Rick Carlisle: ‘In 2011, it was either now or never. …

[ASFN Admin]

Rick Carlisle: ‘In 2011, it was either now or never. The team was aging. The veterans were still at in a part of their prime. Jason Terry was still great, Dirk was great, Jason Kidd was 37 and he was still playing at a very high level. He almost won the MVP a few years earlier with the Nets. I mean, the Nets were an autumn feeder and the Jason Kidd got traded to New Jersey and they had them in the finals twice, you know, so that he still could have that kind of impact. We traded for Tyson Chandler who gave us a defensive guy similar to yourself, very energetic, very vocal, very positive, very upbeat, totally only into winning, and Shawn Marion was a very underrated player. You can make a case that Shawn Marion could be in a conversation for Hall of Fame on a many multiple year, all-star type thing, championship player, great two-way player. He had an unconventional game, but he was an original in his purest form. It was clear to us heading into that final series that we had to have a very simple plan and a big part of it was going to have to be persistence.’

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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Rick Carlisle: ‘In 2011, it was either now or never. …

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