Rick Pitino, awful Celtics coach, was outdone by Rick Pitino, awful Celtics president | The Worst

Before the 1997-98 NBA season, eight NBA teams made a change at head coach. One of those teams was the Boston Celtics, who hired Rick Pitino away from the University of Kentucky to be coach and president. The decision to put that much power in the hands of someone who was fickle with his roster, collegiate in his approach, and interested in being the center of the show, proved to be a total disaster.

[LazyTelevison]

“They tried to kill two birds with one stone and instead just killed themselves”

That’s cold as hell....

[brokeboygaming]

He was trading like 2k before 2k was a thing

[ValensBellator]

Boston could have had billups, mcgrady, miller and pierce?

I would have loved to see that lol

[bolting]

Pitino legit reminds me of Michael Scott.

[simplyskrypt]

Rick pitino is basically the real life equivalent of any of us playing sports games in gm mode

"Hire 4 free agents, trade for a draft pick, hire 3 more, trade for a player, now trade the player and draft pick together for a better player..."

Except he never takes the time to look properly at the stat sheets. He just goes "aah, 81 overall, 91 accuracy. Sign him up"

[iamjobu]

Mediocre large men are the life blood of the NBA

[TSTypeR]

Jon Bois ain’t walkin through that door

[ergoat]

Worth noting: Tommy Heinsohn, the ultimate homer who bleeds Celtics green, could barely conceal his disgust for Pitino when calling games during that era.

[LatinNitemare]

Bobby Petrino = Worst NFL coaching hire...
Rick Pitino = Worst NBA coaching hire...
Louisville: “Don’t worry we’ll take it from here...”

[siddarthatummala]

“I wish we could have $90M under the salary cap, but we don’t. All we can do is work hard.”

-Rick Pitino, the sloot who gave contracts out like candy

[ivaneurope]

Fun trivia fact: Rick Pitino's last team he coached was Panathinaikos Basketball Club. It wears green and white as well as having cloverleaf as one of its signature symbols, the same as one of Pitino's former teams - the Boston Celtics. His biggest contribution in Athens - winning the Greek League and Cup as well as 6th in the EuroLeague .

[jasonfire]

Lesson learned: Never hire a coach from the state of Kentucky whose name starts with P and ends in "-ino"

[henrysteiner]

Who else saw this and thought Hmm 10 year $70 million plus traded away hall of famers and some Allstars for “his guys” .... I wonder what current nfl coach is gonna be on an episode 5 years from now

[TrellAliii]

They legit could’ve had Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups and Tracey McGrady on the same team🤦🏾‍♂️

[enzlaur]

Finally, someone who can pronounce Boston, Massachusetts the right way

[kingjayded]

Ok, I love the "Bawstawn Massuhusutts".

[bb.cute.channel]

Larry. Bird would have been the correct choice.

[InvisiblePlumber]

I don't think college success in any role will necessarily translate to NBA success in the same role, and Pitino's complete failure to adapt to his circumstances and to make hasty, stubborn decisions only exacerbated that. Rash decisions with motives that don't fit your situation is a problem throughout all of history, really, especially the removal of Jungleland Express, formerly at Six Flags Great Adventure.

[bbhjuan]

The Celtics could have had Chauncey, McGrady, and Paul could’ve one a couple rings in the mid 2000s

[theOnyFUFU]

I can't even imagine what it would've been like had the Celtics hired Bird to coach, drafted Kobe/Jermaine O' Neal/Stojakovic in 96 instead of Walker (all 3 were drafted below him), drafted TMac with that 6th pick, and kept Billups and Rick Fox instead of trading them for nothing. If they still sucked enough to end up with the 10th pick in 98 & draft Pierce, that would be an amazing team that would've been a contender (maybe not win rings but definitely make deep playoffs runs every year). That starting 5 would be: Chauncey, TMac, Fox, Pierce, and O'Neal!
I can't be mad cuz even though the Cs did Chauncey dirty, he convinced KG to leave Minny & sign with them in 2007!