Tag: 2008 nba playoffs

On this day: Pitino hired; DJ retired; 1965 NBA draft; 1968 expansion draft

On this day, Rick Pitino was hired as head coach and team president of the Boston Celtics, Dennis Johnson retired, and 3 Cs were taken in the ’68 expansion draft.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, former head coach and team president Rick Pitino was hired as head coach and general manager of the team in 1997. He had previously coached at the NBA level as a moderately successful head coach of the New York Knicks between 1987 and 1989, and most recently at Kentucky in the NCAA ranks.

His tenure with the Celtics went considerably worse, with the pressure to return to greatness after the longest losing streak in team history undoubtedly a factor in the several questionable ‘win-now’ decisions made by Pitino. The New Yorker would throw in the towel after four seasons with the franchise, amassing a 102-146 record in the regular season, good for a .411 winning percentage.

He never made the postseason in his role as team president and head coach.

On this day: Thompson, Counts, Bonham drafted; Garnett cut; Jones signed

On this day, Celtics champions John Thompson and Ron Bonham were drafted in 1964, and several notable roster changes took place.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied Massachusetts franchise would select four players of note in the 1964 NBA draft, held in New York City as it typically was in that era.

They did not however draft future Celtics champion forward Paul Silas, who was instead taken out of Creighton University by the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks in the second round of the draft with the 10th overall pick (there were many more rounds with far fewer teams in that era of the draft). Silas would play for the Hawks in St. Louis and after they moved to Atlanta, Georgia as well as the Phoenix Suns before being dealt to Boston in the spring of 1972.

There, he would win two banners, be elected to multiple All-Defensive teams, and an All-Star Game — among many other honors.