Does Rick Carlisle have a case to be the best coach of his era if the Pacers win?

[Carbine]

His resume is awfully impressive. I personally think he's as good of a in game coach as there is. He has been successful in every stop of his coaching career

Helped build the culture and foundation the for mid 2000 Pistons before Brown took over.

Could have easily won a title with Indiana before Malace in the Palace happened.

His tenure in Dallas was phenomenal, capping off with one of the goat titles.

And now we are in Indiana pt 2 and could be capping this tenure off with a ring against a juggernaught of an OKC team.

He has never had a super team to coach. His teams have been talented but not overwhelmingly. What do you think?

[Meticode]

No.

If anyone is over him it's Pop. You can make the case of Kerr, but Kerr was gifted an already great team and and then gifted Kevin Durant later when that great team wasn't enough. So that'll be argued against him.

He has a strong case for number two or three given the teams had coached to a championship and who he was going up against, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. He's not even in the Finals yet.

[highwhey]

big fan of his movies

[GOBB]

Not only impressive but he has a lot to his story that should be told. He is the perfect blend of old school and new school coaching style. Came up under the late great Chuck Daly. I’d like a full story on him honestly. I came across a video with Pascal where he invited the entire team to work out together. Talked about everyone locking in. Playing their role. Be ready to be next up if someone goes down. Just bonding/building. Which would explain the crazy chemistry get have together. Had no idea until now. But as far as Rick to be the coach of this bunch? Yeah if they were to win it. I’m not arguing against what you laid out. Heck of a coach man.

[tontoz]

I think he is a great coach for the right team. I am not so sure his approach would go over as well with some top tier stars.

Certainly he is doing a great job with the pacers.

[Axe]

Sometimes i do wonder if it's a product of playing in a 'weaker' conference. Since the narrative is mostly about how the western conference has been stacked ever since. But yea, he's been doing good so far with a young core.

[L.Kizzle]

Was actually about to make a positive comment until tonight's game 3 vs the Knicks. What kind of second half coaching was that.

[Baller234]

Well he would be the only coach since Jackson and Riley to win a championship with two different teams, but those guys had multiple generational all time players. Carlisle never had anything close to that.

I mean nobody had the Mavs pegged to win in 2011. Not preseason, not during the season, not to start the playoffs, and definitely not the finals. He helped to deliver one of THEE most memorable championship runs of all time.

Plus we are playing in a totally different era now, it may as well be a different game entirely. So for him to win in that era AND this era shows he knows how to adapt.