Rick Carlisle Interview Excerpts

Courtesy of Galloway & Company

On O.J. Mayo being a leader:

“You never know exactly what you’re going to get when a guy signs. You talk to him and do interviews. From a far, he looked emotionless. I always liked the way he played. He played hard, but he has a little more personality to him than you think. He’s a great worker. A lot of times on the road, and the only other guy that I know that has done this is Drk (Nowitzki), he tries to get in the arena the night before and shoot. He’s a gym rat. He wanted to be in Dallas. He wanted the challenge of stepping in there and replacing Jason Terry, (Jason) Kidd and some of the other guys. He’s taken it very seriously, and it’s something that is very admirable.

On Vince Carter playing at a high level despite his age:

“He’s an amazing guy. He’s a great athlete. He has been his whole career. He’s taken good care of himself obviously. What we’re seeing more of is guys playing into their mid 30’s and late 30’s. Look at (Jason) Kidd. He’s out there, and he’s 39 years old. He had 17 points and five or six steals and was knocking down 3’s and causing all kinds of havoc. You’ve got (Steve) Nash who is 38. A lot of older guys have realized that if they take care of themselves they can kind of cheat father time a little bit. Vince is an important guy on our team. The responsibility I have with him is to make sure that I’m playing him in stretches of minutes that aren’t too long and let him get out there and get going but after five or six minutes, seven at the most he’s got to come out before he goes back in.”