NBA News: Examining Rick Carlisle's Fit With Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers have fired head coach Nate Bjorkgren, but the have officially signed former Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle to a four-year, $29 million contract.

Bjorkgren’s Pacers finished the season as the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference and faced the Washington Wizards in the league’s first-ever play-in tournament.

The Wizards easily defeated the Pacers and went on to face the top-seeded Philadelphia Sixers where they lost in five games.

Indiana averaged 115.7 points per game, making them one of the highest-scoring teams in the league but also allowed opposing teams to score 115.7 points per game--the 26th worst team in the league.

Much of the team’s misfortunes this season can be attributed to injury, however.

Leading scorer T.J. Warren only played four games, while team leader in blocked shots Myles Turner missed 25 games. On the other hand, both Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon missed 10-plus games.

Bringing in a veteran coach like Rick Carlisle has to be a great feeling for the Pacers core who are all under 30 years old.

Carlisle led the Mavericks to an NBA title in 2011 after beating the LeBron James-led Miami Heat in six games for the franchise’s first title.

By having the 61-year-old Carlisle back on the Indiana sidelines, the Pacers have full confidence in his ability to lead the team and to bring out the best in his young core.

Luka Doncic and Carlisle were seen to be having some tension as the Mavericks fizzled out against the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games.

Carlisle later resigned from the position, a day after general manager Donnie Nelson also left the club.

In terms of coaching style, he runs his offense with the personnel that’s given to him.

During Dirk Nowitzki’s career, they ran a ton of high-post actions that allowed the German to own the midrange with the one-legged fallaway shot that made him so difficult to guard.

With Doncic, he adjusted his style to fit that of the Slovenian’s ability to create shots for himself and for his teammates with high screen-and-rolls.

With Indiana, he has a ton of pieces to play with as Warren is a great midrange scorer, 2016-2017 Rookie of the Year Brogdon is relishing in his role of being a point guard, Sabonis is playing with the shades of his father Arvydas' toughness but with a reliable three-point shot, and Turner is more than capable of grabbing rebounds and dunking home the offensive rebound.

If there’s one thing that Indiana fans should look forward to with his return, it’s that he’ll certainly bring out the most of Brogdon’s underrated ability to play the point guard position while allowing Warren and Caris LeVert to find opportunities to score.

Carlisle was an assistant coach for the Pacers under Larry Bird’s tenure prior to coaching the Detroit Pistons in 2001, where he won Coach of the Year.

Indiana brought him back for the 2003-2004 season where he would have a record of 181 wins to 147 losses.