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October 28, 2025 16 mins

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle joins us to discuss the signing of Mac McClung, dealing with the amount of injuries this early in the season, facing Cooper Flagg tomorrow night, Tyrese Haliburton traveling with the team, his Halloween memories & more! 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
How about a happy belated birthday to our next guest,
the Pacers head coach. He is Rick Carlisle coach. Good
morning to you. How are you.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Okay? Uh?

Speaker 1 (00:09):
The news? Uh, I guess last week we had the
news of Monday night with Aaron E. Smith last night
Mac McClung. What led to you guys deciding on him?
And is he somebody that will be available to you
as early as tomorrow night?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah? He We had a workout yesterday with with three
guys and uh he Uh, he basically won the won
the position he did. He did a great job in
the workout. It's clear that he's in He's in at
least at least pretty good shape. I think he was

(00:45):
either practicing with the Chicago G League team or getting
ready to and uh so he he separated himself uh
in the workout yesterday and so uh you know today
he'll be he'll be Indiana pacer. Rick.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I know you're just getting introduced to like his skill
set and him getting introduced to what you all want
to do as a team. But for the fan base,
he's known as the three time dunk Champ. What stands
out to you about his actual basketball skills, says Beyond
has been a high flyer.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, he can score. He's a hard playing guy. You know.
For for all the things we did in the workout yesterday,
uh you know, he didn't dunk the ball once, So
let's get off of the of the dunking thing. Is
is kind of the the attraction here. You know, we
need a guy that has energy to go hard. Is healthy,

(01:38):
I think is healthy is probably the number one thing.
And that can play a couple of positions. So you know,
he can play point, he can play playoff the ball,
and you know he's had some very good A games.
Although I think this is true, I believe this is

(01:59):
the first be A contract he's signed. I know he's
been in he's been on a two way with some
clubs and gotten some NBA time as a two way,
but I don't believe he's ever gotten any time or
or signed a uniformed player contract veteran player contract ever

(02:20):
before this. So it's a big opportunity of big momentar Um.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Pacers maths coming up tomorrow night rounds out of road
trip for Indiana before they return home. Rick Carlisle with
us here on the Payloss Slickers hotline coach. I know
you mentioned over the weekend you're still awaiting kind of
some imaging on Andrew Nemhard, maybe more of Benedict Matheren.
Any updates on those two guys on how long they
could be out? No, have you have you ever dealt

(02:49):
with anything like this? I mean, it's it's incredible how
long the injury list is, particularly this early in the season.
I mean, you've obviously coached a long time. Have you
ever had to deal with an injury list, particularly in
you know, the month of October?

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Uh? Not, not like this. I mean, you know, we
we went through the brawl stuff, and we were very
depleted as a team during that and we had to
bring in a lot of reinforcements, and you know, there
was a lot of stuff going on with suspensions at
that time, so we actually had less players available in

(03:30):
a few of the games at that time. So but
this is this is different. And you know, one thing
you can you can surmise from this looking at us
and Oklahoma City. I think Oklahoma City has seven guys out,
or did leading to last night they played Dallas last night.

(03:55):
We now have eight guys out and both teams played
to the very last day of the season. So yeah,
it's it's very possible that you know, playing to playing
that number of games may may be part of this.
You know, it may not. Some of these injuries really

(04:17):
you know, like a like something related to a left shoulder,
like with Nemhard, you can't really trace that to, you know,
playing a lot last year and having a short summer.
But uh, and you know Ben stepping on a guy's
foot in Memphis, that's you know, that's that's bad luck
more than you know, certainly more than anything. But it's

(04:42):
an interesting coincidence.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Again, we have Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle joining us
only pay less Lookers hotline. Rick, you called Pascal Siakam
a total warrior the other night, and in situations like this,
he's always been a leader for this team since joining
the franchise a couple of years ago. But how much
more do you look towards him's gonna help the group win.
A lot of that group might not have played together,

