Hooped Up

Sarunas Jasikevicius doesn’t mince words: He blames most of his problems in Indiana on former Pacers and current Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. “Obviously, the (up-tempo) style of play Rick promised me was never there, the opportunities to play were never there, and the players who were supposed to be gone by the time I came were still around,” he said. “Rick did a great false recruiting job on me, like college recruiting where they say, ‘If you come here, we promise you the world.’ ” He acknowledged that some players even froze him out, refused to give him the ball. “There were a lot of guys (in thePacers locker room) who were in the last year of their contract, and they didn’t like the European boy coming over and getting the money,” Jasikevicius said. “Obviously, Fred (Jones), a lot of guys, they weren’t happy I was there.” One thing he wanted known, though, was thatStephen Jackson was not among those conspiring against him. “He might have been my best teammate,” Jasikevicius said.

Indianapolis Star