ML Carr on when he tried to talk Gregg Popovich out of drafting Tim Duncan

As you might guess, it did not go well.

Rick Pitino is a name that has not been a popular one among fans of the Boston Celtics for many years now due to the gross mismanagement of one of the NBA’s marquee franchises during his tenure as team president and coach in the mid-to-late 1990s.

At least some of the animus against Pitino may not be entirely his fault, such as the bad luck leading to the San Antonio Spurs ending up with Hall of Fame big man Tim Duncan in the NBA draft. But that did not make the job of ML Carr any easier when it became his responsibility to try and talk the Spurs out of the top pick of the 1997 draft.

“We worked very hard to put the team in position to get, potentially, the first pick,” said Carr to NBC Sports Boston. “It didn’t happen.”