According to former Louisville coach Rick Pitino, he has to be given some credit for convincing Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge to take point guard Terry Rozier in the first round of the 2015 Draft.

In his podcast titled “The Pitino Press,” the 66-year-old veteran coach shared the conversation he had with Ainge, wherein he claims to have told the Celtics front office guru that given all that the two-time NBA champion has accomplished in his career, he could pretty much do anything he wanted.

“When I first talked to Danny, I said, ‘Danny, you need to take him in the first round,’” Pitino recalled, via Nicole Yang of boston.com. “He said, ‘Well, Rick, I can’t take him at [No.] 16, I’ll get second-guessed.’ I said, ‘Danny, you won a championship, you’re Danny Ainge, man, you could do anything now. I said, ‘I’m telling you he’s worth it.’ He started laughing.”

Pitino had the pleasure of seeing Rozier talents first hand during Rozier's two year stint in Louisville. This is exactly why he already knew back then how much potential the 6-foot-1 point guard had. So much so, that he was convinced that he would have been a steal for Ainge and Celtics at No. 16.

Naturally, Ainge had his hesitations about the undersized guard. However, Pitino reminded Ainge that he had already done so much for the Celtics — both as a player and as a GM — that he was already in a position to make decisions without being second-guessed.

Two years later and Ainge's risk paid off. Rozier was memorably one of the breakout stars of last season, and has now established himself as a highly-desirable point guard in the league. Kudos to Pitino for giving Ainge the nudge that he needed to make the jump to get the guard on the Celtics.