The 1997–98 Boston Celtics season was the 52nd season of the Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

 in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 (NBA). Despite finishing with the NBA's worst record in 1996-97, the Celtics were back in the headlines after hiring Rick Pitino as head coach. Pitino's Celtics career had an auspicious beginning on opening night when the Celtics upset the 2-time defending NBA Champion Chicago Bulls in the FleetCenter. Although the Celtics did not make the playoffs, they improved their win total by 19 games from the previous season.

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Team
1	3	Chauncey Billups Chauncey Billups Chauncey Ray Billups is an American professional basketball point guard for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association . He has also played for Team USA. Billups won the NBA Finals MVP in 2004, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, and was given the...	PG Point guard Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...		Colorado Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball The Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team represents the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Pacific-12 Conference.The Buffaloes have competed in ten NCAA Tournaments, making it to the Final Four twice , and...
1	6	Ron Mercer Ron Mercer Ronald Eugene Mercer is a former American basketball player at the University of Kentucky who also had a career in the National Basketball Association; the last time he played was for the New Jersey Nets in 2005.-Basketball career:...	SF Small forward The small forward, or colloquially known as three, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically somewhat shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers, but on occasion are just as tall...		Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, representing the University of Kentucky, is the winningest in the history of college basketball, both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage. Kentucky's all-time record currently stands at 2058–647...
2	56	Ben Pepper Ben Pepper Ben Pepper is an Australian basketball player, who played for the twelve seasons in the National Basketball League.-Professional career:...	C Center (basketball) The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...		Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons (Australia) Newcastle Falcons were an Australian basketball team, that played in Newcastle, in the National Basketball League. The team played in the NBL's inaugural season in 1979, and left the league in the late 1990s, after new owners based in Albury couldn't resolve the club's ongoing financial...

See also

• 1997–98 NBA season