Ex Mavs Big Man Reveals Hilarious Rick Carlisle Story: 'Don't You Ever Look Off Dirk!'
DALLAS — When an NBA team has a masterful offensive talent like Dirk Nowitzki, it's important to utilize that threat as much as possible. Former Dallas Mavericks big man Brendan Haywood recently shared an old story where he was reminded of that fact from the team's former head coach Rick Carlisle.
Before being traded to the Mavs during the 2009-10 season, Hayward was in his ninth season as a member of the Washington Wizards since being selected 20th overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. Going from a losing Wizards team to a Mavs squad with championship aspirations, there was an adjustment required.
"When I got on a championship-level team where discipline was required, I realized we were just playing the play [with the Wizards]," Haywood said on the "No Chill with Gilbert Arenas" podcast.
With the Wizards, Haywood was accustomed to playing a less disciplined brand of basketball, involving situations where he'd try to force making a play instead of simply playing within the flow of the offense. One of those situations was after hauling in an offensive rebound as he would put the ball on the floor for multiple dribbles before getting into a jump hook. That didn't fly in Dallas.
"If I got an offensive rebound because [Arenas] wasn't passing ball, guess what? That was my shot," Haywood said. "I don't care where I got it. If I got it at the free throw line, I was going to take two or three dribbles and shoot a crazy jump hook. I was going to get something off."
With the Mavs, Carlisle quickly took action when Haywood tried to get to his jump hook. Carlisle called him out for looking off Nowitzki in favor of taking his "raggedy a** jump hook," telling him to never do it again.
"In Dallas, Rick Carlisle pulled me to the side," Haywood said. "The next game was like, 'You see that guy in the corner just happened to be Dirk?' He's like, 'That's 20,000 points right there. Your job is to rebound and block shots. Don't you ever look off Dirk to take your raggedy a** jump shot again.'
"I mean, raggedy a** jump hook? A little offended," Haywood said. "My jump hook wasn't raggedy."
Haywood explained that Carlisle is a respected coach among players because he doesn't hold back to get his point across, just as he conveyed in the story about ensuring the ball gets to Nowitzki: "Rick is the most real coach. That's why he's respected."
In Haywood's story, Carlisle communicated that every possession holds a high degree of importance for a team seeking to win a title. With play-finishing bigs on the team, including Haywood, Tyson Chandler, and Ian Mahinmi, the goal was for them to play in the dunker spot and roll to the rim, not take jump hooks.
"It wasn't in front of everybody," Haywood said. "He said like, 'Yo, when you get this offensive rebound right here, the possession matters. We're trying to win a championship. ... You kick that out, we reset the offense. Somebody's gonna make a play for you.'
"They had certain spots where myself, Tyson Chandler, and Ian Mahinmi were supposed to be on the baseline and certain things, you're gonna get your points that way," Haywood explained. "But he was like, 'Hey, don't you ever look off Dirk Nowitzki take your raggedy a** jump hook.' I'll never forget it because he called it raggedy."
Carlisle's formula proved successful as the Mavs went on to achieve their first and only title during the 2010-11 season with Nowitzki's masterful MVP play setting the tone.
Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).
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