Dallas Mavericks: 2 things fans can expect from Rick Carlisle’s team

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle has been the team’s leader for over a decade. Based on the statistics, here’s what fans can expect when he coaches.

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle has been in charge for a long time. He took over as head in 20018 and has shepherded the Mavs through many ups and downs. He’s won an NBA championship and presided over a significant rebuild.

Now that the Mavericks have elite young talent and are poised to become contenders again, it’s worth taking a look at what kind of tendencies Carlisle’s teams possess.

It’s important to remember that a coach as successful as Carlisle isn’t rigid. His style and system have changed slightly depending on his personnel, but a look at the statistics will show there are a couple of things fans can expect from Carlisle coached teams.

Lots of 3-pointers

Carlisle was either an early adapter to the value of 3-pointers, or his system creates a lot of attempts. Either way, the Mavs will try a significant amount of threes during the 2019-2020 season.

The Mavericks have never ranked lower than 14th in 3-point attempts in the eleven seasons Carlisle has been the head coach. In fact, since 2008, the Mavericks have averaged the seventh most 3-pointers in the NBA. Dallas finished with the fourth most threes attempted last season.

There’s no reason to think that number will go down, especially with a playmaker like Luka Doncic running the offense.

Taking care of the ball

Carlisle is known to feud with point guards, but apparently, there’s a benefit to that. The Mavericks are consistently among the teams with the fewest turnovers.

Carlisle has little patience for giving the ball away, and the statistics show that. From 2016 to 2018, the Mavericks finished no lower than second in the league in turnovers. Since Carlisle took over as coach, Dallas has averaged the fifth fewest turnovers in the NBA.

The Mavs gave the keys to the offense to rookie Luka Doncic last season. Doncic, and toward the end of the season Jalen Brunson, were given significant ball-handling responsibilities. With that inexperience came turnovers, but there’s a good reason to think all those mistakes will be erased next season.

So whatever the roster looks like next season, fans will know what to expect. The Dallas Mavericks will shoot a lot of 3-pointers and will take care of the basketball. Rick Carlisle wouldn’t have it any other way.