Tue 1 Jan 2008
Pippen Throws Himself Under The Bus
Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main
Kids, what I am about to tell you here - if you have a filing system at home - should be filed under “You’ve Got Be Kidding Me”; according to Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Bulls general manager John Paxson is considering hiring an assistant coach. Not big news, right? On most days it isn’t. But it gets better.
Scottie Pippen has thrown his hat in the ring - but not for the possible assistant coaching job. Oh no - on Monday, Pippen popped off in the Chicago Tribune about how he should be the Bulls’ head coach and had the cajones to blast the team’s top 6 players in his diatribe. Some examples of his rantings:
- Pippen said that Ben Gordon has not only taken poor shots, but that he is there “shooting for a contract” and that taking bad shots is “a sign of a lack of respect of your teammates”.
- Another gem: ”You think I’m going to run back if I know B.J. Armstrong is jacking it up? My shot is just as good as his. That’s what players think.” So that explains why Chicago let you go to Portland to finish your career.
- Pippen’s take on Kirk Hinrich? ”He’s not that talented. Let him run the offense. But you can’t have midgets running your backcourt. Little guards always put you in a vulnerable position.” I guess he has never heard of Chris Paul or T.J. Ford.
Fortunately, Gordon kept a cool head about Pippen’s ramblings. His reply I really liked: ”I don’t really care what Scottie has to say. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but it doesn’t have anything to do with anything. One thing I realize in pro sports: When you’re down, people shovel more dirt on you; when you’re doing well, everybody wants to get on the bandwagon. So I’m just going to make everybody jump on the bandwagon.”
Pippen managed to accomplish a few things with his rant to the Tribune - he managed to put his big foot in his mouth, and probably reduced the possibility of getting a coaching job anywhere in the NBA. Heck, I’m not convinced that he could coach on my nephews’ high school basketball team, much less a pro team.
Stumble it!
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
What Pip said is truthful and right… Chicago Bulls just have 2 deal and face the facts… Should he have said it or not is entirely a different story, but I like what he said and how he came out with a different approach (did not sugarcoat it, flat out said what he felt), agressively talking about the Bulls “clear” and apparent woes because they are a definite bad squad right now, they are playing like garbage. Hinrich is a decent player, he’s just not a true PG and is a shaky distributor and ballhandler @ best and Gordon’s a really good scorer, at times though, both of ‘em are not franchise nor All-Star players… They are both inconsistent and Gordon presses way too much and is either hit or miss.
Russ