On Scottie Pippen

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Much of the debate across the network last week pertained to Scottie Pippen and his place in history.  As one of his stops was in Houston, I figured I should weigh in…

Update

I was young during Pip’s brief tenure with the Rockets, but old enough that I had already been religiously following the team for quite some time.  (I mean that literally – from age ten onward, I practically inhaled anything pertaining to NBA basketball, exhausting all of the few information mediums available in that day.)

The hot discussion right now is with regard to whether Pippen belongs in the top 50 etc. etc.  I don’t know and I don’t feel passionately enough on it to argue for either side.  All I can say is that with Houston, he was terrible.

Many commentators are using his failures in Houston (and Portland) as proof that he wasn’t worthy of his status in history.  I don’t know if that’s honest.  If we’re basing things off of his production without Michael, his play in ’93 (when he led the Bulls to within one blown call of the ECF) should at least negate what he did in Houston.  It’s not completely fair to say he was nothing without Michael.

Moving on, he was awful with Houston, not bringing us anything we thought we had paid for.  He averaged a paltry 14ppg on poor shooting but still, those stats aren’t conclusive as he could have been sacrificing his game or bringing other elements to the table.  The problem was that he didn’t; Scottie Pippen brought absolutely nothing to the Houston Rockets.

Scottie was brought to Houston for defense and leadership and he failed miserably in both departments.  I remember him routinely being roasted by the league’s better wings, punctuated by his complete ownage at the hands of a very young Kobe Bryant in the first round; I think Pip’s ankles are still likely writhing from the schooling he took.

We thought he’d bring experience and a steady hand but he slipped and fell, turning the ball over, in the most important possession of that year in Game 1 of the first round.  He then promptly blamed Charles Barkley for the loss in the media.

Most of us wanted Antonio McDyess, but the Nuggets star didn’t want us.  Still, we thought Pippen would instantly lift us into contention.  Instead, he couldn’t even come close to filling the shoes of the departed, aging Clyde Drexler.

Pippen was probably the biggest disappointment in Rockets history.  Worse, he spawned the Kelvin Cato legacy with his trade to Portland bringing the Rockets absolutely nothing of value in return and thrusting the team into a vicious cycle of mediocrity.

I don’t know how he should be ranked in NBA history, but after a forgettable season in which he provided the team with nothing, Scottie Pippen’s place in Houston Rockets history is very clear.

Update: Couple of other Pip-related points I couldn’t get to last night as sleep set in…

• when he went on national television and proclaimed that Charles Barkley should “apologize to him for coming to play with his sorry fat butt,” my jaw dropped.  It was one of those moments when you can’t quite believe what you just heard and begin convincing yourself of intended facetiousness.
• after those comments, it was clear a trade had to be made.  The hot rumor at that time was a deal that would send Glen Rice and Robert Horry to Houston.  Most national commentators thought such a deal would make all too much sense, citing “a perfect fit” for Houston’s system, slothful logic one should come to expect by now from those outlets.  You don’t want a team of guys that only fit into your system because then you’re left with nothing when things break down.  Anyways, I think it was more a case of people wanting Pip in LA so badly that they needed to frame some case for why Houston might do it.
• Portland was the more promising option and most of us assumed one of Brian Grant, Rasheed Wallace, or Jermaine O’neal would be sent our way.  In fact, it was a foregone conclusion.  I don’t think anyone even fathomed trading Pippen and not getting one of those guys back.  But it happened, and we were sent what amounted to Portland’s garbage.  To add insult to injury, the best player in the deal, Stacey Augmon, was released (by prior agreement) and re-signed by the Blazers.  Could a more skilled GM (ie: anyone other than Carrol Dawson) have procured more from Portland or was his stock just too low to expect any value?  We’ll never know but the deal was just one of many moves made by Dawson that helped plunge the team into irrelevance.