" I'd Average 40 If I Played For Today's Houston Rockets" - Rockets Legend Scottie Pippen

I can't believe you compared him to Paul George and Jimmy Butler! Those are worse comparisons, he was not a good shooter and didn't nearly have the handles those two guys have, also...Pippen was super athletic, not sure about 'Far more Athletic' Pippen was about as athletic a forward you could find in his era.

ALSO they play different positions because of the era. PJ Tucker would never, ever, play 4 in the 90s, nor would Draymond Green, and a slew of other players that get away with it now.

With the rebounding Pippen was a better rebounder in his prime, it wasn't his role. Only thing is Ariza just shoots 3s and plays defense, when I compare a player I'm comparing what they bring to the team and how they affect the game. Since Ariza is a 3 and D guy that never handles the ball he was just a role player that didn't affect the game like Pippen did because Scottie didn't camp out behind the line. He scored where he could and shot a lot of twos which were fine in that age.

I think he's still top 10. Only recent guy that's passed him up is Durant and Kawhi. These other guys just don't have the accomplishments to pass him up

 

Keep in mind that Pippen played during a time when hand check wasn’t illegal. So, he’s all defensive, but he might go down a few notches if he were playing today when you can’t park your elbow on the defenders back. Pippen is know primarily as a defender, who could knock down an open jumper.

He benefited more as a defender himself, because he wasn’t the primary offensive option. Even when he was given the keys to the Houston offense, he didn’t know what to do, hence his low offensive stats while here.

Houston gave him all that money to be the star of the team, and all he wanted to do was ride the coat tail of another star, while getting the coin of the main star.

 

The only way Scottie averages 40 in Houston or anywhere else:

 

Cmon y’all. Pippen is a terrible analyst and his statement is patently ridiculous.

At the same time, he was an incredible player.

Had the athleticism of PG, the ball-handling and playmaking of Butler, and was an absolutely disruptive force to be reckoned with on defense.

He didn’t put up gaudy scoring stats but he clearly was a high-IQ and high-impact player in his heyday. Too bad that IQ doesn’t translate when he’s on the other side of the desk

 

Hello, he is not the rockets legend. OP need get an education from tinman.

 

Pigpen's offensive limitation was demonstrated in his team Blazers vs LAL in the playoffs. You know who was the leading score in that Blazers team? Who went to Detroit to win the title, I guess that I am right for this one.

 

He was not even the best player on his own team let alone someone who could average forty. Wait a minute, maybe he can average 40 another way......

 

"I wouldn't be jack s*** without Michael Jordan."
--Snottie Pippen

 

From what I hear he certainly doesn't average 40% gratuity.

 

Yeah, but you didn't list "deadly jumper" among those attributes did ya? The shooting in that era was comparably garbage. The other day on the anniversary of Tmac's 13 in 33 seconds I had completely forgot that the final in that game was in the 83-81.

 

If Quitten had any brains at all, he'd still have all that money.

 

How is Paul George and Jimmy Butler bad comparison? They are good players but they are not players where the team will build a roster around as them team captain. Today team will build around Harden, Giannis, Leonard, Luka, KD etc players that carry their team on their back.

Pippen was not a superstar player like Jordan, Lebron, Kobe, KD, Shaq, Harden, Hakeem, Clyde, Barkley, etc. No teams strategized their roster to build their team around Pippen. With Chicago, it was around Jordan. With Houston, it was around Hakeem & Clyde. With Portland, it was around Rasheed, Smith, and Stoudamire. He was simply the best complement player to a superstar. And I am 1980 born so I remember watching Scottie play in his prime. Different times and era does not change much when it comes to individual scoring. Jordan avg 37 ppg one season. Kobe 35ppg. Pippen was a good player but for him to say he would drop 40 ppg is ridiculous because he just was not a prolific scorer. Now if Pippen said he is a better defender then Harden then its no argument there.

And Tucker only plays PF position is because Rockets don't have a true starting PF in their roster. Also, they want a 3-pt shooter PF/SF because of their gameplan and Tucker fits the role. Come on man you should know this by now if you are watching the Rockets play.

 

This is where Pippen might be overrated. Even at his best, I don't think he was much better player than Sheed. Sheed was a good shooter, good post player, and was pretty talented defensively. He was much more qualified to be a main guy.

Also, if Sabonis came to NBA at younger age, Pippen wouldn't have been on his level.

I think Pippen is an all-time great, but he's not even top 5 SF.

Unless his fans can prove he was better than Bird, LBJ, KD, Havlicek, Kawhi, Baylor, Dr. J, Barry, Nique, King, and a couple of other SF. Every player named had dominant offense seasons and could lead a team to a championship or deep into playoffs.

 

That's what his wife says too.

 

Pippens career high game for FGA was 35 shots. He scored a whopping 26 points in that game.

 

(Scootie Pippen)

LeBron, Paul Pierce, Doctor J, Larry Bird, Havelicek, Elgin Baylor, Dominique Wilkins, Rick Barry, plus your two. All better than Pippen.

If you don’t like someone on my list, replace them with James Worthy.

There are too many first fiddle small forwards out there to put a second fiddle name in the top 10.

 

We are arguing two completely different things here.

You're arguing Pippen's placement among great players and how good he was then vs now and comparing him to other 2nd tier players like PG and Butler

I'm comparing Pippen's skillset and abilities to current players and how those skills impact a game.

Also, Tucker plays PF because he can get away with it every night in the modern NBA. If we had Love, Tucker would still play PF, MDA would just play Love at Center...because MDA plays Tucker at Center and gets away with it in the modern NBA. 90s NBA was different when it came to bigs, you weren't going to get away with play SFs at Center and it would not even be entertained. But the Rockets have literally sat down both centers before so that Tucker can play center...to varying results.

 

Dirty secret.....they can STILL talk even if Harden gets a ring.

 

I dunno, I'd pick Pippen over Worthy and Paul Pierce.