Rick Carlisle Receives Major Praise Ahead of Pacers Season

Twenty-four seasons ago Rick Carlisle took over as the head coach for the Detroit Pistons. In his first year as an NBA coach, he improved the team from a 32-50 record to a 50-32 record and won the 2002 NBA Coach of the Year award.

This is the highest honor a coach can receive for his abilities to take a group of players and push all the right buttons to maximize their full potential and have the record reflect it. Carlisle has proven several times throughout his career how good of a coach he is, but after 24 years of being an NBA head coach, 2002 is the lone time he's won the award.

In a recent article that was conducted by multiple ESPN experts, they voted Rick Carlisle as the favorite to win the 2026-27 NBA Coach of the Year award. However, it was a narrow vote between the experts as Carlisle just edged out Johnson and Hardy.

ESPN's Top 5 Coach of the Year Rankings:
1. Rick Carlisle with 33 points
2. Mitch Johnson with 32 points
3. Will Hardy with 28 points
4. Chris Finch with 20 points
5. Nick Nurse with 19 points

Rick Carlisle will turn 67 the first week of the NBA season, making him the oldest coach in the league. The coaches receiving the 2nd and 3rd most votes --Mitch Johnson (39) and Will Hardy (38)-- are the two youngest coaches in the NBA.

The Pacers are coming off their worst season in franchise history at 19 wins and 63 losses, so a significant turnaround is likely. However, if the Pacers don't finish with a top-four seed in the East, I don't see a world in which Carlisle gets enough recognition for the Coach of the Year award.

Mitch Johnson

Mitch Johnson is coaching arguably the best player in the NBA in Victor Wembanyama, and with a chip on their shoulder after falling 5 games in the NBA Finals to the New York Knicks, a dominate season from the entire squad could get them to an extremely high win total. This would without doubt put him in contention for the Coach of the Year award.

Will Hardy

Lastly, Will Hardy is looking to take the Jazz back to the playoffs for the first time since 2022. As the Western Conference takes a bit of a stepback in talent, the new-look Jazz are expected to make some noise this season. If they can overachieve and land somewhere in the 4-6 range of the standings, there will be a strong case for him winning the award.

Final Thoughts

Since returning to the Pacers in the summer of 2021, Coach Carlisle has been an invaluable piece to this teams' turnaround. He took a team that was heading nowhere, embraced a two-year rebuild and helped lead the Pacers to their second ever NBA Finals apperance.

I love that he got strong consideration for this award from the ESPN experts, because there is no one more deserving of it. The Vegas odds have him as a +1600 to win the award --which is tied for the 10th best in the league-- making it feel like a long shot he wins.

You can follow me on X @AlexGoldenNBA and listen to my daily podcast, Setting The Pace, wherever you get your podcasts.

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