AROUND the NBA:

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Rick Carlisle: ‘Nobody can tell me that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird wouldn't have been top players in the league today. Greatness is going to be great regardless of the era. You are going to try to tell me that Russell wouldn't be great in this era? Russell, the guy who threw up before every game because he couldn't stomach the idea of losing and he had such an impact on winning, can you imagine having that guy leading your team? That was the early version of Draymond Green.’ ‘In 2011, it was either now or never. The team was aging. The veterans were still 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 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 the Hall of Fame on a 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.’