Scottie Pippen, holder of six rings, the greatest sidekick of all-time is set to retire after 17 years in the NBA.
All $5.3 million of Pippen's guaranteed salary will count against the NBA salary cap. If Pippen were to agree to forfeit some money -- a long-shot possibility -- it could help the Bulls' payroll for purposes of the luxury-tax threshold.
He will retire with career averages of 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.96 steals per game. His 208 career playoff games rank second to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 237.
Holy crow, I didn't realize he was still playing! Great sidekick to Jordan indeed, too bad he couldn't really capture any glory on his own.
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Originally posted by whateverHoly crow, I didn't realize he was still playing! Great sidekick to Jordan indeed, too bad he couldn't really capture any glory on his own.
For which I will always blame Hue Hollins. The phantom foul he called in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals torpedoed one of the most unlikely runs in basketball history.
The 1993-1994 Chicago Bulls won 55 games the season after Jordan retired, losing the Central division by just 2 games. B.J. Armstrong stepped up and became an all-star, but Pippen was the leader of that team. They lost 4-3 after getting ROBBED in Game 5 of that series to the Knicks. The winner of that series went on to play a very middle-of-the-pack Indiana team, who I really feel the Bulls would have beaten. If Pippen would have had a chance on the NBA Finals stage in the post-Jordan year, I don't think anyone would be doubting his credentials at this point.
Of course, had the Bulls won that year, maybe MJ never comes back, so who knows if that's good or not? :)
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Scotty signed a nice (read: overpaid even if it went well) two year with the Bulls going into last season, with lots of talk that he'd provide the vetern leadership the team's been looking for since they lost Scotty and all the rest. He'd look good as a point forward for the Blazers the previous year.
Pipped ended up playing only 23 games, going down with knee problems, undergoing knee surgery in Decemeber. Even though he would be unlikely to be healthy enough to play, not even play as his prior level, he'd steadfast refused to retire this off season, because that'd forfeit the second year of his contract (That's $5.3 mil.)
Lots of talk his refusal to retire was a revenge move for the way he felt he was treated by the previous Jerry Krause regime, though Krause isn't in charge any more (actually, unrelated, just got let go by the Yankees this week) and he'd really be hurting his (supposed?) friend GM John Paxson.
It sounds like Pippen's going to get all of this year's salary, so all the Bulls are really getting back is a roster spot, which they do really need.
The Pippen signing going horribly bad is a real strike against Paxson's GM tenure so far.
(the Scotty as Shaft commerical is one of my favorites of all time.)
Nah, the Pacers would have beaten the Bulls had they met in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, and gone on to defeat an extremely underrated Houston Rockets team in the NBA Finals.
But you knew I was gonna say that.
Anyhoo... thanks, Scottie Pippen, for all you've meant to the NBA-- even if some of the memories you've given us have been of you throwing temper tantrums. In any case, I think your #33 definitely deserves to be in the rafters of the United Center, and you're certainly a first-ballot Hall of Famer, too.
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Originally posted by ekedolphin In any case, I think your #33 definitely deserves to be in the rafters of the United Center, and you're certainly a first-ballot Hall of Famer, too.
I think you are right on the first part, but somehow Im starting to believe that Scottie Pippen wont coast into the Hall. There seems to be a backlash growing among some media types of how deserving he is. Im not saying he wont get in, but I think well hear some voices saying that hes not as good as he was advertised.
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This is almost WWF/E-like. Looks like we'll be getting our next in the line of Knick playoff fights in the annals of PJ Brown's suplex of doom to Charlie Ward. First Tim: http://sports.espn.go.com/ nba/playoffs2004/news/ story?
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