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Answer man: Q&A with Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle

08:25 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 9, 2008

During his first two head coaching jobs, Rick Carlisle took over franchises and immediately made them better.

In 2001, he joined a Detroit team that had won 32 games the previous year and engineered a 50-32 record as a rookie coach. In Indiana in 2004, Carlisle inherited a Pacers team that won 48 games in Isiah Thomas' last season as coach. They went 61-21 when Carlisle took over.

In the Mavericks, Carlisle takes over a team that won 67 games two years ago and 51 last season, when Avery Johnson was fired.

There is no guarantee that the Mavericks will have the same sort of upgrade under Carlisle that the teams in his previous coaching stops enjoyed. But he clearly knows how to maximize talent while taking over on the fly.

With the Sept. 29 opening of training camp fast approaching, Carlisle engaged in a question and answer session to preview the 2007-08 Mavericks.

Have you had a chance to talk to Dirk Nowitzki since he led Germany to the Olympics?

I did, and he said it was a great experience getting there. They would have liked to have played a little better. They played hard, they just weren't quite good enough. But for him and that team, it was really a great accomplishment getting there.

How is your team, physically, heading into camp?

Right now, everything is good. There were a few things over the summer that had to be resolved. Brandon (Bass) had a thing with his right shoulder that didn't require surgery. He's made the kind of progress that they believed he would make. So he's here now working out. Everybody else has been good. JJ (Barea) has a little minor back thing, but that should be OK in a couple days.

What did you think of the Houston Rockets trading for Ron Artest, who was on some of your most successful teams at Indiana?

As if you needed that, right?

If you turn up the water from 220 degrees to 235 degrees, it's still boiling. It's just boiling a little hotter.

It's the kind of thing where you've got to avoid looking at the schedule. I'm just really concentrating on our team now and the things we need to do to prepare these guys to go to war. We don't plan on taking a backseat to anybody. We're coming into this thing trying to win it just like everybody else.

What would you consider a quality season for the Mavericks?

I have never put a number on any of that stuff. Maybe you're setting the bar too low. You never know. So for us, it's going to be about competing at a championship level and at the highest possible level and competing our best. If we do that, then the number of wins will take care of itself.

I'm not coming in here trying to set the bar low or anything like that. I don't think you come into a city like Dallas or a franchise like this or to an owner like Mark Cuban trying to curtail expectations. I just think that's sending the wrong message to everybody.

What kind of style will fans see when the season tips off Oct. 30?

Our strength is obviously going to be our trio of top players with Dirk, Jason Kidd and Josh (Howard). And I'd also put Jason Terry and (Jerry) Stackhouse into that mix because those are veteran guys who have been through the wars. I expect those guys to play big for us.

Our center position is terrific. We've got a strength in numbers situation along with some terrific players. We're going to have to perform well in close games. That's an area where, two years ago, the Mavericks won seemingly every close game, and last year there was a falloff. There's a fine line between 67 wins and 51 wins. But that's the way it is. We're going to be in a lot of tight games, and we're going to have to be able to finish.

You mentioned the center position. Is that starting spot open? And is the shooting guard spot open, too?

Possibly. I think we have to look at it and say Jason Kidd, Dirk and Josh are going to be starters. There are possibilities at the other spots. I don't think it's fair to say right now that we've penciled anybody in.

I love the fact that Stackhouse has embraced being a part of this franchise as one of the best sixth men in the game. And I know he's willing to continue to do that. But there's also a chance that maybe he should start. I don't think any kind of prognostication on my part at this point is fair. That's why you have training camp, to figure those things out.

And the centers?

(Erick) Dampier is a damn good starting center in this league. He really is. And (DeSagana) Diop is a guy who would start on a lot of teams, as well. That's a great battle, and that position is going to be one of the strengths of our team.

If you're going to be a championship-caliber team, defense and rebounding are critical. They are things that are often overlooked to a certain degree. No one has won the NBA championship playing small ball yet. There are teams that have won it that have the ability to go small. But you still have to have size to compete at the highest level. That's why Dampier and Diop, that's why we value those guys so much.

The only reference point fans have for Jason Kidd is how he struggled in Avery Johnson's offense. At 36, has his age caught up to him?

Jason Kidd? I'm ecstatic to be in the same locker room with J-Kidd. Jason has hammered my teams so much through the years. I'll say this: If people want to doubt his abilities, let them go ahead. But I would caution them against it. You should never underestimate greatness.

Do you expect this roster to be the one that opens the season?

Yeah, unless there was some kind of a trade, which I doubt there will be. We've got 14 contracts, so we got a 15th spot that we may look at. Maybe some other veteran will fall through the cracks. Or maybe we keep a young player. But this is it for now.