May 2, 2008 - 9:13 PM
0 shoutsBRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) -- Former Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was the first to interview for the vacant coaching position with the Dallas Mavericks, according to ESPN.com on Friday night.
The web site reported that Carlisle was interviewed by Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, who spoke with the veteran coach without owner Mark Cuban present.
Former Dallas coach Avery Johnson was fired Wednesday after his team lost to the New Orleans Hornets in five games in their Western Conference first-round series.
According to the report, Cuban has said that his first choice for the position is Nelson, who seems reluctant to leave his post as head of personnel. The report said Nelson confirmed as much to ESPN Radio's Dallas affiliate in an interview Thursday.
"I think there's better candidates out there," Nelson said in the interview. "My job is to get the best guy that we can get out there.
"I'm on the list. I'm just the last guy and, hopefully, it doesn't get to that. ... I'm saying we'd have to get through a very, very long list in order for (Nelson to coach the team) and don't look for it to happen."
One person on the list reportedly is Carlisle, who currently is an ESPN analyst after spending six seasons coaching the Pistons and Pacers. He won 50 games in his two campaigns in Detroit - before being unceremoniously replaced by Larry Brown - and guided Indiana to the Eastern Conference finals in 2004.
The report said that, according to the New York Post, Carlisle also has interviewed with Donnie Walsh - his former boss with the Pacers - for the New York Knicks' vacant coaching position.
Nelson would not reveal the rest of the candidates for the job, the report said, but did say that the Mavericks would "show some patience in our search because, after the first round, there could be some very good candidates available."
ESPN reported that Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, who is expected to be fired after losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round, heads the list of candidates for Dallas, which has been hit hard by postseason failures in recent seasons.
The Mavericks dropped the last four games of the 2006 NBA Finals after taking a 2-0 lead on the Miami Heat. They also were eliminated in the first round by the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors in 2007 after a 67-win regular season.
