{"id":533327,"date":"2026-03-19T19:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533327\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T19:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:12:10","slug":"revisiting-rick-pitinos-iconic-celtics-rant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533327\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting Rick Pitino’s iconic Celtics rant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPitino went 102-146 in three-and-a-half seasons, a tough outcome for someone who once wrote a book titled, \u201cSuccess is a Choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rick
\n\tRick Pitino coaching the Celtics in Dec. 2000. AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Chad Finn<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarch 19, 2026 | 2:06 PM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

2 minutes to read<\/p>\n

(Alongside\u00a0Boston.com\u2019s March Madness-themed bracket of the best soundbites in Boston sports history<\/a>, we\u2019re taking a deeper look at the background behind some of this year\u2019s entries in the field of 16).<\/p>\n

When Rick Pitino ranted for nearly a minute-and-a-half during a postgame press conference on March 1, 2000 about Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish not \u201cwalking through that door\u201d to rescue his struggling Celtics<\/a> team, he did more than deliver a soundbite for all time.<\/p>\n

In his lengthy soliloquy, he circumvented any blame for the team\u2019s problems, showed off his Boston sports bona fides, and \u2014 lets admit it \u2014 offered an accurate assessment of the Boston sports fan and media mindset at the time. Heck, he practically predicted the rise of Michael Felger.<\/p>\n

The Bird-McHale-Parish stuff is the gold, but there are some other memorable elements in his rant. Let\u2019s break down the full quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cLarry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk the door, they\u2019re gonna be gray and old.\u201d All true. What is left unsaid is that if they did walk through that door, Pitino probably would have traded them for five marginal NBA players who had played for him at Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we had 90 million under the salary cap. We wish we could buy the world. We can\u2019t.\u201d This is where we must note that in 1997, Pitino \u2014 who took Red Auerbach\u2019s team president title for himself and had full control over the roster \u2014 renounced the rights to nine players, including reliable forward Rick Fox. This was done in order to sign Lakers backup big man Travis Knight to a 7-year, $22 million contract. It was a huge deal at the time, especially for a player who had averaged 4.8 points per game the previous season. Pitino the impatient personnel guy undermined Pitino the coach over and over again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the negativity that\u2019s in this town sucks. I\u2019ve been around when Jim Rice was booed. I\u2019ve been around when [Carl] Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest city in the world lousy.\u201d You know, he\u2019s not wrong, though we can\u2019t go so far as to say there are no lies told here. There\u2019s no way Pitino \u2014 the current St. John\u2019s coach who showed up at Madison Square Garden to root for the Knicks in last year\u2019s playoff series with the Celtics \u2014 thinks of Boston as the greatest city in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to stay positive all the way through, and if you think I\u2019m gonna succumb to negativity, you\u2019re wrong. You\u2019ve got the wrong guy leading this basketball team.\u201d \u2013 Well, he was right about that last part. Pitino resigned as Celtics coach on January 8, 2001. He went 102-146 in three-and-a-half seasons, a tough outcome for someone who once wrote a book titled, \u201cSuccess is a Choice.\u201d <\/p>\n

This rant \u2014 and drafting Paul Pierce \u2014 is the entirety of his Celtics legacy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tChad Finn<\/a>Sports columnist\t<\/p>\n

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n

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