Rodrigue Beaubois (who has started too), J.J. Barea and Drew Gooden, who’s been filling in for Erick Dampier while the mystery illness that sent him to the hospital last Sunday in Detroit gets diagnosed. Credit Carlisle for getting his team ready to play each night and adapting on the fly, which of course is necessary and to be expected over the course of a long 82 game NBA season.
Carlisle joined ESPN Radio in Dallas to talk about his team’s solid start to the year, whether Beaubois might earn more minutes as the season progresses, what exactly is wrong with Dampier, and how he thinks Dirk’s fresher than ever due to not playing internationally this summer.
On the development and contributions of unknown rookie Rodrigue Beaubois:
“He’s been helping us, no question. And he’s benefiting in recent games being able to start with our veteran players and playing with Jason Kidd. You know, Jason is the best really in the league, still, at getting outlets and throwing the ball ahead. And when he has guys that can attack running in front of him – like Jason Terry, like Roddy, like J.J., Josh Howard when he’s healthy, Shawn Marion – it really makes us a more dangerous team. So, I like the way Roddy’s playing too. He’s grown a lot. Yeah, I’d love to see him earn more minutes, but he’s got to earn them and it’s got to be the right matchups and the right situations. He has shown in some recent games that he was up to the challenge of playing down the stretch. In Milwaukee he made that one defensive play and did some other good things. But he’s still learning; if he can get up to 20 or so minutes, that will be good news for us because it’ll mean that Kidd’s minutes are down.”
On the progress of center Erick Dampier who’s been out with a mystery illness that sent him to the hospital:
“He’s doing well. I think he’s still undergoing a few more tests, but he’s symptom free and has been really since that night in Detroit. And he’s in really good spirits.”
On if he thinks Dirk Nowitzki not playing international basketball this summer is most responsible for his hot start to the NBA season:
“I’m not sure. There’s definitely been a big difference in his energy level, the bounce in his step, his sort of overall enthusiasm. I mean, he’s always going to be an enthusiastic guy about playing and competing, and wanting to be great and wanting to have the responsibility of winning the games and all that kind of stuff. But you know, he’s more alive this year. You know, he’s in a tough position because the international team situation in Germany is such that – it’s not like some of these other countries like Spain where you can pick from seven or eight different NBA players and if one guy doesn’t play, it’s not that big of news. But in Germany, there’s nobody else. They’ve got some guys that play in the Euroleague that are pretty good players, but there’s no German stud in the NBA other than Dirk. So there’s always going to be lots of national pressure for him to compete. But I think the hope is, at this point in time, he got them in to the Olympics last year after they hadn’t qualified since ’72. That was a grueling summer last summer. Those qualifying tournaments were arguably much more grueling than the Olympics themself. I mean, you’re traveling to some different places; I’m sure conditions aren’t the greatest; you’re playing in ball buster games. And it came down to one-game, winner-take-all to go to the Olympics between J.J. Barea’s Puerto Rico team and his German team. And Puerto Rico had kicked the crap out of them 10 days earlier by 35 points. So no one was sure what was going to happen and Germany won. And it was like their Olympic victory. So, the emotions that you go through in that sort of thing – and by the way, at that point, they weren’t even to China yet which is who knows how long a plane ride that is. So at this point in time, I think we all hope that Dirk has earned the right with respect to his country to make the decisions and the choices that are best for him and his career and hopefully the Mavericks. But he’s an extremely loyal guy as you guys know, and it’s always going to be hard for him to say no. He’s that great a guy and has that much sort of national pride.”
Listen here to Carlisle with Galloway & Company on ESPN Radio Dallas
Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Dampier illness, ESPN Radio Dallas, Jason Kidd, Rick Carlisle, Rodrigue Beaubois
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