Pitino says idea of NBA team in Louisville is wacky

**MULECHOPS** Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:05 am

Rick Pitino says idea of NBA in Louisville is 'wacky'
By C.L. Brown • cbrown@courier-journal.com • December 10, 2010

Pitino, a former coach with the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, said though it seems like a good idea he questioned whether the town could financially support a team as well as the validity of the city’s effort to lure a team.

“The NBA is not coming to Louisville because (NBA commissioner) David Stern does not want it to be in Louisville,” Pitino said Friday at a news conference.

The Louisville Metro Council has paid attorney J. Bruce Miller $60,000 to explore the possibility of luring a franchise. Miller told The Courier-Journal that he has a potential billionaire investor as well as about 12 minority investors lined up.

“The first thing you have to do before you have all these wacky thoughts is somebody go meet with commissioner Stern and say, ‘Is there any possibility of this happening?’ If he says. ‘Let me think about it,’ then you go to work. So you don’t try to find guys with money that could buy a team. First go to commissioner Stern and say is there any possibility.”

Told that Miller has had a conversation with Stern, Pitino replied:

“He’s a big NBA fan and that’s great. You have someone here who is also an NBA fan that doesn’t think the NBA is coming to Louisville,” Pitino said. “I think the ticket prices are too high, I think it’s too much for Louisville people. There are very few (people) in this town with that type of money.”