Chris Kaman Calls Rick Carlisle ‘Uptight’

Lakers big man Chris Kaman took a few shots at his old coach, Rick Carlisle. Following the Mavs’ 123-104 win last night, Carlisle had the last word. Per the LA Daily News and Dallas Morning News: “Kaman continued sharing his brutal honesty on his lone season last year with the Mavericks, outlining the difference between Dallas coach Rick Carlisle and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni. ‘Coach Carlisle is uptight and plays games with people here and there,’ Kaman said. ‘But Coach D’Antoni is more relaxed and goes with the flow and tells you to play the game. He lets the guys play and gets a feel and lets you make mistakes and play. That’s the kind of basketball that I like to play. You can’t micromanage every tight situation and pull guys in and out. It doesn’t work that way. If you have some superstars, you might get away with that. But for some guys who aren’t as good as the superstars, it’s hard to do that.’ […] ‘I didn’t fit into Coach Carlisle’s style and what he wanted to do,’ Kaman said. ‘I figured out another way to make it work somewhere else.’ […] Tuesday night, Kaman scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds in 17 minutes. Carlisle said little before the game in response, pointing out that things just didn’t work out well for Kaman in Dallas. Carlisle took his share of responsibility for that. But after the Mavericks’ 123-104 victory over the Lakers, as a few reporters stood near Dirk Nowitzki’s locker, asking about Kaman, Carlisle walked in and, without changing expression, interjected: ‘I thought Kaman played great tonight. And I was shocked he didn’t play more minutes. It should be noted for the record that he played 17 minutes tonight and averaged 20 here.’ Nowitzki, who played on Germany’s 2008 Olympic team with Kaman, shook his head and smiled, but said little. ‘I actually didn’t see (Kaman’s comments),’ Nowitzki said. ‘I heard real briefly, but before I actually read them I really don’t care to comment. But obviously I think that relationship went sour pretty quick last year with Kame wanting more playing time. Things just didn’t work out, obviously him playing with me wasn’t working out and I was hurt.'”