Former NBA center Kendrick Perkins threw some shade at the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, claiming not only that he's not high on their playoff potential, but also an interesting nugget about head coach Rick Carlisle. ESPN's The Jump aired a quote about Mavs owner Mark Cuban praising Carlisle's adaptive nature and willingness to facilitate things for a younger team, to which Perkins replied with a back-handed compliment.
“That was the first compliment that I've heard from anybody about Rick Carlisle,” said Perkins. “Former players that I've talked to that played for him, they never said anything good about him. So hey Mark Cuban, way to keep sticking up for your guy. More power to you.”
Host Rachel Nichols quickly noted it was no surprise Perkins had heard nothing nice about Carlisle, given his relationship with former Boston Celtics teammate Rajon Rondo, who played for Carlisle for less than a season in 2014-15. Yet Perkins noted “it wasn't just Rondo” that didn't have nice things to say about Carlisle.
The 59-year-old coach is one of the last few “old school” coaches in the league, joined by the likes of Gregg Popovich and Jim Boylen, to name a few. Others like Tom Thibodeau and Stan Van Gundy have been recently phased out of the league after failing to adapt to a new wave of players with shorter attention spans and more reactive to positive reinforcement than actual criticism.
Perhaps it's a detriment of NBA players' lack of thick skin due to their star-like treatment in AAU circuits, but in the coaching business, it is adapt-or-die — and Carlisle has managed to do so enough to keep his job for more than a decade.
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