Rick Carlisle issues nonsensical response to question about Dennis Smith Jr.

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle’s disdain for reporters is well-documented. In January, he took issue with reporters publishing LaVar Ball’s quotes and suggested banning those who did, thereby causing those same reporters to report Carlisle’s complaints and bringing even more attention to the Ball family patriarch’s opinion.

Carlisle continued fanning those flames on Friday by offering a subversive response to Orange County Register Lakers beat writer Bill Oram. Oram asked Carlisle for his thoughts on Pat Forde and Pete Thamel’s Yahoo report indicating that Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr. accepted an illicit $43,000 payment from an agent while he was still an amateur.

Carlisle could have offered up a simple “no comment” or brushed aside Smith’s college woes as no concern of his. After all, Smith doesn’t appear to be in any legal jeopardy and the status of his collegiate eligibility is moot. Instead, Carlisle uttered a dizzy array of disparate thoughts that vaguely represented cogent sentences.

That was the NBA coach’s equivalent to covfefe. Carlisle could have easily stopped at, “I don’t claim to be an expert on the college game,” but he continued rambling off-topic, dipping into non sequitur and began telling tales regarding his 33-year journey to becoming an NBA head coach. At the conclusion of his thought, Carlisle admits to feigning ignorance. The lesson to reporters is simple here. Don’t ask Carlisle questions that he doesn’t want to answer because he will make you transcribe garbage.

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DJ Dunson is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at dunsnchecksin@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or Facebook.