The Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle dismissed the rumors about him joining the front office of the team
This season, Rick Carlisle began as head coach of the Indiana Pacers, where he was expected to at least lead the talented team to the playoffs, but things did not go according to plan. After an abysmal start to the season, the Pacers decided to rebuild and traded away their star players like Domantas Sabonis and Caris Levert, while the future of Malcolm Brogdon also looks uncertain as of now.
However, it is still unclear how many more players will be traded away from the team before the next season, as the franchise wants to build around young players, and they already have a dynamic backcourt duo in Tyrese Haliburton and Chris Duarte.
There were rumors about Rick Carlisle leaving the coaching position to join the front office of the team, but he has dismissed all of them and said, “I came here to coach, I want to put this to rest once and for all.”
Rick Carlisle further spoke and said, “Let me be absolutely clear. I’m here to coach this team. I’m here to coach this team for the long-haul if they’ll have me. And I’m not afraid of any aspect of a rebuild one single bit. Not one bit. And one of the reasons I came back to Indiana — ’cause this is like family to me — my experience here as an assistant and then as a younger head coach is one of the reasons that I’ve been able to have a career that probably would have been beyond my wildest dreams. So I have a great deal of loyalty to this franchise, a great deal of love and respect for owner Herb Simon, who’s a trusted friend.”
He talked about the rebuild process that the Indiana Pacers are going through and said, “And, you know, sometimes, you have to take two steps back to have three or four steps forward. And that happens to be the position that we’re sitting in right now. And I know the realities of this league all too well. I know the East is tough and the West had a down year. But this league has more and more become about parity from top to bottom, and, you know, we’ll be on top of our shit and we’re going to get it right in the draft and we’re going to have a great summer and next year is going to be an exciting year for the Pacers.”
There is no doubt that Rick Carlisle is committed to the Pacers for the long haul, and things could be very exciting for them if they can lay their cards right in free agency, drafts, and trades.
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