Now that Rick Carlisle is out as the coach of the Indiana Pacers, the team needs to figure out what is next.
Carlisle was fired Wednesday after a season in which the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
The Pacers finished the season 35-47, their worst since 1988-89.
Carlisle said he enjoyed his four-year run with the team and understood that it was time for the Pacers to hear a “new voice.” Carlisle ended with a 181-147 record over his four years since replacing Isiah Thomas.
With the first major postseason move out of the way, team president Larry Bird said anything is possible – and the new coach might have to adjust.
“We don’t know the direction,” he said. “We have an idea, but if there’s something out there that can be a major trade, we’ll probably do it if it benefits us. He’s got to understand going in that we will trade any one of these players, and it might not be what he likes, but he’s got to know that going in.”
“Any of these players” includes forward Jermaine O’Neal and point guard Jamaal Tinsley, the team’s top commodities. O’Neal said he’s not interested in being part of a rebuilding project and Tinsley could follow Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson as Indiana players traded following off-the-court offenses.
O’Neal averaged 19.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in one of the best seasons of his 11-year career. He had surgery Wednesday to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee that hobbled him the last two months of the season.
Tinsley averaged 12.8 points and 6.9 assists in 72 games, the most games he’s played since 2002-03. But his off-the-court problems include a felony charge he faces from a February bar fight in Indianapolis.
Bird’s pledge to continue to crack down on such behavior puts Tinsley’s status as a Pacer in jeopardy.
“It’s an embarrassment,” Bird said. “What we’ve done is we’ve gotten rid of the players. We traded them guys, and we will continue to trade them in the future if we have trouble with them.”
Bird said he’s not interested in coaching the team he led to the NBA Finals in 2000 with Carlisle, a former Boston teammate, as one of his assistants.
Carlisle and Bird said the coaching search could include candidates within the organization. Carlisle said Pacers assistants Johnny Davis and Chuck Person are ready to step in.
Hawks: Team president Bernie Mullin said Mike Woodson will return for his fourth season as coach despite another dismal season that ended with the Hawks missing the playoffs for the eighth straight year.
Mullin said the Hawks’ ownership group has not yet met in a “formal sit-down,” but he said the message from the owners was that Woodson deserves another chance after enduring a season-long battle with injuries.
The projected top five – guards Speedy Claxton and Joe Johnson, forwards Josh Smith and Marvin Williams and center Zaza Pachulia – started only four games together because of a series of injuries that began in training camp.
Clippers: Swingman Corey Maggette was scheduled to undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee today.
