Rick Pitino goes Steve Nash in old dudes pickup game (Video)
By John Buhler
Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino delivers the slickest behind the back bounce pass in an old dudes pickup game. He looked like an old Steve Nash.
To be one of the most notable college basketball coaches in the game today, at one time, the guy had to be a good player in his own right, right? While he has been coaching mostly in the state of Kentucky throughout his adult life, apparently Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino is excellent in a game of old dudes pickup.
Pitino is seen collecting the basketball in the high post. He then delivers a no-look bounce pass behind his back that would have gotten Steve Nash excited about it. One of his teammates would catch the bounce pass in stride for the easy layup.
Pitino is 64 years old and hasn’t played a game of meaningful basketball since he was a guard for the 1974 Massachusetts Minutemen. He may have been coaching ever since the mid-1970s, but clearly Pitino has still got elite distributive skills.
Since the 2001 NCAA season, Pitino has found roost in Louisville, Kentucky coaching the near blue-blood Cardinals men’s hoops team. His Cardinals have made three Final Fours and won the 2013 National Championship against the Michigan Wolverines. That was his second NCAA title, winning his first back in 1996 with the Kentucky Wildcats.
As long as Pitino keeps coaching at a high level, the Cardinals look to be a force to be reckoned with in the ultra-competitive ACC. College basketball is everything in the Bluegrass State. Having to hold ground in the state that also features John Calipari down in Lexington is a tough task for Pitino to do.
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That being said, are we sure that Calipari can deliver a dime that slick? He too is a former point guard, but that pass was all sorts of ridiculous by Pitino. Nash may not be walking through that door, but Pitino definitely channel his inner Phoenix Sun on that dime.