If anybody knows basketball, it's NBA coaches — especially those who've been in the league longer than most players have even been alive. Case in point, Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle.
The 65-year-old has been around the NBA his entire adult life. He played for five years in the 1980s and then immediately jumped into a coaching career. He's been a head coach since 2001 for three different franchises with the Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons and Pacers twice.
Carlisle is known for coaching the Mavericks to their sole franchise championship in 2011 behind Dirk Nowitzki. He returned to the Pacers for a second stint in 2021. He's fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals run last year. When he erases his clipboard one final time, expect him to be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
All that considered, it shouldn't be a shocker to hear Mark Daigneault spend a good chunk of his pregame presser praising Carlisle when asked about him and the job he's done. Daigneault called Carlisle someone ahead of his time with what he installed on offense. That continues to be the case with the high-scoring Pacers who were fresh off a franchise-best 162-point outing in a win over the Washington Wizards.
It's still early in his career, but Daigneault could enjoy similar longevity. He's already won a Coach of the Year award and has developed from a rebuilding coach to a title-contending coach who's captured back-to-back first seeds. After the Thunder enjoyed a 132-111 win over the Pacers, Carlisle spoke highly of OKC.
The Pacers entered as one of the hottest teams in the NBA. Pair that with the Thunder being forced to pivot to small-ball as their center room was near extinction in the second half, the way they slept walk through another lopsided win like nothing shows how much they've normalized these types of outings.
“I mean this team is the best team on the planet right now. The numbers say it, the record says it, the whole thing," Carlisle said. "And so you cannot have any lags, and we had too many.”
What Carlisle said wasn't anything groundbreaking, but there is always an extra layer of validity when an opposing head coach repeats the talking points you talk about with your buddies. Especially one as accomplished as Carlisle. He knows what it takes to win a championship because he's done it. So he knows what he sees with the Thunder.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Rick Carlisle calls OKC Thunder 'best team on the planet right now'
