Sarunas Jasikevicius admitted on Thursday that he was utterly miserable during his time with the Pacers, according to The Indianapolis Star.

"I was pretty much miserable (in Indiana)," Jasikevicius said Thursday night. "Those were bad times for me. Obviously."

He blames a majority of his problems in Indiana on former coach Rick Carlisle, now with the Mavericks.

"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," Jasikevicius 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.' "

"But Larry (Bird) being such an honorable man, and (then-president) Donnie (Walsh), too, they hire the coach and let him coach the way he wants. Rick's a half-court man, no question."

Sarunas, however, wasn't able to get off the bench in Golden State either, where Don Nelson runs an European-style of play.

"I don't know that there's any reason to respond," Carlisle said in response. "It's all pretty baseless . . . I respect Sarunas' game and his basketball IQ, and that's why the only NBA success he had was with me as a coach."

Via The Indianapolis Star

Indiana Pacers

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