An NBA coaching rarity, Rick Carlisle’s is as vulnerable as all of us to COVID-19

INDIANAPOLIS – For most Average Joes, staying 13 years at one job isn’t all that unusual. Heck, some of us are just getting started after 13 years.

But for NBA coaches, staying at one address for that long is beyond rare.

Only eight head coaches in NBA history have stuck at one job for more than 12 consecutive seasons. And there have been 343 of them during the league’s 75-year history.

Carlisle spent 13 years at the helm for the Mavericks. He led them to their only NBA championship. He fostered a chemistry and a respectful relationship with the face of the franchise, Dirk Nowitzki.

And he lasted 13 years with an owner that cared. Mark Cuban lived and died with every win and every loss. But he knew he had a keeper in Carlisle.

All of that should have made Friday’s game between Carlisle’s Indiana Pacers and the Mavericks an evening dripping with drama. Instead, it’s lost a lot of its pizzazz.

Carlisle will miss the Pacers’ first game against his old team after testing positive for COVID-19. Carlisle will apparently miss multiple games under terms of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

It’s a strange twist, indeed, that Carlisle is out. But these are the times in which we live.

And it certainly can’t change the past, which was very good for Carlisle in Dallas. He was a fixture in Dallas. It was home.

Actually, it still is. At least for his wife, Donna, and high-school junior Abby, who remain in Dallas. They visit Indianapolis as often as possible. And they’ll all be together around the Christmas holiday.

But as Carlisle said: “That’s been the hardest part about being here – not being close to them.”

The way things ended for Carlisle and the Mavericks have been documented. After 10 seasons of not winning a playoff series since the 2011 championship, the clock certainly was ticking on whether Carlisle remained the right fit for a new generation of Mavericks, led by Luka Dončić.

Carlisle took matters into his hands and made the decision to leave on his terms rather than wait for something else to happen.

That he had a job waiting in Indiana, which had given up on the Nate Bjorkgren experiment after one season, certainly helped the process along. Carlisle knows Indiana, having coached there before he came to Dallas.

But Dallas and the Mavericks will always be special for Carlisle.

“We loved it there,” he said.

The highlight, of course, was the 2011 championship. No Maverick fan will ever forget that parade through downtown Dallas, with Carlisle and his wife, along with then-7-year-old Abby by his side, sitting on top of the back seat of that convertible.

But there were lots of other memories that will never fade. Watching Super Bowls on the road with the team. Dining at Nick & Sam’s. Hurling jabs at reporters who didn’t show up on time (or at all) for media sessions.

You don’t stay 13 years in one place without making a whole lot more friends than enemies.

In Indy, it’s different, for sure. But so much seems the same.

Watch the Pacers, and the plays will look familiar. The dribble-handoffs. The spacing and how Domantas Sabonis moves off the pick-and-roll.

It’ll all look like déjà vu for Maverick fans. Except for the uniforms. It’s still taking the eyes some time to adjust to seeing Carlisle in Pacers garb.

“It’s been great here,” Carlisle said. “Ownership has been awesome and we’ve got a really good group of guys.”

The wins have yet to come. The Pacers are 11-16 and have had trouble in close games. Plus, injuries to T.J. Warren and T.J. McConnell have hurt them.

Rumors around the league that they are open to trade inquiries for some of their best players – Sabonis, Myles Turner and Caris LeVert in particular – have surfaced.

It has not impacted Carlisle, however. His style remains the same. He will stick up for his players until the end. As 13 years in Dallas prove, he’s as loyal as they come.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to desperately win his first game against his former team.

Twitter: @ESefko

 

LONG-TIMERS

Here’s the list of NBA coaches who have spent more than 12 consecutive seasons with one franchise.

Coach                       Team                Seasons

Gregg Popovich         Spurs                 26

Jerry Sloan                 Jazz                    23

Red Auerbach            Celtics                16

Erik Spoelstra            Heat                   14

John MacLeod           Suns                  14

Al Attles                      Warriors           14

Red Holzman            Knicks                14

Rick Carlisle              Mavs                   13