Carlisle: 'We'll see where we are Day 1 ... and Day 181'
Earl K. Sneed writes that Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is again focused solely on bringing a championship back to Big D, as his team prepares for the start of training camp.
Carlisle: 'We'll see where we are Day 1 ... and Day 181'
DALLAS – The grueling NBA season is a long and winding road filled with plenty of up and downs as one team journeys to an eventual championship.
That journey begins with training camp as all 30 teams around the league focus on the same goal: holding the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in June.
Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle knows what it takes to be the last team standing after becoming the 11th person in league history to win a title as a player and again as a coach. And despite their fair share of naysayers going into the start of training camp this Saturday, Carlisle believes the Mavs will once again climb to the apex of the basketball world much like the 2010-11 squad that brought the organization its first title.
“This is Dallas and we play for championships here,” Carlisle emphatically said earlier this month. “Hey, it’s as simple as that. This is a championship organization and we have the greatest owner is all of sports. We come in here everyday thinking championship.”
He added: “Look, I know there’s a lot of people that don’t think we’re gonna get very far this year, but that’s OK. You know, we’ll see where we are at Day 1 and we’ll see where we are at Day 181. And our goal is during that period of time to develop to a point where we can do what we did two years ago and that’s get hot at the right time and run the table. That’s what it’s about.”
The Mavs will try to integrate eight new faces to a team that no longer features veterans Jason Kidd and Jason Terry, making Carlisle’s challenge even greater. Fortunately for the coach and his players, the Mavericks will have an opportunity to come to together and jell beginning with Day 1 of a full training camp, after a shortened season left last year’s squad little time to prepare for the 66-game sprint.
An exhibition tour of Europe should also serve as a galvanizing experience, playing eight-time German champions Alba Berlin on Oct. 6 at Berlin’s O2 World before an Oct. 9 meeting against 17-time Spanish champions FC Barcelona Regal of the Euroleague at Palau Sant Jordi as part of NBA Europe Live 2012.
The team will then return stateside for six more exhibition showdowns against NBA competition, playing four games in front of the hometown American Airlines Center crowd. And according to Carlisle, it will all prepare the Mavs for their 82-game journey, which starts in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Oct. 30, when once again the team will begin its pursuit of the golden hardware.
“I really believe that one of the blessings that we have going for us is, you know, we’re getting to start a little bit early because we go over to Europe. You know, when you go over there the NBA allows you to start a few days early to work through your travel situation and stuff,” Carlisle explained. “So, you know, we’re gonna have 31 days before we play our first game, which is gonna be helpful for us, ‘cause we’ve gotta get to know each other and we’ve gotta develop a team personality. And at this point, we don’t know exactly what that’s gonna be. We know we have good players, we know we have guys that are enthusiastic about winning, but we’re looking forward to getting started on the 29th.”
