So often in the NBA, stars are highlighted for their top skills. No one is shocked by Steph Curry's show of shooting anymore, nor do people doubt Giannis Antetokounmpo's ability to get to the rim, or LeBron James' basketball IQ.
However, within that conversation, we lose track of the supplementary skills that make players so much more than just the sum of their parts. In this series, we will take a deeper look at those secondary talents that certain Indiana Pacers leverage to maximize themselves.
That journey made its way to Obi Toppin last time, whose biggest strength – his versatility and willingness to do whatever is needed to see the court – may also be strangling his continued development.
Too often in these conversations of development, improvement, and importance, we think only of the actual players on the court. After all, they are the ones putting the ball in the basket or keeping it out of their own.
However, the system the players run, the instincts that are drilled into them from day after day together, and the style the Pacers' point guard is often credited with spurring are all bourn from the mind and care of their coach.
It's time to give Rick Carlisle his deserved respect, while highlighting what makes him so special.
Rick Carlisle has spent decades alongside some of the brightest minds in coaching. Between Donnie Nelson, PJ Carlesimo, and Larry Bird, few coaches have trained under a more impressive roster of geniuses of the sport.
Larry Bird even pushed for Carlisle to be his original replacement after he retired in early 2000 after Indiana made the Finals. If that were the case, Carlisle would've been the face of a team trying to win a title despite being overmatched in terms of talent.
Instead, he did that for the rival Detroit Pistons, who only took the next step when Larry Brown took the helm.
It's hard not to consider that era as the time that shaped Carlisle. Discarded by the team that had kept him on as an assistant and fired by the team that had given him a chance, there had to have been a proverbial "come-to-Jesus moment."
Then came Dallas, where everything changed. Carlisle won one of the most improbable rings ever, proving both that Dirk Nowitzki was capable of being a true top option and that the Dallas Mavericks had made the right choice in bringing him on.
It's been 15 years since that title, and yet the cornerstones of Carlisle's system stand strong.
Rick and Risk: A neverending race
If there's one thing that stands out about Rick Carlisle's basketball philosophy, it is playing through his stars.
On that aforementioned championship run, Carlisle leaned on Nowitzki constantly. When he returned to the Finals in 2024-25, it was on the back of entrusting and empowering both of his best players in Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton.
These Pacers do not resemble those Mavericks very much beyond that. This Indiana squad plays with the speed of an F1 racer, while those Mavs relied on Nowitzki as a trailing shooter and high-post creator.
Maybe it's within that difference that we find Carlisle's biggest strength. Two different title-challenging teams, both built on the same trust in his players but on entirely different strategies.
To have that flexibility balanced with that identity is special. And that is, quintessentially, Rick Carlisle.
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