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Rick Carlisle offers great perspective for 2-11 Mavericks

The 2016-17 season has been tough so far for the Dallas Mavericks, and that’s putting it lightly. Dallas is currently 2-11 and on a six-game losing streak.

The Mavs are dead last in the Southwest Division, and they’re also the worst team in the NBA’s Western Conference. To add insult to injury, though, it’s not just the West that Dallas is looking up at.

With only two wins, the Mavericks are the worst team in the NBA. With games against the Clippers, Cavaliers and Spurs all coming up on the schedule before the calendar flips to December, it’s not going to get any easier for Rick Carlisle and company, either.

Perhaps a Sunday evening contest against the New Orleans Pelicans at home is winnable for the Mavs, but the long-term prospects for this team aren’t all that bright.

So far it has not been so good for Dallas.

That hasn’t stopped Carlisle from keeping things in perspective though, and really, at this point that’s all he can do apart from coaching his team back from the brink of destruction.

The perspective is this: Even at 2-11, his players are still playing NBA basketball and Carlisle is still an NBA coach. They’re part of one of the more notable franchises in the league and have an owner in their corner who is not afraid to keep both himself and his organization in the spotlight. Mark Cuban is not afraid to spend money, and he’s hell-bent on winning.

Not only that, but for now, they have jobs. They have jobs playing and coaching a game. At least according to Carslile, that’s better than doing real manual labor.

Perspective is key in moments like this for a coach, because it’s easy to get negative — something that tends to compound until it eventually spirals out of control.

If Dallas is to pull itself out of this funk it’s going to take both perspective and positive thinking. Things are bad, but maybe the key to a Dallas turnaround is going out and having fun, realizing that it’s all just a game anyhow.

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