A look back at when Scottie Pippen was almost a Celtic originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
In 1997, the Rick Pitino-led Boston Celtics nearly made a franchise-altering deal with the dynastic Chicago Bulls.
Boston finished the 1996-97 season with only 15 wins, the fewest in team history. On the bright side, the Celtics’ terrible record gave them great odds of securing the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft and selecting Wake Forest star Tim Duncan.
Despite having a 27.5 percent chance of picking first overall, the C’s ended up with the No. 3 pick, in addition to the No. 6 from a trade with the Dallas Mavericks. The draft lottery results forced Pitino and Co. to get creative as they looked to piece together a competitive team for 1998.
First, Pitino attempted to trade the third and sixth picks to Gregg Popovich and the Spurs for the No. 1 selection.
“I got a call from the folks in Boston,” former Celtics coach and general manager M.L. Carr told NBC Sports Boston. “The Pitino group (was) asking, ‘Could we give picks to Popovich and ask him if he’d trade the first pick for a third and sixth?’ I went to Popovich; he felt sorry I even had to ask.
That didn’t work, so Pitino turned to Plan C.
Rumors swirled before the draft that the Celtics tried to trade their two first-round picks and a future first-rounder to the Bulls, who had just won their fifth NBA title, in a move to pair perennial All-Star Scottie Pippen and big man Luc Longley with young C’s star Antoine Walker.
Pitino confirmed the rumors on draft night.
“You have maybe, arguably, a top-20 player of all time, and you get Luc Longley. So you get a center, you have Scottie Pippen on one side, Antoine Walker on the other side,” Pitino said. “Our job is to bring the fans the best product as quickly as we can bring them the best team. Our fans deserve the best. I felt Scottie Pippen was one of the best players in the game, so we had a look at that.
“(The Bulls) wanted to sweeten — three and six was not enough for them. We sweetened it a little bit, but then they wanted the whole sugarcane factory, and we could not do that.”
With Duncan and Pippen off the table, the Celtics reluctantly stood pat and selected Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer with the third and sixth picks, respectively. Billups, who went on to enjoy a Hall-of-Fame career, was traded to the Toronto Raptors at the deadline during his rookie season. Mercer was traded to the Denver Nuggets after two years in Boston.
The Celtics improved to 36 wins in 1997-98. They wound up with the 10th overall pick, which they used to select Kansas standout Paul Pierce.
If Pippen had turned around Boston’s fortunes, they may not have been in the position to select “The Truth.” Pierce endured a difficult decade as the face of the franchise before forming the “Big Three” with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2008 and bringing Banner 17 to TD Garden.
Later, Pitino admitted in a radio interview that taking the Celtics coaching position was a mistake.
“I took over a team with 15 wins, banking everything on the Tim Duncan lottery,” 790 the Ticket. “Once we didn’t get Tim Duncan, I realized that leaving Kentucky was not a good move.”
Pitino resigned from his role as Celtics head coach in 2001. Pippen announced his retirement in 2004 after spending his final few seasons with the Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Portland Trail Blazers.
Learn more about the Celtics nearly trading for Pippen in the video above, narrated by Michael Holley.
A look back at when Scottie Pippen was almost a Celtic
Rick Pitino and the C’s attempted to acquire the six-time NBA champion from Chicago in 1997.
In 1997, the Rick Pitino-led Boston Celtics nearly made a franchise-altering deal with the dynastic Chicago Bulls.
Boston finished the 1996-97 season with only 15 wins, the fewest in team history. On the bright side, the Celtics’ terrible record gave them great odds of securing the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft and selecting Wake Forest star Tim Duncan.
Despite having a 27.5 percent chance of picking first overall, the C’s ended up with the No. 3 pick, in addition to the No. 6 from a trade with the Dallas Mavericks. The draft lottery results forced Pitino and Co. to get creative as they looked to piece together a competitive team for 1998.
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First, Pitino attempted to trade the third and sixth picks to Gregg Popovich and the Spurs for the No. 1 selection.
“I got a call from the folks in Boston,” former Celtics coach and general manager M.L. Carr told NBC Sports Boston. “The Pitino group (was) asking, ‘Could we give picks to Popovich and ask him if he’d trade the first pick for a third and sixth?’ I went to Popovich; he felt sorry I even had to ask.
That didn’t work, so Pitino turned to Plan C.
Rumors swirled before the draft that the Celtics tried to trade their two first-round picks and a future first-rounder to the Bulls, who had just won their fifth NBA title, in a move to pair perennial All-Star Scottie Pippen and big man Luc Longley with young C’s star Antoine Walker.
Pitino confirmed the rumors on draft night.
“You have maybe, arguably, a top-20 player of all time, and you get Luc Longley. So you get a center, you have Scottie Pippen on one side, Antoine Walker on the other side,” Pitino said. “Our job is to bring the fans the best product as quickly as we can bring them the best team. Our fans deserve the best. I felt Scottie Pippen was one of the best players in the game, so we had a look at that.
“(The Bulls) wanted to sweeten — three and six was not enough for them. We sweetened it a little bit, but then they wanted the whole sugarcane factory, and we could not do that.”
MORE CELTICS
With Duncan and Pippen off the table, the Celtics reluctantly stood pat and selected Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer with the third and sixth picks, respectively. Billups, who went on to enjoy a Hall-of-Fame career, was traded to the Toronto Raptors at the deadline during his rookie season. Mercer was traded to the Denver Nuggets after two years in Boston.
The Celtics improved to 36 wins in 1997-98. They wound up with the 10th overall pick, which they used to select Kansas standout Paul Pierce.
If Pippen had turned around Boston’s fortunes, they may not have been in the position to select “The Truth.” Pierce endured a difficult decade as the face of the franchise before forming the “Big Three” with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2008 and bringing Banner 17 to TD Garden.
Later, Pitino admitted in a radio interview that taking the Celtics coaching position was a mistake.
“I took over a team with 15 wins, banking everything on the Tim Duncan lottery,” 790 the Ticket. “Once we didn’t get Tim Duncan, I realized that leaving Kentucky was not a good move.”
Pitino resigned from his role as Celtics head coach in 2001. Pippen announced his retirement in 2004 after spending his final few seasons with the Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Portland Trail Blazers.
Learn more about the Celtics nearly trading for Pippen in the video above, narrated by Michael Holley.
