Rick Carlisle was in a holding-court mood for the smallish gathering of media members after practice Thursday afternoon.
With a season-opening win fresh on the mind – something the Mavericks haven’t had a chance to talk about since 2015 – there was plenty for the coach to pontificate on. As you might suspect, a lot of it was about the problems he saw in the 108-100 win over Washington on Wednesday.
But not all of it.
Most importantly, he was asked about keeping his team on an even keel amid a lot of hype nationally and locally as the phenomenon of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis takes on a life of its own.
Carlisle, clearly adapting in many ways with this new group in the post-Dirk era, had an interesting take.
“It’s always a job of the head coach to manage expectations,” he said. “But we’re all excited about the season. I’m probably less-inclined to try to quell excitement than I was a few years ago. You got to keep a level of enthusiasm and excitement with your team, even in games when you don’t play well.
“I’m not encouraging anybody to not have a great amount of interest in this team. It’s a compelling group. And moving from one game to another is going to be a real interesting journey, because everybody’s good.”
Including the New Orleans Pelicans that the Mavericks will see Friday night in the first road game of the season.
Carlisle, along with everybody else in the NBA, has been anticipating what the Pelicans will be like with Zion Williamson. That will have to wait as New Orleans will be Williamson-less until December after the No. 1 draft pick and heavy preseason favorite for rookie of the year underwent surgery.
It’s the second game in a row to start the season in which they will see a team without arguably its best player. They played Washington without John Wall on Wednesday.
But that’s not the way anybody in the NBA wants to see the league go.
“I never like to see guys get hurt,” Carlisle said. “He’s such a compelling talent. I don’t know him, but from a distance, he seems like a wonderful kid. I am disappointed that he’s not available.
“The game is a compelling game to start with. But you put him in the game and you got Luka and KP in the game and (Jrue) Holiday with them and the new guys (from) the Lakers, it just adds to it. And right now, there’s just so much excitement around the NBA, it’s disappointing that Zion’s not right in the middle of it. But he will be.”
And, as mentioned, there was some nitpicking as Carlisle assessed the state of everything in Mavs nation on Thursday.
He started with the obvious hot spot from Wednesday’s game – turnovers, all 20 of them. Carlisle didn’t want to blame it on the NBA’s new emphasis on blowing the whistle on anything that looks like a traveling violation, although that was part of it.
“Turnovers are something we got to get better with,” he said. “We’re turning it over too much and tomorrow (against the Pels) the turnover game is going to be a big part of it. I know we can do better at it.”
As for the traveling calls, of which there were numerous involving several players, including Doncic and Porzingis, Carlisle said it will be a matter of adapting.
“We work on footwork every day in anticipation of the whistle blowing more,” he said. “We just got to continue to do it. There’s such a great emphasis on looking for a travel that the whistle occasionally blows a little prematurely. But it’s just a good reminder that this is something that’s going to change.
“Getting called for four or five of them is a lot. That takes you from 14 turnovers to 19. And that’s just too many.”
The Mavericks used to be one of the NBA’s lowest-turnover teams. Last year, it wasn’t as good and the start to this season was poor. But it will be an emphasis going forward.
Among the many topics Carlisle touched on Thursday was the status of J.J. Barea, who did not see action in the opener on Wednesday.
“He is available,” Carlisle said. “He continues to work on his comeback. But he’s definitely available to play.
“This is a different situation for him. He and I have talked about it a lot. He’s one of the real leaders of this team and we need him to continue to do that. And he has to be ready to play, which is something he hasn’t been used to. But last night he really helped us during the game with messaging to players, the bench area, stuff like that. And again, his comeback has been amazing and he’s available, we’re just very loaded up at that position.”
In other words, Barea is the fourth point guard in a three-guard rotation. But the wily veteran knows there will be opportunities in an 82-game season.
Other observations from Carlisle:
On the injury situation: “We got a few aches and pains, but nothing that should be an issue for tomorrow. (Dwight) Powell continues to make progress. But he’s obviously not playing (at New Orleans).
On having only 17 assists against Washington: “We want as many assists as we can get. And the ball does have to move better. We spent time on that very thing today. And as we go forward, we’ll be looking closely at it. The more the ball moves, the more assists you have, the better your inherent chemistry is, the better tied-together you are at both ends of the floor. We definitely can get better there.”
On the Pelicans’ overtime loss at Toronto in their season opener: “I’m very impressed. They were one-half a possession from winning that game on the road at Toronto. Their debut was really a high-level game. They play with an amazing amount of speed and pace. They move the ball extremely well. They have a lot of skill, starting with (Lonzo) Ball, who throws it ahead as well as anybody in the game.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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