Cleveland ‘not interested’ in Pitino

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not interested in appointing Rick Pitino as their new head coach.

Veteran NBA reporter Peter Vecsey claimed Cavaliers chairman Dan Gilbert had talked to the 66-year-old about the vacancy, but a source quoted by cleveland.com said the Cavaliers “are respectfully not interested in him at all.”

Pitino, who also was the head coach of the New York Knicks (1987-89) and the Boston Celtics (1997-2001), has been coaching in Greece since last year.

Pitino was fired after a long run at Louisville following an FBI probe into college basketball recruiting.

He coached the Louisville Cardinals from 2001 until the end of the 2016-17 season, and finished up with a 416-143 record.

Pitino, who also coached at Hawaii, Boston University, Providence, and Kentucky, has 770 career college victories over 1,041 games, winning an NCAA title in 1996 with Kentucky and 2013 with Louisville.

Back in October of last year, Pitino expressed an interest in returning to the NBA in some capacity.

“I just want to be a part of an organisation,” Pitino told ESPN. “I want to develop young players. I want to be part of a team. I miss it terribly.

“I’m using this time to really study the NBA. If something opens up with a young basketball team, I’d have deep interest in it.

“I think the league is going to get younger, and player development will become even more important to every organisation. That’s my forte. I believe I can help an organisation find a pathway to success.”

The Cavaliers are looking to replace former head coach Larry Drew, who went 19-57 at Cleveland this past season following the departure of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Drew took over from Tyronn Lue, who was fired six games into the season.