Rick Carlisle scoffs at small market talk, says NBA Finals must celebrate Thunder, Pacers

USA Today

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Rick Carlisle scoffs at small market talk, says NBA Finals must celebrate Thunder, Pacers
While the NBA Finals should excite any basketball fan, there's always a small group of folks that have to find something critical to point out. There can never be a consensus. In this year's championship series, the market size narrative has shown its ugly face.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers will have an exciting conclusion. Either one of the greatest teams in NBA history caps off their campaign with a ring, or we see one of the biggest upsets ever as a red-hot squad catches fire at the same time.
But for some cynics, that's not enough. Let's focus on the small markets instead. OKC and Indiana are smaller for sure when looking at other NBA franchises and the ratings might reflect that, but that shouldn't matter to fans. It's a lame argument that tries to discredit what both teams have done.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle isn't having it. When asked about all of the small-market talk, the veteran coach spun it about how both respected front offices should be celebrated for reaching the sport's pinnacle. Sam Presti and Kevin Pritchard are two of the longest-tenured NBA GMs who crafted title contenders again.
"A lot of people talk about great places to live. When you have a good situation, you're working with great people, and your team is good, that's a great place to live," Carlislie said. "Small market, big market, it doesn't matter. I have such great respect for what Oklahoma is building here. I know Mark Daigneault pretty well. Sam Presti and I go way back. I was invited to San Antonio's training camp in the fall of 2000 when I was heading into a year where I was going to take a year away. Ended up doing broadcasting stuff."
Like Carlisle usually does, he detailed an interesting anecdote. The 65-year-old has been around basketball longer than most folks have been alive. As Daigneault recently put it, he's forgotten more about the game than most know.
"Sam Presti was an intern for the Spurs at that time. He is from the Boston area. So, he had grown up a Celtics fan. He actually remembered when I played, which was miraculous to me. Seemed like he was probably way too young for that," Carlisle said. "We had a couple of dinners together. He asked me, 'What can I do? I got to somehow get a job out of this.' I said, 'Just become a guy they can't live without.'"
Safe to say Presti took Carlisle's advice to heart and ran home with it. He's helped build two contenders over his nearly two decades as the Thunder GM. After constructing one of the league's best winner since his arrival, his squad is on the cusp of capturing their first-ever title.
"Sam is a great demonstration of resourcefulness and wherewithal and stuff like that. He's forged himself a great career. He and Kevin Pritchard are two of the best franchise builders around," Carlisle said. "This series should celebrate those two guys, their staffs, what they've done."
Carlisle is a basketball purist at heart. He doesn't get stuck up in the talk show conversations like ratings and drama. Instead, he consumes the sport in a healthy way that contradicts the junk food discourse that usually surrounds it.
"As far as the markets, I understand that there would be concern for how many people would watch because they're smaller markets. But if we're celebrating the game and we're putting game above all, which is one of the things that Adam Silver said when he became commissioner, then it really shouldn't matter. It really shouldn't matter," Carlisle said. "So I know that we're going to do our very best to represent our city, our state at the best possible level. Thunder will do the same. This really hopefully is about the quality of the games. We got our work cut out for us there."