WANTED: Articles dissing Pippen

Here is one by Fran Blinebury from the Houston Chronicle.

Sep 29 1999 10:59PM

Quitter has no room to talk. THIS is certainly not the first time Scottie Pippen has quit on his team, just the latest. You remember, of course, the 1994 playoff series against the New York Knicks when with 1.8 seconds left in the game and the score tied, Pippen refused to go back onto the floor because his beloved guru/coach Phil Jackson had called on Toni Kukoc to take the last shot.

The moments that define character come from ambush. Suddenly, they are there. And nothing is the same again. In one foolish, inconsiderate choice, Pippen stamped his career as a petulant, selfish egotist, no matter how many championship rings are in his collection. But everyone deserves a second chance.

So Pippen waited until just before the start of the 1997-1998 training camp to say he would undergo foot surgery that could have been performed at any time during the offseason, including the month or so he was jetting about on a promotional tour for his shoe company. There was also the small matter of his feeling underpaid in the last year of a seven-year, $22 million contract, especially when young Kevin Garnett had just raked in a deal worth $126 million.

Pippen returned to the sidelines in his fancy street clothes, looked straight into the cameras and said, "I don't think I could ever wear a Chicago uniform again." Of course, seven months later, he
was back riding Michael Jordan's coattails to another NBA title. But everyone deserves a third chance.

So Pippen came to Houston to prove he could stand on his own two feet without the crutch of His Airness. And now he's slithering out like a 6-7 worm, pointing fingers at Charles Barkley, the only member of the Rockets organization who consistently rushed to his defense during an unfulfilling season that saw him become the most overpriced commodity since somebody at the Pentagon paid millions of dollars for some hammers.

For $14 million last season, the Rockets got themselves a player who averaged 14.5 points, shot 43.2 percent from the field and led the NBA in pouts. He pouted about the way the Rockets played offense, and he pouted about the way they played defense. He pouted about not getting a chance to handle the ball, and he pouted about having to handle the ball too much.

From the first day of the abbreviated training camp and the shortened, post-lockout season, Pippen was more high-maintenance than a roomful of table dancers during a silicone shortage.

The hard thing to do, the professional thing to do, would have been to show up when camp opens next week and try to put the pieces back together. There was no public mea culpa necessary, just a rededication to the game and a renewed commitment to a team that has done its part during the offseason by maneuvering to make the trade for Steve Francis and courting Shandon Anderson all the way from summer into autumn.

The easy thing to do is what Pippen did. He just quit. He did it by firing away personal comments at Barkley, intending to make the rift so wide that the Rockets have no other choice but to trade Pippen. Which is what he has wanted all along. This was the Bridge on the River Kwai, blown up intentionally to achieve his end.

When Barkley went on ESPN the other day and reiterated the comments he made in the Chronicle last month, he was merely saying out loud the words everybody in the organization was thinking. That Pippen had owed all of the Rockets an apology for hiding behind the skirts of his agent, Jimmy Sexton, and asking for a trade to the Lakers.

When Pippen returned fire Wednesday, it was all directed personally at Barkley, who admittedly is an easy target. The camp on Charles is sharply split -- either you like him or you don't.

Now before the anti-Barkley faction picks up the crayons to send me more angry letters, remember this: None other than Hakeem Olajuwon, his serene and royal highness of Rocketdom, also said publicly that Pippen owed the team and the fans an apology.

But for all of his Jordan-bestowed jewelry, Pippen does not have the stature as a basketball player or citizen to go one-on-one, man-to-man with Olajuwon. Thus, the easy exit.

This is not about Pippen and Barkley and never has been. It was Barkley who defended Pippen every time he had a horrible game last season. It was Barkley who stood firmly in Pippen's corner following his DWI arrest last season. It was Barkley who turned the other cheek when Pippen tried to lay all the blame for the Rockets' Game 1 playoff loss in LA at his feet, even though Scottie made the critical turnover.

It has always been about Pippen. The one who has had virtually no communication with the Rockets organization all summer. The one who has not once tried to bridge the gap with head coach Rudy Tomjanovich. The one who was ready to long-jump to Hollywood to be reunited with Big Chief Triangle on the Lakers but never had the nerve to say it to anyone with the Rockets face-to-face. The one who was finally given superstar money to come to Houston and act like a headliner but showed quickly he is only a lounge act who now wishes to tap-dance in front of Shaquille O'Neal.

Remember these month-old words from Barkley: "This is a challenge for him. This will tell you a lot about who Scottie Pippen is."

Whether it involves 1.8 seconds or $67.2 million, the answer, it seems, is the same: a quitter.

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"Salt Lake City, Utah. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany."
--Olaju-Won Kenobi, to young jedi Steve (Fran)'chiseWalker