ARTICLE: "Luka Doncic and Rick Carlisle: The dissolution of their relationship"

[KillerLeft]

I still think that remark was the own goal that ignited all the negative stories about the Rick-Mosley dynamic, and I think Rick's willingness to publicly appear to put his thumb on the scale on the way out was beneath him. 

This isn't meant as a defense of Coach Carlisle, but I don't think it's clear that his comments were anti-Mosley, or that such an angle even entered into his thinking. I flat out don't think Cuban or Carlisle thought Mosley was ready for this gig and that he was likely ruled out before we even found out the job was open. 

Maybe Carlisle should have been more sensitive to Mosley and thought harder about how the comments would seem - that's valid. But, I don't think it was intentionally meant to diminish Mosley's shine. I don't think the guy ever had a chance, and as I said, I'd be shocked if Carlisle didn't already know Kidd was a done deal at the time of the comments. Whether you think as I do about the motivations or subscribe to the "petty mind games on the way out" theory, it's definitely a stretch (either way) to pin any part of the actual, resulting decision on Carlisle, who no longer worked here. I've actually seen people speculate about that.