Rick Carlisle a valuable asset for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban

As far as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is concerned, one of the best moves he’s made since purchasing the team more than 17 years ago was hiring Rick Carlisle as head coach.

From Cuban’s perspective, having a top-notch coach is just as critical to success as finding a top-notch player. And when it comes to Carlisle, Cuban believes he’s one of the top three in the business.

“I’ve said a million times, hiring a coach is the hardest job in professional sports,” Cuban said. “And we got lucky; we’ve got a good one.”

Carlisle is the franchise’s winningest coach with 411 victories and ranks 19th on the NBA’s all-time list with 692 wins. He needs just five more victories to pass Red Holzman for 18th place on that illustrious list, and just eight more to become the 18th coach with at least 700.

Now in his ninth season with Dallas, Carlisle has produced four 50-win seasons and an NBA title in 2011. But this has undoubtedly been his most challenging season, as the Mavs will take a dismal 31-41 record into Monday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at American Airlines Center.

Injuries to key players have made it difficult for the Mavs to claim their 16th playoff appearance in 17 seasons. And they need a miracle to reach the postseason this year.

“We’ve had probably five seasons rolled into one,” Cuban said. “The start, the injury, the change, the bring back, the injuries, the bring somebody else back — it’s been crazy.

“So for him to fight through all of that and keep us positive and improving as a team says a lot about who he is and his ability.”

Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey was an assistant under Carlisle when the Mavs won the 2011 title, and the two have remained close friends. Casey noted how the Mavs bounced back from a 4-17 start to at least make a run at a playoff berth.

“Rick has done a masterful job,” Casey said. “I don’t know what his record is since the new year, but they’ve done an excellent job of getting back into it to go from where they were as far as their record.

“He and Miami Heat coach [Erik Spoelstra] have done a great job with their teams to get back into the hunt, to be even talking about the playoffs from where they started. It is a heck of a job with basically the same team.”

Well, actually the Mavs’ roster has changed, with rookie point guard Yogi Ferrell and center Nerlens Noel — both recent acquisitions — becoming integral parts of the team. Overall, the Mavs’ 15-man roster includes five rookies, one one-year veteran, a pair of two-year veterans and two three-year veterans.

“Their young guys are very efficient offensively. They’re playing a more deliberate game, but they want to pick you apart,” Casey said. “They do a great job of misdirection basketball — starting on one side and getting to the other — and if you don’t move with the ball and if you don’t shrink the floor quickly, they’ll pick you apart.

“They’ve done a good job with their offense. Defensively, they’re still finding their way. But again, they’re hard-playing and they really kind of mirror Rick as a team, because he is a hard-nosed guy.”

Carlisle, who joined the Mavs in 2008 after Avery Johnson was fired, is known as one of the best at making adjustments on the fly. It’s a component that has made him an attractive coach.

“You’ve got to have guys that believe in you and understand that he will always come up with the way to make us better and make you better as a player,” Cuban said. “And when you have that mutual goal and vision, that’s good for everybody.

“He knows how to play table tennis, he’s a great piano player — multi-talented. And he can coach.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2017 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Rick Carlisle a valuable asset for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban."