Richard P. Rinaldi (born August 3, 1949) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who played for the Baltimore Bullets. Born in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

, Rinaldi attended F.D. Roosevelt High School in

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Fra ...

and was a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

at St. Peter's College, where he played from 1967 to 1971. As a senior at St. Peter's in 1970–71, Rinaldi averaged 28.6 points per game, which was the nation's sixth-highest scoring average that season. Rinaldi was selected 43rd overall by the Baltimore Bullets in the

1971 NBA draft The 1971 NBA draft was the 25th annual NBA draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 29 and 30, 1971, before the 1971–72 NBA season, 1971–72 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting ...

and signed a contract which earned him $33,000 as a rookie (). He played in the NBA with the Bullets from 1971 to 1974. After being cut by the Bullets during the 1973–1974 season in favor of

Flynn Robinson Flynn James Robinson (April 28, 1941 – May 23, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. Early life Flynn was born April 28, 1941, from the union of Sam Hopkins and Dorothy Mae Robinson. Later Flynn's mother married Johnnie Hod ...

and Archie Clark, Rinaldi signed with the

New York Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

in November 1973. After the Nets also released him, he began working in New York as a substitute teacher and then a full time

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher. In 1976, he was invited to play for an American team including

Robert Parrish Robert Reese Parrish (January 4, 1916December 4, 1995) was an American film director, editor and former child actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on ''Body and Soul (1947 film), Body and Soul'' (1947). Life and car ...

for a tournament in Italy. The strength of his performance earned him a two-year contract with Italian club Mobilgirgi Varese. Rinaldi's most successful NBA season came in 1972–73, when he averaged 8.5 points and 2.1 rebounds in 33 games for the Bullets. He ended his professional career in Europe, playing in Italy and Switzerland from 1976 to 1982. In 1978, he described the quality of play in the

Swiss Basketball League The Swiss Basketball League, also known as SB League or SBL, is the top-tier professional club basketball league in Switzerland. It is organized by Swiss Basketball. The winners of the SBL are crowned Swiss national basketball champions. Curren ...

as "between high school seniors and college freshmen." In 1980, he won his third straight scoring title in the Swiss Basketball League while playing for

Pallacanestro Bellinzona Pallacanestro Bellinzona (in English Language, English: ''Bellinzona Basket'') is a Swiss professional basketball team of Bellinzona, in the Ticino, canton of Ticino. The club plays its home games at the indoor stadium of Bellinzona that has a ca ...

. He averaged 40.4 points per game over 22 games. After his playing career, Rinaldi served as a men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach in his home county at

Dutchess Community College Dutchess Community College (SUNY Dutchess, or DCC) is a Public college, public community college in Dutchess County, New York. It is one of 30 community colleges within State University of New York, the State University of New York system (SUNY) ...

and

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

. Despite his having written a guest article in the ''

Poughkeepsie Journal The ''Poughkeepsie Journal'' is a newspaper based in Poughkeepsie, New York, and owned by Gannett, which bought the paper in 1977. Founded in 1785 (though not a daily newspaper until 1860), the ''Journal'' is the oldest paper in New York state, ...

'' in 1987 arguing that a " rike by heNBA players union would be difficult to justify" because "you can never recoup that lost money," the

National Basketball Players Association The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is the labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the U ...

(NBPA) hired Rinaldi in 2001 to serve as an educational counselor for NBA players. He called the job "the best thing to happen to me professionally" since his playing career. At the time, he was living in

Skippack, Pennsylvania Skippack ( Pennsylvania German: ''Schippach''), originally named "Van Bebber's Township", is a census-designated place (CDP) in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,758 at the 2010 census. ...

. , Rinaldi worked for the NBPA, counseling players on the transition to post-basketball careers.

Career statistics

NBA/ABA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - ! Year ! Team ! GP ! MPG ! FG% ! 3P% ! FT% ! RPG ! APG ! SPG ! BPG ! PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

(NBA) , 39 , , 4.1 , , .404 , , , , .667 , , .5 , , .4 , , , , , , 2.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

(NBA) , 33 , , 19.6 , , .408 , , , , .750 , , 2.1 , , 1.5 , , , , , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

(NBA) , 7 , , 6.9 , , .136 , , , , .750 , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .1 , , 1.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", N.Y. Nets (ABA) , 5 , , 5.6 , , .286 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , .4 , , .0 , , 2.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (NBA) , 79 , , 10.8 , , .393 , , , , .724 , , 1.2 , , .9 , , .4 , , .1 , , 5.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (overall) , 84 , , 10.5 , , .389 , , .000 , , .735 , , 1.2 , , .9 , , .4 , , .1 , , 4.8

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - ! Year ! Team ! GP ! MPG ! FG% ! FT% ! RPG ! APG ! PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, style="text-align:left;",

(NBA) , 3 , , 2.0 , , .500 , , – , , .0 , , .3 , , .7

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldi, Richard 1949 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Switzerland American men's basketball players American people of Italian descent Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) draft picks Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) players Basketball players from New York (state) Capital Bullets players Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Miami Floridians draft picks New York Nets players Saint Peter's Peacocks men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Poughkeepsie, New York Pallacanestro Varese players