Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported The other day, the Rockets were scouting Derrick White this summer before signing an extension with the Celtics. That’s not a concern for the Celtics right now, but Houston’s interest in White is another element of a pattern that has continued since the Rockets hired Ime Udoka as head coach.

The Rockets have been on a roll since they hired him a year and a half ago. Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Robert WilliamsIIIAnd Malcolm Brogdon. What do they all have in common? Udoka was either coaching them in Boston or planned to do so.

It’s clear that Udoka wants to coach players with whom he has had success because they’ve gone so far together. It makes sense, but it also raises a question.

Who does Udoka think he is? Rick Pitino?

Enough time has passed that the younger generation of Celtics fans don’t know about the Pitino era. Pitino, despite being one of the best NCAA basketball coaches ever, has a bad reputation in Boston. In short, he was the biggest disaster the Celtics have ever experienced. That’s right guys, he was even worse than Kyrie Irving.

What made it so bad? It’s a long story. The focus is on how his past actions in Boston tie into Udoka’s actions since Houston hired him. Pitino committed many sins in Boston. One of the most notable was recruiting players he coached at the University of Kentucky.

When Pitino first joined Boston, there was one Kentucky alum he already knew: Antoine Walker, who was entering his second year in the NBA. He later made it his mission to recruit more University of Kentucky graduates.

This included not-so-detrimental trades like acquiring old-school Celtics fan favorite Walter McCarty; But other moves, such as selecting Ron Mercer with the 6th pick over Tracy McGrady in the 1997 NBA Draft, also proved costly.

Celtics in their first year in the NBA four The Kentucky players on the roster are those Pitino has previously coached. While his other moves for the Celtics were worse, working with players he coached with in college was not a smart strategy because the NBA is a completely different game.

Now in Udoka’s case, it makes sense that he would want the NBA players he’s coached before to be on the same level because they’ve gone pretty far together. Compare that to Pitino, who wants NBA players who succeeded under him at the college level; This is completely different and far from perfect.

Trying to acquire the players he coached in Boston is a sign that Udoka realizes he let such a golden situation slip away. He had a championship-caliber roster on his hands, and he gave up without opening up too much of an old wound, and now he’s coaching a Rockets team whose present and future are uncertain.

Houston isn’t at its worst, but it may take a while for them to get anywhere close to Boston. if they do. It looks like borrowing one of Rick Pitino’s strategies is the best way for Udoka to make amends until further notice.