Today in Boston Celtics history, Rick Pitino was appointed as the head coach and general manager of the storied ball club in 1997. Prior to this, he had served as a moderately successful head coach for theNew York Knicksin the NBA from 1987 to 1989 and had most recently coached at the University of 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 threw 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.
Historic milestones
It is also the date of Dennis Johnson's last game with the Celtics, in 1990. The game was against the Knicks, a Game 5 loss in the East Finals that had Boston finishing with a 121-114 loss. Johnson scored 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 10 assists in the final game of his career, as the Californian retired after the loss.
The Pepperdine alum played the last seven seasons of his career with the Celtics, averaging 12.6 points, 3.2 boards, and 6.4 assists with the team.
Birthdays
Today is former Boston shooting guard Oliver Lafayette's birthday, who had the briefest of Celtics tenures.
He appeared in exactly one game after signing a rest-of-season contract with the team in April 2010, scoring 7 points.
Advertisement
Transactions
The 1968 NBA Expansion draft was held today, in which Boston lost several players of note to help populate the rosters of the newly-formed Milwaukee Bucks andPhoenix Suns. All three players taken from the Celtics were drafted by the Bucks, starting with wing Tom Thacker. A former NCAA and NBA champion with Cincinnati and Boston respectively, Thacker chose to play in the ABA instead of reporting to Milwaukee, winning an ABA championship with theIndiana Pacers. Thacker averaged 4.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game in his sole season with the Celtics.
The second player taken was forward Johnny Jones, who played just one season with Boston, winning a ring on the 1967-68 squad. Like Thacker, Jones chose the ABA instead of reporting to the Bucks, signing with the Kentucky Colonels instead. He averaged 4.2 points, 2.2 boards, and 0.5 assists with the Celtics in that single season.
Finally, the Celtics also lost big man Wayne Embry, a former five-time All-Star who also had won a ring with Boston in the 1967-68 NBA season. Embry was the sole player of the three to report to Milwaukee, for whom he played one season more before retiring permanently. He averaged 5.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game.
On this day in 1965, the NBA draft was held in New York City, and Boston selected two players of note. The first was forward Ron Watts, drafted out of Wake Forest with the 17th overall pick. Watts would play just two seasons for the Celtics, winning a banner with the team in his rookie season despite only playing one game for Boston.
Watts averaged 1.4 points, as many rebounds, and 0.1 assists per game in the 28 games he played for the Celtics between 1965 and 1967. The other player taken by Boston was former UConn Huskies big man Toby Kimball, who played just one season with the club in 1966-67.
Just under a year later, he would be taken from the franchise in the 1967 expansion draft by the (then) San Diego (now, Houston) Rockets, where he had the most success of his career. He would record 2.6 points, 3.8 boards and 0.3 assists per contest with the Celtics.
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire:Celtics history: Pitino hired; DJ retired; 1965 NBA draft; 1968 expansion draft
