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"Luca hated his attitude towards people": the tension between Doncic and Carlisle
ESPN has revealed details of the problems between the former Dallas coach and the star, who saw his best friend thrown out of the team and challenged the man's authority over the lines
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Dallas Mavericks
Luka Doncic
Rick Carlisle
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Wednesday, 15 December 2021, 21:55
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Rick Carlisle finished a 13-year term at the Dallas Mavericks last June, which included a historic championship win a little over a decade ago, and it turns out that Texan star Luca Doncic did not demand the franchise management part with the coach, but certainly hoped it would.
ESPN revealed today (Wednesday) details about the Slovenian's disgust with the coach's attitude towards the players and the management.
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Did not particularly like Carlisle.
Doncic (Photo: GettyImages, Sean M. Haffey)
One of the things that bothered Doncic the most was that Carlisle made his rookie partner in the rookie season, Dennis Smith Jr. unhappy. The latter soon became a good friend of Luca's after it was drafted, and the club made sure to promote the duo as the ones leading the Mavericks to the top, but the coach did not believe in Smith Jr. at all and hoped Dallas would pick Donovan Mitchell in his place.
"Many players were in shock when during a team meeting early in the season, Carlisle accused Smith of being jealous of Doncic," the article said. "In the eyes of the players the act was not fair at all towards Smith, who did not play well but made a real effort to improve his cooperation with Doncic on the pitch." Smith, it will be recalled, was traded to the New York Knicks three months after the start of that season.
A player who was on the Dallas roster in the 2018/19 season said in the article: "The problem was not Rick's attitude toward Luca. Luca hated how Rick treated other people."
Smith, by the way, responded to the publication of the article on Twitter and tweeted: "This article hit a point. You don't even know half of what happened there."
It was further noted that Carlisle tried to maintain a good relationship with Doncic by protecting him from criticism even when it did not make sense, and even comparing him to legends like Larry Byrd and Magic Johnson, but to no avail.
An unusual and interesting confrontation between the two occurred at the beginning of last season, when the star challenged the coach's authority as he rushed down to the bench: "Who's the boss here, you or Bob?" Dallas and in the opinion of many players even dictated to Carlisle which quintets to raise and how to manage the rotation.
It was also reported that Carlisle had planned to fly to Slovenia last summer to visit Doncic at the Slovenian national team's training camp, but the superstar refused to greet the coach, who shortly afterwards heard that owner Mark Cuban was reluctant to grant him a contract extension and therefore decided to leave The Mavericks.
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