1997–98 Boston Celtics season

The 1997–98 Boston Celtics season was the 52nd season for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association. The Celtics received the third overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected point guard Chauncey Billups from the University of Colorado, and also selected shooting guard Ron Mercer from the University of Kentucky with the sixth overall pick; the Celtics acquired the sixth pick in the draft from the Dallas Mavericks via trade.

Despite finishing with the league's second worst record the previous season, the Celtics were back in the headlines after hiring University of Kentucky head coach Rick Pitino as their new coach. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Chris Mills, but then traded him to the New York Knicks in exchange for second-year forward Walter McCarty in October, and also signed second-year center Travis Knight, Andrew DeClercq, Bruce Bowen and Tyus Edney. Pitino's Celtics career had an auspicious beginning in the team's season opener, in which the Celtics defeated All-Star guard Michael Jordan, and the 5-time defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls at home, 92–85 at the FleetCenter on October 31, 1997.

Under Pitino, and with the addition of Mercer, Billups, McCarty and Knight, the Celtics struggled losing five of their first six games of the regular season, but then won six of their next seven games. The team held a 16–14 record as of January 3, 1998, but fell below .500 in winning percentage losing eight of their next nine games, and later on held a 22–25 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team traded Billups, and Dee Brown to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Kenny Anderson, Popeye Jones and Žan Tabak; the Raptors had acquired Anderson from the Portland Trail Blazers in a previous trade. The Celtics posted a six-game losing streak in March, and finished in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with a 36–46 record, which was a 21-game improvement over the previous season; however, the team failed to qualify for the NBA playoffs.

Second-year star Antoine Walker averaged 22.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, while Mercer averaged 15.3 points and 1.6 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Anderson provided the team with 11.2 points, 6.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game in 16 games after the trade. In addition, McCarty provided with 9.6 points and 1.3 steals per game, while Dana Barros contributed 9.8 points and 3.6 assists per game, and led the Celtics with 100 three-point field goals, and Knight averaged 6.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Bowen provided with 5.6 points and 1.4 steals per game, DeClercq averaged 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and Greg Minor contributed 5.0 points per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, Walker was selected for the 1998 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team; it was his first ever All-Star appearance. Meanwhile, before the mid-season trade, Mercer and Billups were both selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as members of the Eastern Conference Rookie team. Walker finished in twelfth place in Most Valuable Player voting, and also finished tied in eighth place in Most Improved Player voting, while Pitino finished tied in seventh place in Coach of the Year voting.

The Celtics finished tenth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 739,422 at the FleetCenter during the regular season. Following the season, Knight was traded back to his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, after only one season with the Celtics, and Edney and Tabak were both released to free agency.