(05:05):
they might be young, inexperience, and here's a guy who's
won a championship and been an All NBA player and
obviously been very professional throughout his NBA tenure.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, no question about it. I mean, his leadership, obviously,
his skill set on the floor, you know, are gonna
be massive components for us to be able to compete
at the level we needed. We had to have a
chance to win games. So he's been He's been great

(05:35):
ever since he came here. You know, his voice has
merged and gotten stronger over the months and now now
years since he's been here. I guess he's been here
about a year, about a year and a half, maybe
probably a little longer now. I think it's late January
of twenty four and so yeah, I mean in this

(06:01):
kind of situation, you look to your best players for
leadership on the floor, in the locker room. Uh. The
Minnesota game was an obvious example of his greatness, you know,
as both a player and the leader, and just you know,
there was a strong willed defiance that you know, we

(06:22):
were gonna we're gonna hang in that game and give
ourselves a chance up to the very end. And you
know he was a major, major part of that.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
M Carlisle with us here again, Pacers and Mavericks coming
up tomorrow, and I say round out a road trip coach.
You know when Benetckcathen went down on Saturday night. You know,
he was on one of those heaters in the third quarter.
But we had talked about a play that really stood
out to us yesterday. Was you know, amidst that heater,
you know, he finds Ben Shephard, you know, for three

(06:51):
kind of pump face, gets in the lane, kicks it
out and I don't know, maybe that's a play that
he doesn't make as a rookie or something along those lines.
Albeit a very small sample size, but what were you
seen from Ben uh here to start the season prior
to the injury.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, you know, significant growth and you know, really in
all areas. You know, he was taken on more difficult
defensive matchups, offensively obviously carrying more of a load. His
awareness of the floor has gotten better, his reads have
gotten better. You know, coaches have done a great job

(07:32):
setting up situations for bag reads and practice or him
along with a lot of our guys, and it's really hating,
you know, to see that kind of improvement. So he's
a he's a guy that you know, really ever since

(07:53):
the moment he was drafted, and even even before that,
you know, I think the story has been told many
times when he came in for his draft workout that
he wanted to go back in that night work out again.
He wanted to he wanted to learn. He reiterated that
he you know, wanted to be pushed to be the

(08:13):
best possible player that he could. And and so you know,
he he's backed up. He backed up those words and claims,
and so you know, this continues to be a very
important year for him.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Uh, center clarity, do you have anything more? Through three games?
I felt like Tony Bradley gave you some nice minutes
the other night. Obviously, the James Wiseman move probably opens up,
you know, maybe a little bit more clarity just with
sheer numbers. But what have you seen from your center
position here through the first three games, Well, all.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Of them have gotten pretty significant opportunity. They all bring
some unique skill set stuff that's going to be very
important to our team. And so you know, we need
all of in terms of, you know, what, what does
this thing look like? You know, who the who's the

(09:06):
definite starter, who's the definite backup? All that kind of stuff.
You know. The other night, we we started huff at
four because of our roster situation and just simply simply
trying to balance it out so that you know, we
could we could sub on a more or less normal basis.

(09:27):
And he did some good things, you know, as as
the start forward. So Memphis and Minnesota both teams that
start the game Big Dallas is another big team. So
you know, if he doesn't start it for you know,
he is a very good chance he'll see him some

(09:49):
more minutes of that position. And you know, right now,
you know a lot of guys are getting their feet wet,
doing some different things than probably they've ever done. But
we're gonna have and those things into positives.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Rick, tomorrow night, you all face Cooper Flag for the
first time, and I know he's a rookie and things
can change a lot from him for what he looks
like right now versus later in the season, but earlier,
Scott and report on him. What stands out to you
about the numb one pick in the draft.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, he's a great player, I mean a great young player.
So I you know, it's it's rare you find a
guy that's you know, what is he sixty nine six
ten that can dribble, pass, shoot, make plays. I mean

(10:39):
he made plays off the dribble with the ball, you know,
passes at the last lobbs at the last second too lively,
and some of their bigs and and he finds people.
You know, it's it's pretty amazing, you know. I mean,
Dallas give a fortune in the houses they had had Donchets,

