Author Topic: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki  (Read 4197 times)

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Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« on: March 06, 2020, 03:28:10 PM »

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP-rcrhplm4

I enjoyed this youtube video of Pitino telling this story. Thought I'd share it.

Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2020, 04:03:19 PM »

Offline liam

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I'm sure Rick Pitino had all kinds of secret plans that never came off. He need some that did happen.

Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2020, 04:22:03 PM »

Offline Monkhouse

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Rick Pitino is a crook, and I don't believe anything he says. Screw him.

The Larry Bird comments, vying to get rid of Red, and all those terrible reactionary trades; plus the fact he was one of the biggest jerks I've ever seen in my life.

No, I don't care much for his input. He was terrible at drafting, being a leader, coach, and worst of all he made even Coach Calipari look like Saint Paul...

The thing is if he wasn't such a terrible person deep down, maybe the Celtics, and us as fans would've given him more patience and lee-way. But man did he tick me off greatly during his tenure here.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2020, 04:36:00 PM by Monkhouse »
"I bomb atomically, Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses
Can't define how I be dropping these mockeries."

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We're the same and we're not; know what I'm saying? Listen
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Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2020, 04:43:17 PM »

Online Roy H.

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Pitino definitely wanted Dirk.  I’m glad we ended up with the Captain, but that would have been interesting. Dirk and Toine together in their primes.

In an alternate universe, we could have run out a team of:

Dirk
Antoine
Marion
Tmac
Billups

Lol.  Of course, instead of Tmac and Marion, we got Mercer and Potapenko.


I'M THE SILVERBACK GORILLA IN THIS MOTHER——— AND DON'T NONE OF YA'LL EVER FORGET IT!@ 34 minutes

Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2020, 06:11:24 PM »

Offline greg683x

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The Mavs had the number 6 pick and traded down to 8 and took Dirk.  They never had the #11 pick.  Which means they couldnt have called Pitino and tried to trade picks with him to get Dirk.


This story is counterfeit, similar to Pitinos coaching legacy in general
Greg

Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2020, 10:33:52 PM »

Offline Somebody

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A question for the fans who lived through the 90s: was Garnett an untouchable after his rookie season in 1996? I always thought that the Celtics could've traded a bunch of their lottery picks for Garnett to be that high IQ PF that Pitino seemed to crave (even though Garnett played SF in his rookie season, but I think it was pretty obvious that he had the potential to become a full time power forward).
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Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2020, 06:07:38 AM »

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A question for the fans who lived through the 90s: was Garnett an untouchable after his rookie season in 1996? I always thought that the Celtics could've traded a bunch of their lottery picks for Garnett to be that high IQ PF that Pitino seemed to crave (even though Garnett played SF in his rookie season, but I think it was pretty obvious that he had the potential to become a full time power forward).

By about halfway through his rookie season it was clear KG was a superstar in the making. He moved into the starting lineup around that time. I remember he had a huge game in Chicago against the 72 win Bulls and Michael Jordan was flabbergasted at how special / talented KG was. "How can a 18-19year old kid come in here and do that?" Something like that. I looked it up - 20 points and 8 rebounds. "No normal 18 year old kid can do that". Those were types of comments from MJ. Everyone really.

There were doubts when he was drafted. So skinny. So young. No college. Was he mature enough? Could he handle the physicality of the NBA? But he had a strong rookie year. Was just as good as the older rookie bigs - Joe Smith (#1 pick), McDyess (#2 pick), Rasheed Wallace (#4 pick). KG had the jump-shot, the ball-handling, the passing, the defense, the rebounding. He was more complete at 18 years old than anyone expected.

By the start of his second season he was nicknamed "The Franchise" because everyone knew he was the future of that team. By the end of that 2nd season, KG got the biggest contract in NBA history. So certainly untouchable in that 2nd year.

Also, during that first season, Minny started to build their team around KG because they knew how special KG was. First step was to clear out any bad characters that might disrupt his development. Christian Laettner was traded at midseason. Then JR Rider who was moved on in the summertime. Those two guys were Minny's star players prior to KG so getting rid of them was a big deal. They didn't want anyone there that would disrupt KG's development. They knew he was the future. 

It was the game in Chicago that I remember as his breakout game. National attention. Were everyone stood up and got really excited about just how good this young guy Kevin Garnett was.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2020, 06:21:19 AM by Who »

Re: Rick Pitino's Secret Plan To Draft Dirk Nowitzki
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2020, 07:10:31 AM »

Offline Somebody

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A question for the fans who lived through the 90s: was Garnett an untouchable after his rookie season in 1996? I always thought that the Celtics could've traded a bunch of their lottery picks for Garnett to be that high IQ PF that Pitino seemed to crave (even though Garnett played SF in his rookie season, but I think it was pretty obvious that he had the potential to become a full time power forward).

By about halfway through his rookie season it was clear KG was a superstar in the making. He moved into the starting lineup around that time. I remember he had a huge game in Chicago against the 72 win Bulls and Michael Jordan was flabbergasted at how special / talented KG was. "How can a 18-19year old kid come in here and do that?" Something like that. I looked it up - 20 points and 8 rebounds. "No normal 18 year old kid can do that". Those were types of comments from MJ. Everyone really.

There were doubts when he was drafted. So skinny. So young. No college. Was he mature enough? Could he handle the physicality of the NBA? But he had a strong rookie year. Was just as good as the older rookie bigs - Joe Smith (#1 pick), McDyess (#2 pick), Rasheed Wallace (#4 pick). KG had the jump-shot, the ball-handling, the passing, the defense, the rebounding. He was more complete at 18 years old than anyone expected.

By the start of his second season he was nicknamed "The Franchise" because everyone knew he was the future of that team. By the end of that 2nd season, KG got the biggest contract in NBA history. So certainly untouchable in that 2nd year.

Also, during that first season, Minny started to build their team around KG because they knew how special KG was. First step was to clear out any bad characters that might disrupt his development. Christian Laettner was traded at midseason. Then JR Rider who was moved on in the summertime. Those two guys were Minny's star players prior to KG so getting rid of them was a big deal. They didn't want anyone there that would disrupt KG's development. They knew he was the future. 

It was the game in Chicago that I remember as his breakout game. National attention. Were everyone stood up and got really excited about just how good this young guy Kevin Garnett was.
Oh wow. To be fair I was asking about the possibility of us moving for him in the 1996 draft before his leap into an All-Star calibre player in '97, but it seems like he was untouchable back then.
Jaylen Brown for All-NBA