Pacers look to hire former coach

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers began their pursuit of Rick Carlisle for their new coach Thursday but did not expect to sign him at least until early next week.\nCarlisle, a former Pacers assistant and the head coach at Detroit the past two years, became available when he was fired by the Pistons in May.\nHe was the first choice for the Pacers after new team president Larry Bird, Carlisle's Boston Celtics teammate and his boss when Bird was the Pacers coach, fired Isiah Thomas Wednesday.\nBird said meetings with Carlisle were progressing, but an announcement would be unlikely before next week.\n"We've been talking a lot," Bird told reporters as he drove away from Conseco Fieldhouse. "It's going pretty good, I guess."\nCarlisle was in Indianapolis to meet with Bird and Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh.\n"It went pretty well," Carlisle said as he left the fieldhouse in a vehicle behind Bird's.\nPacers forward Ron Artest, who came in a trade with Chicago during Thomas' second year as coach, said he wasn't surprised by the coaching change.\n"In the NBA, I've seen a lot of moves been made. ... It happens like that," Artest said. "Guys play for lots and lots of coaches. To me, it's not hard to adjust to a new coach. Basketball is all basic, with the exception of a certain plays coaches want to run, but as long as you know how to play basketball, you'll be fine."\nHe said Carlisle's previous experience with Indiana also should help.\n"I think he'd feel a bit more comfortable rather than coming into a (new) situation, so the adjustment shouldn't be hard," Artest said. "I can't wait to get started, to get the season rolling."\nOn Wednesday, at a news conference announcing the firing of Thomas, Bird said, "I think a new coach coming in is going to bring some freshness, a new style and hopefully he can play the game the way I like it to be played."\nHe made it clear the man he wanted for the job was Carlisle, a Pacers assistant all three seasons under Bird and before that an assistant in Portland for three years and New Jersey for five years.\n"I talked to Rick (Tuesday night) to see if he had any interest in this job, and obviously this would be a great opportunity for him," Bird said. "He'd like to sit down and talk to us about it."\nCarlisle also was a candidate for the Pacers job three years ago, after Bird took the team to the 2000 NBA Finals and then resigned, making good on his intention to step down after three years as coach. The job instead went to Thomas, who had never coached but, like Bird, brought Hall of Fame credentials as a player.\nBut the Pacers were 131-115 and were eliminated in the first round of playoffs each of the three years under Thomas, who often was criticized for his inconsistent player rotations with one of the youngest rosters in the NBA.\nThe Pacers team now bears little resemblance to the veteran-laden roster that lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000 finals.\nFive-time All-Star Reggie Miller and reserve forward Austin Croshere are the only players who saw significant playing time on that team who were with the Pacers last season.\nCarlisle played with Bird in Boston for three years and was a member of the Celtics' 1986 NBA championship team. He also played with the New York Knicks for one season and briefly with the Nets in 1989 before he became an assistant coach.\nAfter losing out to Thomas for the Indiana job in 2000, Carlisle was a radio analyst for the Seattle SuperSonics for one season before the Pistons hired him as their coach in 2001. He won the NBA coach of the year award his first season as the Pistons went 50-32.\nCarlisle matched that record last season, when the Pistons won their second straight Central Division title, but they were swept by the Nets in the Eastern Conference finals. Carlisle was fired in May with one year and $2 million left on his contract.\nHe was replaced by Larry Brown -- the Pacers coach before Bird -- who had resigned after six years with Philadelphia.