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Scott D. Pierce: Mavs’ coach embarrasses himself with attack on ESPN

<b>Sports on TV • </b>Rick Carlisle hates LaVar Ball, but he’s acting just like him.

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle reacts to a call in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Utah Jazz don’t face Dallas again until Feb. 24, and maybe by then somebody can explain to Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle how the NBA’s deal with ESPN works. And how journalism works.

Because Carlisle hasn’t got a clue. He thinks NBA coaches should decide what ESPN reporters can write. And which reporters should be allowed to cover the NBA.

Normally, this wouldn’t matter. Who cares if a basketball coach understands how TV works? Except that Carlisle is the president of the NBA Coaches’ Association, and he’s calling on ESPN to violate basic tenets of journalism.

Weirdly and annoyingly, this is the result of — ugh — LaVar Ball. The publicity-seeking father of Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball was quoted in an ESPN story, severely criticizing L.A. coach Luke Walton. Carlisle called Jeff Goodman’s story “a disgrace” and suggested that anyone who interviews LaVar Ball should not be credentialed by the NBA.

That sounds dumb because it is. For one thing, that would just feed Ball’s already outsized ego. For another, it would make NBA coaches (and teams) look like thin-skinned crybabies who want to tell ESPN (and all reporters) how to do their jobs.

Maybe Carlisle should worry about doing his job. The Mavs were 13-28 heading into Tuesday’s game against Orlando. Carlisle insisted that NBA “coaches do a lot of things to help [ESPN] with access, interviews and all those kinds of things. And in exchange for that, [ESPN] should back up the coaches.”

Wrong.

FILE - In this July 7, 2017, file photo, LaVar Ball, father of Los Angeles Lakers' Lonzo Ball and UCLA player LiAngelo Ball, watches the Lakers play the Los Angeles Clippers during an NBA summer league basketball game, in Las Vegas. President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday, Nov. 19, that he should have left three UCLA basketball players, including LiAngelo Ball, accused of shoplifting in China in jail after LaVar Ball minimized Trump’s involvement in winning the players’ release during an interview Saturday, Nov. 18, with ESPN. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

ESPN pays the NBA $1.4 billion a year, helping make it possible for players and coaches to draw enormous paychecks. That’s why coaches cooperate.

Carlisle makes about $7 million a year. He’d make a lot less if not for that TV money.

Carlisle argued that the story that quoted LaVar Ball was “deplorable.” And he’s certainly entitled to his opinion.

Don’t get me wrong. I agree that the world would be a better place if everyone ignored LaVar Ball. But whether we like it or not, what Ball said is news — it could affect the relationship between Walton and Lonzo Ball.

LaVar Ball is not the first member of a pro athlete’s family who made news by criticizing a coach. And there’s clearly an audience out there for this, whether Carlisle and I like it or not.

This is not fake news. It’s annoying, but it’s real.

(Whether it’s possible for ESPN to be in business with the NBA and not have that affect its journalism is an open question — and the subject for a different column.)

Carlisle doubled down, releasing a statement as president of the NBCA that called the ESPN report “a salacious one-sided story lacking journalistic integrity,” adding that “the NBCA demands that ESPN, and our other network partners, work harder to ensure a more objective and balanced account in their coverage.”

That’s ridiculous on a lot of levels, not the least of which is that Goodman didn’t endorse LaVar Ball’s opinions, he simply reported them. The story didn’t reflect badly on Walton, it reflected badly on Ball.

Maybe Carlisle struggles with reading comprehension.

I’m saying that they should look at their sources and do a better job of determining whether they have any merit or any validity, or are they just blowhard loudmouths,” Carlisle said.

If the media were prohibited from doing stories about blowhard loudmouths, there would be precious little news coming out of our nation’s capital these days.

And this is Carlisle’s blowhard, loudmouth attempt to manipulate the media, embarrassing his team and the league.

Turns out Rick Carlisle is a lot like LaVar Ball.