Sefko writes on Carlisle's second year as coach.

"He sees things out there that sometimes we don't see ourselves," James Singleton says. "And he'll tell you exactly what he wants done. Exactly. He won't beat around the bush. That's all I ask for. ... Coach Carlisle is in a league of his own. He doesn't do things like everybody else."

If there's a point of pride in Carlisle's way of doing things, that would be it.

"You can never be too good a communicator," he says. "I try to be very honest because I feel there's a definite correlation between how a team responds to communication and the value of the power of truth.

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Rick Carlisle gets a little bit of love in the annual ESPN predictions.  And just about everyone has Dallas finishing second in the Southwest, with only Marc Stein and Jalen Rose predicting home court advantage in the first round.

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Mike Fisher has player-by-player preview of the backcourt.

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Rob Mahoney has a good preview over at the Two Man Game.

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We should be seeing a lot of this.