Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has loved developing players in Indiana. It got the Pacers far this year.
INDIANAPOLIS — Rick Carlisle was hired to help an ill-fitting Indiana Pacers team win. Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert, and T.J. Warren were all expected starters for the team when Carlisle was brought in as the head coach.
Two years later, his team made the Eastern Conference Finals. Carlisle helped build one of the best offenses in NBA history. The 22-year coaching veteran proved that he could be a winning head coach and a developing head coach simultaneously. "The most rewarding part of this job has been the player development aspect of it. The relationships, and the development of young guys. Guys like Nembhard and Mathurin and . Tyrese has gotten better," Carlisle said at his end-of-season exit interview. He went on to name Pascal Siakam, Obi Toppin, Smith, and Jackson as well. Carlisle went down the line. He's grown close with all of his young players, and that is a strength for a developing team.
Yet for that success to be the norm, player development will have to continue. "You can't make any assumptions about the fact that you get to the Conference Finals one year, you're going to get there the next," Carlisle said. "That's obvious." He added that the organization talked in the 2023 offseason about a plan that would give the team a chance to make the postseason's third round in three years. Instead, it took them one.
"This has been accelerated by a couple things," Carlisle said of his team's success, citing the acquisition of both Haliburton and Siakam and the fit of others around them. Building a strong system allowed those players to thrive and made all the talent fit seamlessly.
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