Boston Celtics Tragedy And Decline

In 1994, the Celtics hired former player M. L. Carr to be the team's new V.P. of Basketball Operations, working alongside G.M. Jan Volk. In his first draft in charge of the Celtics, he drafted University of North Carolina star Eric Montross with his first round draft pick. Montross became the new heir apparent in the paint, but failed to develop and was eventually traded.

1994–95 was the Celtics' final season in the nba kids Boston Garden. The Celtics signed the aging Dominique Wilkins as a free agent, and he led the team in scoring with 17.8 PPG. Second-year player Dino Radja, a power forward from Croatia, added an interior presence to the team that had been lacking 1993–94. The Celtics made the playoffs, losing to the heavily favored Orlando Magic in 4 games.

The Celtics received the third and sixth draft picks in the 1997 NBA Draft, and used the picks to select a brand new backcourt. They drafted Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer and dismantled much of the young team that lost 67 games the year before. David Wesley, Dino Radja and Rick Fox were let go, and Williams kids jerseys nba was traded to the Denver Nuggets for a pair of second round draft picks.

In 1995, the Celtics moved from the Boston Garden into the Fleet Center ( later TD BankNorth, then TD Garden ). Carr fired Chris Ford and took the coaching reins himself. After drafting Providence College star Eric Williams, the Celtics struggled to a 33–49 record. Things got worse in 1996–97 as the Celtics nba jerseys for kids lost a franchise record 67 games, setting an unwanted NBA record winning only once against other Atlantic Division teams and winning only fifteen times overall despite the emergence of 1st-round draft pick Antoine Walker. Carr's stint as coach is considered a failure. Carr stepped aside to another job in the organization when Celtics principal owner kids basketball jerseys Paul Gaston convinced star college coach Rick Pitino to join the franchise as the team's president, director of basketball operations, and head coach. Pitino's appointment as team president was controversial as Auerbach, who had filled that role for more than 25 years, first heard about this change from local media people. Unfortunately for the franchise, Pitino was not the savior everyone expected him to be. Auerbach bore the insult of being elbowed out with dignity, even as the team failed to improve.

At the time of Larry Bird's retirement former Boston Celtics guard Chris Ford was the coach of the Celtics. 26-year-old Reggie Lewis ( out of Boston's Northeastern University ) was seen as Bird's successor as the franchise player for the Celtics. Lewis, a small forward, fainted during a 1993 first round playoff matchup with the nba kids jerseys Charlotte Hornets ( the Celtics lost in four games ). It was later revealed that Lewis had heart problems, yet he was able to get doctors to clear him for a comeback. He died of a heart attack while shooting baskets at Brandeis University during the offseason. The Celtics kids nba jerseys honored his memory during the following season by retiring his number 35. The Original Big Three era came to an end in 1994, after Robert Parish signed with the Hornets The year before, Kevin McHale retired after the Celtics' playoff loss to the Hornets. The Celtics nba jerseys kids finished the year out of the playoffs with a 32-50 mark.

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