Rick Carlisle was disheartened with the effort the Mavericks gave in Tuesday’s loss to the Raptors, and he threatened in the locker room and again in a postgame press conference to push for roster moves, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com details. The Mavs, at 15-13, have for the most part played surprisingly well this season, but Carlisle’s message comes with the authority of a contract that runs through 2021/22 in the wake of the five-year, $35MM extension he signed last month.
“Look, if it’s going to be like that, these guys aren’t going to be Mavericks very long,” Carlisle said in his press conference. “I can promise you that.”
Several Mavs appeared surprised that Carlisle would take the sentiment public, MacMahon notes. It’s unclear whether Carlisle was suggesting that he’d try to talk the front office into midseason personnel changes or a roster shuffling in the summer, with only five Mavs in possession of guaranteed contracts for next season, as MacMahon points out. See more on Carlisle’s remarks amid the latest from Dallas:
- Carlisle praised a group of end-of-the-bench players who were on the floor late in the game, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News relays, so it doesn’t appear that part of the roster is the object of the coach’s ire. In any case, the rant signals that the Mavericks believe they’re better than their already impressive record shows, Sefko contends.
- Deron Williams felt a pop when he strained his left hamstring Tuesday, so he’s unlikely to play tonight in what would otherwise be his return to Brooklyn, MacMahon writes in a separate piece. Williams said to MacMahon this weekend that he was sure Nets fans would boo him, but he praised the Nets organization and GM Billy King. Williams spoke earlier about the repercussions of having struggled while playing on the max contract he signed in 2012, but he told MacMahon that the lucrative pact wasn’t a major factor in his troubles, since he’d previously signed a max extension with the Jazz.
- The Raptors probably erred when they didn’t draft Dwight Powell last year, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange opines. Toronto took Bruno Caboclo and DeAndre Daniels ahead of Powell, an Ontario native who’s blossomed this season with the Mavericks.