biba
05-13-2007, 06:35 AM
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Pitino's 1997 loss was eventually the Cards' gain
Rick Bozich
It was 10 years ago this week that Rick Pitino took the 36.3 percent gamble. Ten years ago this week that Pitino left the University of Kentucky to fix the Boston Celtics.
Ten years ago this week that Pitino could not escape the irresistible allure of coaching Tim Duncan, a player with the skills and ego to fix any basketball team.
Ten years ago this month that Pitino had a 36.3 percent chance to win the lottery and select Duncan with the first pick in the 1997 NBA draft -- and lost.
Can you isolate another moment from the past 10 years that has had a greater impact on the local basketball scene than that 1997 NBA draft lottery?
I can't.
At UK, Pitino's departure triggered an inexorable decade-long slide that the Wildcats hope will be stopped by the relentless energy of new coach Billy Gillispie.
On May 6, 1997, the day Pitino resigned from UK, who would have predicted that a decade later he'd be working 70 miles down the road?
But Pitino's 3 ½-season struggle in Boston, shaped by his inability to draft Duncan, put him in position to move to the University of Louisville. Next season he will welcome a top-10 team. In three years he will play in a new downtown arena.
(Un)favorable odds
Credit a moment of chance, pro basketball's version of the Powerball.
Somebody's got to win. Somebody wasn't Pitino. It was the San Antonio Spurs.
Let the record show that the Spurs are pursuing their fourth NBA title since the big man arrived from Wake Forest. It's no coincidence that their coach -- Gregg Popovich -- is the same coach who was there when Duncan arrived.
That could have been Pitino. That should have been Pitino. That's what the odds suggested.
Make no mistake, the glamour, tradition and riches of the Celtics are what stirred Pitino into jumping from UK for his 10-year, $70 million deal. But the 1997 lottery made the opportunity seem magical.
With a 15-67 record, the Celtics had suffered five more losses than any other NBA team. That guaranteed Boston one spot in the lottery. A trade with Dallas gave Boston two of the 11 lottery slots.
Every team that fails to make the NBA playoffs earns a place in the lottery, which was created to determine the top drafting positions. The lottery is weighted. The worse your record, the better your chances of getting the top pick.
Fuzzy math
The story seemed scripted by central casting. First the Celtics get Pitino. Then Pitino would get Duncan. According to the NBA, they had a 27.51 percent chance to get the first pick with their selection and another 8.80 percent chance with the Mavericks' pick.
It was a 36.3 percent gamble, considerably better than San Antonio's 21.6 percent chance. Just a year earlier Philadelphia had only a 33.7 chance to get the first pick. The Sixers scored -- and ultimately took Allen Iverson.
For Pitino and the Celtics, this was supposed to be as magical as getting Bill Russell, Dave Cowens or Larry Bird.
Except it wasn't magical. It was miserable.
The math turned to mush. The Celtics didn't get the first pick. Or even the second.
They got the third and sixth. They drafted Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer. Billups became one of the best guards in the NBA, but not until long after Pitino shipped him out of town. Mercer became a guy who could score but wasn't going to help you win.
Not like Tim Duncan.
Ten years ago this month the local basketball landscape changed forever.
Pitino's 1997 loss was eventually the Cards' gain
Rick Bozich
It was 10 years ago this week that Rick Pitino took the 36.3 percent gamble. Ten years ago this week that Pitino left the University of Kentucky to fix the Boston Celtics.
Ten years ago this week that Pitino could not escape the irresistible allure of coaching Tim Duncan, a player with the skills and ego to fix any basketball team.
Ten years ago this month that Pitino had a 36.3 percent chance to win the lottery and select Duncan with the first pick in the 1997 NBA draft -- and lost.
Can you isolate another moment from the past 10 years that has had a greater impact on the local basketball scene than that 1997 NBA draft lottery?
I can't.
At UK, Pitino's departure triggered an inexorable decade-long slide that the Wildcats hope will be stopped by the relentless energy of new coach Billy Gillispie.
On May 6, 1997, the day Pitino resigned from UK, who would have predicted that a decade later he'd be working 70 miles down the road?
But Pitino's 3 ½-season struggle in Boston, shaped by his inability to draft Duncan, put him in position to move to the University of Louisville. Next season he will welcome a top-10 team. In three years he will play in a new downtown arena.
(Un)favorable odds
Credit a moment of chance, pro basketball's version of the Powerball.
Somebody's got to win. Somebody wasn't Pitino. It was the San Antonio Spurs.
Let the record show that the Spurs are pursuing their fourth NBA title since the big man arrived from Wake Forest. It's no coincidence that their coach -- Gregg Popovich -- is the same coach who was there when Duncan arrived.
That could have been Pitino. That should have been Pitino. That's what the odds suggested.
Make no mistake, the glamour, tradition and riches of the Celtics are what stirred Pitino into jumping from UK for his 10-year, $70 million deal. But the 1997 lottery made the opportunity seem magical.
With a 15-67 record, the Celtics had suffered five more losses than any other NBA team. That guaranteed Boston one spot in the lottery. A trade with Dallas gave Boston two of the 11 lottery slots.
Every team that fails to make the NBA playoffs earns a place in the lottery, which was created to determine the top drafting positions. The lottery is weighted. The worse your record, the better your chances of getting the top pick.
Fuzzy math
The story seemed scripted by central casting. First the Celtics get Pitino. Then Pitino would get Duncan. According to the NBA, they had a 27.51 percent chance to get the first pick with their selection and another 8.80 percent chance with the Mavericks' pick.
It was a 36.3 percent gamble, considerably better than San Antonio's 21.6 percent chance. Just a year earlier Philadelphia had only a 33.7 chance to get the first pick. The Sixers scored -- and ultimately took Allen Iverson.
For Pitino and the Celtics, this was supposed to be as magical as getting Bill Russell, Dave Cowens or Larry Bird.
Except it wasn't magical. It was miserable.
The math turned to mush. The Celtics didn't get the first pick. Or even the second.
They got the third and sixth. They drafted Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer. Billups became one of the best guards in the NBA, but not until long after Pitino shipped him out of town. Mercer became a guy who could score but wasn't going to help you win.
Not like Tim Duncan.
Ten years ago this month the local basketball landscape changed forever.