SB Nation just posted a video about Pippen's and Barkley's time on the Rockets during the lockout-shortened 98-99 season. The two aging ring chasers sucked up the cap, feuded in the media, and contributed to the ignominious end of the Dream era. A less than pleasant trip down memory lane for those who were there for it, and a good history lesson for anyone who wasn't.
I really liked Pippen when I was a kid in the early 90s. He was one of my favorite NBA players before the Rockets took over all my attention. It's a shame he seems to be such an insecure and inconsistent friend / teammate / person. It is clear in "The Last Dance" that he was this way his entire career, but Jordan was able to keep him in check. Watching these old highlights, it's like I want to separate that version of Pippen from everything I know about him afterwards, and just enjoy watching him dunk. Sometimes you wish you could freeze a moment in time. Oh well. Of course, if I were to freeze a sports moment in time, it would probably be June 13th, 1995
Not sure but his wife did get banged by rappers and she’s a kardashian hoe. So that could explain it.
Heres the part I took notice of... Pippen repeatedly referenced MJs assertion that Charles would never win a championship due to his 'lack of dedication' to winning a championship... ...this despite Chuck being an 11 time all-star and MVP in 1993... became just the tenth player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points and 10,000 rebounds in their career.... and other various accolades... Now, whenever Hardens level of dedication is questioned... folks always cite his stats and say that you dont rise to level he has and win an MVP without being immensely dedicated... So... was MJ talking out his butt? Did Charles (and possibly Harden) still fall short of the level of dedication needed - despite the accomplishments? Really not trolling... ...just seemed like an interesting parallel between Chuck and James with regards to being MVPs but not winning a championship (yet?) Charles was a big deal back in the day - top 5? ...not so much his broken down Houston years - that was on the downturn... I'm not looking to get into arguments with Hardens White Knights... just found the parallels kinda interesting... Personally, I think MJ was obviously correct regarding his end conclusion of Barkley never winning a championship... but idk if it could be attributed to his lack of dedication...
Its essentially just a horse **** statement that in hindsight turned out to be right. I could claim right now Giannis lacks the dedication necessary to win it all. He will likely go down as one of the best players ever. Is no doubt immensely dedicated. Or enough to be capable of winning a title. But there’s a very good chance Giannis never does win a title. Because it’s hard to do. And even if you are one of the best players ever who puts in the necessary work you may not win. 10-15 years later I could come back and gloat and say I knew he didn’t have what it takes. But it would be dumb. A: I have no idea if he is or isn’t dedicated enough. B: Again. A player could do just about everything right and not win. A player like Barkley may have/probably did put in MORE work and dedication than a lot of guys who did win. And the even better part is if it turns out Giannis DOES end up winning I could say “at the time he clearly wasn’t doing what he needed to do, but then he changed” so I can keep up the I was right all along thing going. Jordan may have had a good idea Barkley would never win. But I’d argue it had almost nothing to do with Barkley dedication and almost everything to do with the fact that even though Barkley is one of the best ever, there were a few that were better playing at the same time. Which can make a really hard thing to accomplish, that much harder.
Barkley didn't suck up cap money. This is the reason for the whole 'The Rockets owe me money $3 Million rant on TNT' Les promised him money for taking $1 mill so we can land Pippen. @Clutch , Please write a history of the Rockets article!!!! https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/1999.html Salaries Rk Salary 1 Hakeem Olajuwon $12,943,000 2 Scottie Pippen $11,000,000 3 Brent Price $2,240,000 4 Charles Barkley $1,000,000 5 Michael Dickerson $949,600 6 Bryce Drew $857,000 7 Sam Mack $545,000 8 Anthony Miller $475,000 9 Cuttino Mobley $287,500
Yeh... thats pretty much where i was coming down... hence the "but idk if it could be attributed to his lack of dedication..." While Barkley had some seasons that he may not have come in at peak conditioning, for the vast majority of his time he was a force who was among the best in the league...
No it just takes a certain amount of luck and shot making at the right times both of which are sometimes out of the hands of the main star driving the team. Teammates are dramatically underrated as time and again it’s the role players that make or miss key shots that decide the fates of series. It’s quite obvious that both Chuck and Harden are/were championship level players.
You have touched on something that has been bothering me. Often, when players are compared, they cite team achievements like rings and conference titles. While the players in question obviously had a contribution to those things, they didnt do it without 4 others guys there with them. Other awards like MVP, Defensive all 1st team and so on are closer to the mark. But they still are skewed towards players on teams that are winning at a high level. It does happen that great players play on bad team that dont win much. Those players while in those situations do not get a fair shake when it comes to individual awards.
You are (as usual) correct, tinman. Should have specified that Pippen was doing all of the cap-sucking.
Siding with Chuck on this one. Scottie seems like he completely marginalized the salary discount conceded by Barkley.
There wasn't any hint of a beef during the season it was during the off season Pippen starting running his mouth about Barkley in the media. If Pippen would have showed up in the playoffs maybe we might have won more than 1 game vs the Lakers. He did the Rockets a favor by doing this so they could trade him and his 14 ppg to the Blazers.
Still amazing what rockets was paying Luther head when he first hit league versus what mobley was getting in the beginning with Houston.
This will never happen again in the nba 1. players are too greedy. No way an All star player gets paid less then Brent Price 2. Distrust of ownership, this is a lesson. Don’t trust the owners unless it’s in writing
