Dallas Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle offered a contract extension – NBA Update
After the Dallas Mavericks crashed out of the playoffs at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in four straight games, a lot of uncertainty grew regarding the job of head coach, Rick Carlisle.
The Dallas front office however was quick to categorically deny any such prospect and have now cemented their position with a new contract extension to Carlisle, whose future has been secured with the Mavs at least till the 2015-2016
season.
“I'm very happy for the opportunity to return," Rick Carlisle said, “This wouldn't be possible without great players, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, (Shawn) Marion, all these guys made this possible, along with (owner)
Mark (Cuban) and (president of basketball operations) Donnie (Nelson)."
The decision was made by Mark Cuban, the Mavs owner who deemed Carlisle to have proven himself to be a worthy candidate of the position. He was excited to have him back with his team.
“We are excited that Rick will be back with the Mavericks for at least the next four years, He is a proven winner; a great teacher and a coach that will help the Mavericks improve as a team and as an organization."
Even though Carlisle was unable to repeat the performance of last year which saw the Mavericks lift the NBA Championship for the first time in 31 year history of the franchise but, the truth is he did face a lot of challenges in
this season – the departure of free agents like Tyson Chandler and the Lamar Odom episode being some of the few.
When asked about the fact that why did it take so long for him to get a new contract, Carlisle said that there are lot of things that needed to be considered before coming together on one common ground.
A huge challenge lies ahead for Carlisle because after the Championship, they let go a lot of several key figures in order for the organization to increase cap space in their roster. And as the next season begins, Dallas has six
other players in the free agency which include the likes of Jason Kidd and Jason Terry.
Role players like Delonte West, Ian Mahinmi, Brendan Haywood and Shawn Marion are also headed into free agency but with Cuban making smart decisions last year to get well under the salary cap; Mavericks have the option of choosing
anybody they like at the moment.
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