<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Now Rick Carlisle is being double-teamed. But he's not looking for help. Larry Brown joined in the criticism Wednesday of the Indiana Pacers' coach for his promotion of Ron Artest for Defensive Player of the Year, one day after Gregg Popovich's complaints were reported. Popovich, speaking with a San Antonio radio station on Monday, accused Carlisle of producing "totally unsubstantiated" statistics to back Artest's candidacy and criticized him for calling some of the NBA media members who vote for the award. Popovich had a leading candidate for the award in Bruce Bowen, while Brown had one in Ben Wallace -- who won the past two seasons while playing for Carlisle in Detroit. Brown chimed in on the issue while talking with Detroit writers Wednesday. "I don't think (campaigning) is right," Brown said. "I don't think there's any place for it. "I have a lot of pride in what Ben has done, but stats are a bunch of baloney. Most people use toilet paper for that, or wrap dead fish up in it. But I would never take anything away from Ron Artest. He had a great year and Pop felt the same way." Carlisle has been greatly amused by the fallout from Artest's award and feels no anger toward Popovich or Brown. He appeared Tuesday on the same San Antonio radio station that aired Popovich's original comments. "It was a hoot," Carlisle said. "I had fun with it."</div> http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/142224-2766-179.html I think Carlisle is getting the raw end of the stick here. What is so wrong about backing up/promoting your player? Popovich is just contradicting himself in the first place by promoting Bowen. BTW the coaches (not just the media) voted in the majority for Artest for the award and that just solidifies the fact that he is an excellent defender. People need to stop crying.
Hmm. I think it's clear that they don't have a problem that he won the award, just that some "campaigning" was going on. I think the coaches should have a bit more integrity than to campaign for their guys to win these awards. That's all.
Lets say that you were up for valedictorian for your school and your main teacher talks to admin (or whoever) to try and campaign for you. Is this wrong on the teachers part? Will other teachers complain about the teacher trying hard for the one student who they think deserves it? Or would they do the same? Would you (the student) appreciate your teacher having your back and going the extra mile? Obviously. That is the main reason why he did it. Not only did he think he deserved it (as with the majority of coaches out there) but he also did what he could to back up his player. To each his/her own and some may agree with it and some may not. I think that Pop and Brown are just the latter part of that arguement but that doesn't mean that it's wrong to back up your player (student). I commend it.
I like how Carlisle stood behind his player and do not see anything wrong with his stats...Just because he took the time and effort to get these stats is more credible towards him...clearly he went further to get an edge on the voting and succeeded...the stats are further proof of what a defensive talent Artest is, why is Pop and LB complaining? Just because they didnt do the same when they could have? carlisle put in the time and work to campaign for Artest, and it worked...
The funny thing is: Where was Pop and LB when Rick did the same thing for Ben Wallace in Detroit? No one made a big fuss about it back then. IMO they are just hating on Artest for no reason.
