Pacers Report Cards: Grading every Pacers player through the All-Star break

Rick Carlisle

Speaking of Carlisle, how's he been doing?

Pretty well, I must say. Rick Carlisle's coaching style this season has been unlike his style any other year, especially his earlier years in Dallas. Usually known as a rather controlling coach who made players play his way, Carlisle has let up this season and let the Pacers play how they would like to play, resulting in one of the best, fastest-paced offenses of all time and exceeding expectations as a result.

For a guy whose teams usually play at a slower pace led by slower-paced, more grounded stars (see Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas and Jermaine O'Neal in the first Indiana stint), Carlisle's second Indiana tenure has been a nice surprise, as he has helped this Pacers team sort of revolutionize basketball and win plenty of games along the way.

Of course, no coach is perfect, and Carlisle has had plenty of hiccups along the way. For one, the defense. Usually a sound defensive coach, Carlisle has not been able to do much to help the Pacers on the other side of the ball, as they still rank bottom-five in the league in defensive rating.

In addition to the poor defense, in a topic touched on recently, Carlisle has not been the kindest to the rookies this season, rotation-wise. Of course, this is nothing new, as Carlisle has built a habit of being a rookie's worst nightmare unless said rookie is a transcendent talent such as Luka Doncic in 2018. However, even for his standards, the lack of playing time Jarace Walker has received has been a little egregious.

Of course, there is always the chance Carlisle was using the first half as a test of Walker's abilities, but that will have to be seen in the second half of the season, as will all doubts about his play.

So far, Carlisle has done a fine job on this Pacers team and has them ahead of schedule as dark-horse East contenders.

Final Grade: B (Doing as well as he can, but room for improvement)