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Rick Carlisle is an accomplished NBA head coach.
He is able to squeeze the most out of his players more often than not. His record boasts of two conference finals with the Detroit Pistons and one with the Indiana Pacers. He also led the 2011 Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship when Dirk Nowitzki was the only superstar on the roster.
Carlisle is a worker and the only thing that matters to his endgame are results.
This summer the Mavericks signed swingman Harrison Barnes after the Warriors chose Kevin Durant to man the forward spot. Barnes had a rough postseason run last season, and shot just 29% in the playoffs. He was the brunt of jokes, but was still able to secure a max deal, and looks to prove it was all an anomaly.
During the Mavericks preseason, Barnes has managed to shoot a paltry 26.7 percent, worse than what he shot in the finals.
While the NBA preseason is not usually an indication of what the season will look like, Carlisle didn’t seem bothered at all.
When ESPN's Tim McMahon asked him what his thoughts were on Barnes' continued shooting woes, Carlisle gave a simple, nonchalant answer.
“Shooting percentages have never been an important thing to me.”
Maybe not now, but they will if the team's new max contract player continues to struggle.