(11:02):
and now they now they have this guy as a rookie,
you know, And so I would be cautious to make,
uh make a lot of comparisons between the two of them,
but there there there are some similarities. I mean, you
look at the size, the ability to create shots, the

(11:24):
passing division, all that kind of stuff. And we're talking
about a very specially young player.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Rick Carlisle again with US here Pacers MAVs coming up
tomorrow nights. Coach, I see Tyres Alibert and is traveling
with you guys, and you know, I know, you know,
him being a player and you being a coach. Maybe
it's a slightly different, but you had a couple of
different stints in your coaching career where you didn't coach
within your whatever your two decade plus run of coaching.

(11:53):
Did you find those years when you weren't coaching beneficial
for you in any way? Shape or form and it
can you ad all all maybe compare that to what
Tyre is going through this year.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I did, Yeah, And it was always an opportunity to
take a step back view the game as more of
a you know, from a from from afar, more of
a broad strokes macro view of it. And you know,

(12:28):
when you when you coach day to day, it's a
you know, it's a crucible. It's it's there's there's a
lot of intensity to it, et cetera, et cetera. It
can be an opportunity not only to view the game
from a different perspective, but to to recharge the batteries,

(12:48):
you know. And so yeah, coming off of last year
where you know, Tyree's had such a such an amazing year,
I mean, and it was it was, uh, it was
a winding road, you know. It's it started out slow
for him, and and then as he got got his

(13:08):
legs and his rhythm and all that, you know, things
really started to turn in December and and uh, you know,
we got other guys back that were hurt and all that,
and and then you know, you know, January, February, March, April,
I mean, you know, he did some he did some
amazing things, and then the guy ends up all NBA,
you know, so and then the long run and again,

(13:30):
you know, this is you go to the very last
possible day. You know, that's a lot of physical and
emotional wear, and and so you never you never want
to say that it's that it's a much needed thing,
or that if a needed thing that a player, you know,

(13:53):
takes a year off. But you always look for positives
as to why a situation can present opportunity, and certainly
this one, this one I think does, and and he's
taking advantage of it, you know, and I think you know,
many people have seen it was it was probably on Instagram,
you know. He he dunked the ball last week, you know,

(14:17):
and so this guy's doing phenomenally well with his rehabit,
and you know he and he and Jason Tatum both,
I mean Tatum had dunked the ball a couple of
weeks before Tyrese had, and of course his injury happened
a few a couple three or four weeks before Tyrese
is and so he was he was a little a

(14:38):
little ahead of ahead of Tyrese in terms of the
timetable for injury. Recovery, and of course he's taller too,
and had you know, I can contribute to somebody dunking
the ball a little bit sooner than than the other.
But uh, yeah, he's finding he's finding the positives, and
you know, I think this would be a great question

(14:59):
to ask him some point.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, coach, thank you for the time again, as we said,
a happy belated birthday to you from yesterday. Halloween upcoming
on the schedule here on Friday. When you think back
to your halloween's a child, is there a favorite Rick
Carlisle costume from back in the day, maybe a favorite
candy as well. Is there any vivid Halloween memories for you?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Uh? Not really, I'm not. As you know, there are
some people that really get into Halloween, you know, with
with the costumes, with some themes, the candy, all that
kind of stuff. I don't remember being that enthralled with it.
But the team did have a uh did have a

(15:47):
Halloeen party a week or ten days ago, which was
pretty cool and it was a it was a it
was a it was a pretty good bonding bonding thing
and some of the costumes were pretty compelling. So now
the number one thing is that hopefully everybody stays safe
on Halloween, and but I had not given it that

(16:10):
much thought, so I can't say I appreciate the question,
but I acknowledge the question.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Noted, and the Pacers will be playing Halloween Night back
here inside of Gamebridgefield ass Hawks. I've been back to
back with Golden State coming up on Saturday. Coaches, always,
thank you, appreciate you being flexible at the time change,
and we'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
All right, guys, take care
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