Rick Carlisle Used To Be a Huge Asshole to Dennis Smith Jr For No Reason

In 2011, Rick Carlisle won an NBA title. He has not won a playoff series since that championship yet his name continues to be thrown into the conversation of the best coaches in the NBA. And now there is a new ESPN report about his peculiar desire to pit Dennis Smith Jr and Luka Doncic against each other.

It might not have been a basketball fit, but Doncic and Smith had formed a bond. And Carlisle’s apparent determination to make Smith miserable during their brief time as teammates was appalling to Doncic, several former players and staffers told ESPN.

Multiple players were shocked during one early-season team meeting when Carlisle accused Smith of being jealous of Doncic, sources said. The players considered it incredibly unfair to Smith, who wasn’t playing well but was making an honest effort to mesh with Doncic on the court.

This is always the sign of a bad coach. Whenever someone asks ‘why doesn’t Mark Jackson have a coaching job?’, I always point to the story of Jackson telling the Warriors players that Festus Ezeli was rooting against them and attempting to make the players hate each other. What purpose does it serve to have a roster of 15 guys all side-eyeing each other in the locker room instead of being a family together?

If Rick Carlisle didn’t like Dennis Smith Jr’s game and didn’t think he could play alongside Luka Doncic then fine, stagger their minutes so they’re not playing together and wait for the front office to pull the trigger on a trade.

But if Luka is the star of your team, why shit on his best friend and attempt to make them enemies? It’s wild that people consider Carlisle one of the best in the game and the man can’t even read the room.

Not only did Rick try to split them up but he tried to embarrass Smith in front of the entire team. Humiliating the youngest players on the team with non-basketball-related accusations like calling them ‘jealous’ of their teammates is something you’d do if you are either A.) a complete asshole or B.) trying to get fired.

The funny part about Luka and Carlisle having a strained relationship is Dallas firing Carlisle and replacing him with Jason Kidd—a coach whose claim to fame is alienating Giannis when he was the head coach of the Bucks and attempting to embarrass him in front of his teammates.

Luka Doncic could be one of the greatest basketball players of all time and we’ll never know because the Mavericks are addicted to hiring head coaches who think they need to mock their players in order to get the best out of them instead of, ya know, encouraging them.

Also, it’s worth quickly noting that Rick Carlisle is now the head coach of the 12-17, 13th-seeded Indiana Pacers. We don’t know about which friendships he’s broken up over there yet but this team shouldn’t be that bad. Shocked we haven’t heard about Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert fist-fighting but I’m sure it’s coming.