Dishonoring the Worst Celtics Coach of All-Time: Rick Pitino
Earlier today, I ranked the Celtics Top-5 All-Time best coaches. While the list was assembled rather arbitrarily, as there was really only one definitive selection – being the number one spot reserved for Red Auerbach – I contend that there’s one man who, without question, was the WORST Celtics coach of All-Time.
That hellspawn of a coach is, of course, Rick Pitino.
When I say ‘worst’, I don’t just mean it in the typical way you’d describe an incompetent coach. Yes, he was an awful coach for the Celtics, but by worst, I mean he was the worst, most despicable “human being” ever employed by the Boston Celtics.
While the scandals that Pitino’s been connected to has reinforced my assertion in him being a morally-repugnant organism, the worst thing he’s ever done, has far-and-away been the stripping of Red Auerbach of his title as Celtics president.
Here’s a guy who MADE the Boston Celtics, now being pressured out of the organization by some hot shot who thinks he’s Mr. Boston because he played four years of college ball at UMASS Amherst. Rick, Amherst’s two hours away and you were born in New York.
Re-winding back to his first year with the C’s, Pitino was fresh off of an NCAA Championship in 1996 with Kentucky. It was this success that he’d achieved at the college level, that provided him with the requisite leverage to negotiate such a totalitarian position within the Celtics organization.
While his official jobs would include Coach, GM, CEO and President, to Celtics nation, it felt like he was the judge, jury and executioner. He effectively executed the collective hopes and dreams of the entire Celtics fan base.
At first, things looked optimistic, though.
Following M.L. Carr’s tank-tastic 1996 season, which would make Sam Hinkie blush, Pitino accepted the Celtics job hoping he’d be able to land Tim Duncan in the 1997 NBA draft. The C’s had two picks in the top-10, however, after some misfortune in the lottery, they’d end up with the third and the sixth draft pick.
With the third pick, Pitino selected Chauncey Billups. All right, in hindsight, that doesn’t look too bad. How could he mess this up?
With the sixth pick, Pitino selected Ron Mercer. NOOOOO!
Mercer – being a two guard without a three-point shot – was out of the league by 2005, despite averaging a decent 15.3 points in his first season with the Boston Celtics.
Right off the bat, Pitino had alienated Billups. The two didn’t get along, and to top things off, the C’s thought of Billups as more of a shooting guard than a point guard. After just 51 games, Billups was sent to Toronto. Billups would go on to make five All-Star games in addition to two All NBA Second-Team defenses.
And then in 2000 came the speech (see video at top of page). After a painful Vince Carter buzzer beater (go to 7:22 in video directly above) following a Tracy McGrady inbounds pass (who we could’ve drafted instead of Ron Mercer), Pitino had lost it, and delivered perhaps the most ill-advised and illogical speech in post-game history. It is the complete playbook of things NOT TO SAY to the media following a tough loss.
"Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they’re going to be gray and old. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and we’re going to improve. People don’t realize that, and as soon as they realize those three guys are not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all of us because there are young guys in that (locker) room playing their asses off. I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can’t; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that’s in this town sucks. I’ve been around when Jim Rice was booed. I’ve been around when Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy. The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and positive like we are in that locker room… and if you think I’m going to succumb to negativity, you’re wrong. You’ve got the wrong guy leading this team."
*
This speech would live in infamy, as it effectively illustrates just how far a team could fall in just ten years. It had become the official rock bottom in Celtics history.
There’d be one thing Pitino did right in his career, besides resigning, and that would be drafting Paul Pierce. We often forget that it was the Celtics most hated individual of all-time who drafted the most-beloved Celtic of the 21st century.
And for that, Rick, I thank you. However, I still wish you great failure in your next season at Louisville.
*To an extent, I partially understand Pitino’s contempt for the historically-fickle Boston sports media.