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Basketball Fan
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 Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 3:36 pm Post subject: Legendary NBA coach Bill Fitch dies at 89 |
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https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/02/03/legendary-coach-bill-fitch-dies-at-89/
| Quote: | Legendary coach Bill Fitch dies at 89
Larry Bird once called coach Bill Fitch “by far the best I’ve seen.”
Many of Bird’s Boston Celtics teammates disagreed. The multiple teams that fired Fitch disagreed. The Basketball Hall of Fame disagreed.
But as time passed, the sting faded from Fitch’s Marine-drill-sergeant style (perhaps picked up from his father, a Marine drill sergeant). Appreciation grew for Fitch’s devotion to the job and success in it.
Fitch – who died at 89 – will be remembered as one of the NBA’s all-time great coaches.
Marc Stein:
Fitch lost more games (1,106) than any coach in NBA history besides Lenny Wilkens (1,155). But he lost that much only because he was respected enough to get so many opportunities.
Fitch won 944 games, 11th all-time (behind only Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley, George Karl, Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Rick Adelman and Doc Rivers).
In his 25 years as an NBA head coach, Fitch earned a reputation as a disciplinarian with intense attention to detail. He particularly valued conditioning and film study, earning the nickname “Captain Video.”
His biggest success came in Boston, where he led the Celtics to the 1981 championship and won 74% of his games. Fitch won Coach of the Year his first season in Boston, 1980, as the team went from 29-53 the year prior to 61-21 under Fitch. Probably had more to do with adding Bird, but Fitch deserved some credit for empowering the rookie star.
That was Fitch’s second Coach of the Year. He began his career with the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970. After five losing seasons, the “Miracle at Richfield” Cavs broke through with a trip to the 1976 Eastern Conference finals, and Fitch won his first Coach of the Year. But Cleveland trended back downward, and Fitch resigned in 1979 after nine seasons there.
Despite coming off a 30-52 record with the Cavaliers, Fitch quickly got hired by the Celtics. His tenure in Boston lasted just four seasons. Fitch again resigned in 1983, citing disappointment with the team being sold.
He immediately went to the Houston Rockets, who ascended as they drafted Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon with back-to-back No. 1 picks. Fitch coached the Rockets to the 1986 NBA Finals, where they lost to his former team, the Celtics. Fitch wore on Olajuwon, and Houston fired Fitch in 1988.
Fitch then had losing records his last seven seasons as a coach, three with the New Jersey Nets and four with the Los Angeles Clippers. Still, he got the Nets into the 1992 playoffs, ending a franchise-long five-year playoff drought. In 1997, Fitch guided the Clippers to their only playoff appearance within a 12-year span.
Fitch retired in 1998. The Basketball Hall of Fame finally enshrined him in 2019. He didn’t attend the ceremony due to health issues.
Fitch mostly took his setbacks with good humor. As he waited for induction, Fitch pointed out he was born in 1932 – not 1934, as his initial coaching bio mistakenly said.
“Can’t a guy grow old and at least get credit for that?” Fitch said. |
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TDRock
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Joined: 27 May 2010
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Location: LA to the Bay
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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Awww. RIP  |
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jonnybravo
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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RIP. When I was a kid I always thought he looked like Tom Bosley.
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C M B
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Location: Prarie & Manchester, high above the western sideline
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| Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2022 9:06 am Post subject: |
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RIP
When I used to channel surf as a kid, I'd stay on KTLA for a minute just to get a sense of how badly the Clippers were getting crapped on, and then they would do a sideline shot of Bill Fitch looking dour. "This guy deserves better," I'd say to myself, before changing the channel.
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2022 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| C M B wrote: | RIP
When I used to channel surf as a kid, I'd stay on KTLA for a minute just to get a sense of how badly the Clippers were getting crapped on, and then they would do a sideline shot of Bill Fitch looking dour. "This guy deserves better," I'd say to myself, before changing the channel. |
Hard to believe he won a championship coaching the Celtics, I remember the Clippers were so bad at that time. That was the last we saw of him coaching ever as the Clippers basically killed his coaching career. |
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non-player zealot
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2022 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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That was the obvious sarcastic quip...that he died back w/ the Clipps in the 90s. I dunno how much stock I put into Fitch or KC Jones for those titles. I want to say they were aight, maybe a little better than Spo, but the obvious is being obvious. And that's not to say Riles wasn't a great coach here, but Westhead was coach in 80. He won his on the team that, despite being the premier fast break team, least resembled his "tire the other team out" O plan w/ little-to-no D at all. And Harris! badly outcoached him in 81 miniseries imo. I'm kinda apt to believe the Lakers and Cs would've won 1 or 2 with mediocre coaches just based on talent and leadership by Bird/Magic/Kap. Larry and Earvin didn't exactly need to follow coach's sideline guidance all that much to control games and turn them into Ws. Maybe that Riles was here helped bump that to 1+4 more titles. Unfortunately, I may be saying I don't know how much stock I put into Vogel's title right soon. I don't even think Delbert with us had the teams that were truly the 1 or 2 top title contenders in the league, Shaq/Eddie/Kobe/Nick/Fox/Horry be damned. Too green, actually DID need the direction that Phil/Tex installed.
Fitch's 94/5 Clipps was the hardest playing 15-67 team in history, tho, I'll give em that. They were a rare 15 win team that didn't start tanking at least until Feb/Mar. We lost 2x to them and by 25 at The Forum and squeaked another out at the Sports Arena by 3. They played US hard if nothing else. Def an oppt that makes Vlad/Elden drowsy.
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