Rick Carlisle got the Indiana Pacers to where they are with right combination of development and relationships

Carlisle just wrapped up year three in Indiana

May 19, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle holds a basketball during a time out during the fourth quarter of game seven of the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

INDIANAPOLIS — Rick Carlisle was hired to help an ill-fitting Indiana Pacers team win. Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert, and T.J. Warren were all expected starters for the team when Carlisle was brought in as the head coach.

Those four are now all with different teams. In fact, all but three players from the opening night roster in Carlisle's first season have been relocated — only T.J. McConnell, Isaiah Jackson, and Myles Turner remain. The Pacers had to rebuild. Their old era wasn't working.

Carlisle came to Indiana known as a winner. He only had a losing record four times in this century when he re-joined the Pacers. Yet when the blue and gold flipped their team, the veteran head coach had to adapt. He had to shift his focus more toward development.

Two years later, his team made the Eastern Conference Finals. Carlisle helped build one of the best offenses in NBA history. The 22-year coaching veteran proved that he could be a winning head coach and a developing head coach simultaneously.

Along the way, he proved that he cared about everyone and could get the most out of talent. He expressed his affinity for center Jalen Smith when the team re-signed him in 2022 both because Carlisle loved Smith as a person and because he adored working with the young center on his skills. The 2020 lottery pick has grown tremendously since joining the Pacers.

In 2023-24, over half of Indiana's rotation was on a rookie-scale contract. Yet the team was among the league's best by the end of the season. That's a testament to what Carlisle has done in Indiana and the direction he has the team headed — and it's why the front office gave him praise late last month.

"The most rewarding part of this job has been the player development aspect of it. The relationships, and the development of young guys. Guys like [Andrew] Nembhard and [Bennedict] Mathurin and [Turner]. Tyrese [Haliburton] has gotten better," Carlisle said at his end-of-season exit interview. He went on to name Pascal Siakam, Obi Toppin, Smith, and Jackson as well. Carlisle went down the line. He's grown close with all of his young players, and that is a strength for a developing team. "When you're a small market team, there are certain things you've got to be great at. You've got to be great at player development," Carlisle added.

Clearly, that has happened. Just about every player that has joined Indiana's program in the last three seasons left it more skilled than when they entered. Carlisle's system and Haliburton's brilliance help everyone succeed.

The head coach hasn't just made players better, he has gotten better. Now, his team has an identity, and they have confidence going forward. They made the Eastern Conference Finals early in a rebuild. That's a great launching point for the next era of successful NBA basketball in Indianapolis.

Yet for that success to be the norm, player development will have to continue. "You can't make any assumptions about the fact that you get to the Conference Finals one year, you're going to get there the next," Carlisle said. "That's obvious." He added that the organization talked in the 2023 offseason about a plan that would give the team a chance to make the postseason's third round in three years. Instead, it took them one.

Carlisle deserves credit for that, and the same emphases he had in the last three years will be vital. The team needs to keep developing and playing their way.

Indiana left the postseason with a 120 offensive rating, the best figure of any team. In the regular season, that number was 120.5, which finished behind only the Boston Celtics. What the Pacers have built on that side of the floor is remarkable and should improve as young players get better. Defense is the next step for the franchise and should be a key part of the player development process going forward, but it's clear Carlisle knows what his team needs and how to get it out of his players.

"This has been accelerated by a couple things," Carlisle said of his team's success, citing the acquisition of both Haliburton and Siakam and the fit of others around them. Building a strong system allowed those players to thrive and made all the talent fit seamlessly.

Nothing is guaranteed in the NBA. The Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks made the conference finals in recent memory and have yet to be back. It's a hard task to accomplish and an even harder one to repeat.

Yet that's what comes next for the blue and gold. They hope to build a sustainable winner around their star players. The league, Carlisle said, is as even as it has ever been from top to bottom. The margins between winning and losing are thin.

The head coach wants to emerge on the winning side, and so far, he has proven that he can do that through a rebuild. "We're a small market franchise with big dreams," he said in late May. If the Pacers are going to achieve those dreams, player growth will be vital. Rick Carlisle has shown that he can lead an effective development program.

---

• Indiana Pacers hope Pascal Siakam partnership becomes long-term in free agency . CLICK HERE.
• Report: Early belief that Indiana Pacers center Jalen Smith will turn down player option. CLICK HERE.
• Obi Toppin entering free agency, Indiana Pacers GM says team 'would like to continue the relationship'. CLICK HERE.
• What early mock drafts say the Indiana Pacers could do in the 2024 NBA Draft. CLICK HERE.
• Follow AllPacers on Facebook: All Pacers SI
• Follow AllPacers on Twitter: @SIPacers