It's to be expected. I think I've heard the phrase "Puck Fiffen" a half a dozen times in the past few weeks alone. Pippen just brings out the worst in some posters. Now if I wanted to make a basketball related comment, I would say that he makes an interesting point in that our offense is helping our defense out a lot. But instead of saying that, I'll join the crowd and simply say, "Puck Fiffen, C U Next Tuesday".
Next time, Tiger, just post the article & don't say who wrote it. That way most of us won't notice who wrote it & get upset.
Longer...much, much longer...and although I didn't like his attitude towards the end, he was clearly frustrated from being used completely the wrong way. He just didn't fit our system, but Les wanted to make a splash (as usual) to get fans/money while hopefully win at the same time. That team was a perfect example of a team with too many stars, and stars that did not fit the system at that. Pippen was used as a jump shooter, that was truly rediculous . He is NOT a jump shooter, but the middle was clogged with two HOF players, so he couldn't do anything about it. The Rockets did not fit him, and he didn't fit the Rockets. Nothing personal about that, just facts. We happened to be unlucky that year to meet the Lakers in the first round, we were just not going to beat them, they were a better team, although we did have a more star-studded lineup, but sadly all three were nearly washed-up and towards the end of their respective careers, even if they did try and put up some nice individual performances. Barkley clearly hated his time here, and clearly hates the Rockets now and takes a swipe at them/their players (Yao and T-Mac) whenever he can, the true bitter punk he has always been, so I expect nothing less. On the other hand, and correct me if I am wrong, I have never heard Pippen slam the Rockets or the organization as a whole, usually he directed his remarks at lard-butt Barkley. They both were at fault there, but clearly egos got in the way and one had to go. I understand people have their opinions about Pippen, but I have no animosity towards him. It was enjoyable watching the Rockets during the season he spent here, we fell shot of our goal, but Les lined up his pockets nicely, and the Rockets got mad attention from the national media. So it was a near win-win situation for the organization from a marketing/fan standpoint, regardless of how we fared in the playoffs against a better, much younger, healthier Lakers team. I just don't like Rockets fans having that 'bitterness' in them about any single player, we are much bigger than that I think. Sometimes we poke fun at SF3/Cat or whomever else, but we all know it is in good fun. I guess I am just surprised at the level of hatred towards Scottie, but I guess the fact that he played for the Bulls at one point (and was considered a major contributor to the success of an enemy team like the Bulls, whom we regretably never got the chance to beat in the playoffs) plays a major part in it. I think we don't dislike Barkley as much because he was soundly defeated by the Rockets before, so we took pity on him. But Pippen came from a 'superior' position than the Rockets, and may be that came across to Rockets fans and reminded them of the Bulls' previous success. So a bit of psychology there for ya I am just babbling on, please ignore me
your not really babbling, after all he is part of the reason we got tracy mcgrady. as far as the psychology part i think barkly already gave up at that point and pippen and hakeem gave there most that season. too bad hakeem got hurt though.
Pippen is a whiny little b**** that quit on the Rockets, just like he quit on the Bulls when PJ called Toni's number instead of his. He also fumbled away the deciding game against the Lakers and blamed it on Barkley who is ten times the player now that Pip ever was. After all that pissing and moaning he again started b****ing about Big Sexy and whined his way right out of town, netting us Walt Williams, Kelvin Cato, and some other trash. Pip is a big loser that was good for nothing but riding Jordan's coattails and blowing playoff games (remember the Blazers' meltdown against the Lakers in WCF game 7?) That is why no one around here likes the little Moai.
I read this thread to see Pippen's take on the Rockets. His analysis is ok.... I hesitate to respond about Pippen and his tenure with the Rockets- Pippen never did fit, because his basketball IQ did not make him a coachable player in this situation. Yeah - BArkley came to camp 30 lb overweight, but had signed for 1 mil for the season so we could sign Pippen. BArkley did a selfless act. Pippen did the unforgivable and went to the media and complained about BArkley and wished he had never ended up in Houston. Every GM in the league- hell everybody in the Western world knew that he was not happy. It placed Houston MGT in a position of weakness in trying to deal him. Pippen's mouth limited our trading options, and forced us to take a bunch of filler in trading him- I mean garbage. Now further damage in Pippen trade were the consequential damages----long after Pippen was gone we tried to utilize Walt Williams as a shooter. Cato became our big man. Steve Francis had less talent surrounding him-less shooting support. If Pippen had gone to Rudy and CD and just said - hey guys this is not working for me - I'm 33 years old, can you make a deal to trade me?? If Pippen had kept quiet and pretended to be surprised when trade talk started, we could have gotten more for him. His reputation with Houston fans would be OK-not villified. IMO that is why Pippen is scorned-at least by me he did not give us options in dealing him. Our hand was forced and we got nothing for him...... Pippen calling Barkley out was icing on the cake- BArkley had signed for the 1 mil exception...
Quitten's a tool. He could have fit in the offense if he tried. Hell, he was taking Drexler's place and role on the team, and Drex did alot more than just shoot stand still jumpers. He initiated the offense, handled in the half court, posted on the left block, ran the break as good as anyone we've ever had, and yes, drained open jump shots when his man left him. Quitten never even tried to fit in. And yea, he was a choker in that series. Come to think of it, maybe there was a reason the Bulls never ever ran end-of-game plays for him. It wasn't just Jordan - Paxson, Kerr, even Kukoc got the call before Scottie.
Doesn't that b**** know how to check his spelling, or did he just want to leave the "D" behind like he did in Houston after he got all disgruntled?
Before talking about Pippen let me say that I did like the article, and I thought it was a good one. Thanks for posting it. Pippen did at least indirectly if not directly. On his arrival at Portland Pippen said he was glad to be there because he was tired of carrying the Rockets. What the hell was he talking about? That is an insult, and delusional. On a team with Dream, Pippen is fooling himself if thought he was ever carrying or being asked to carry the team. Pippen always had trouble accepting responsibility. In the loss to the Lakers in the playoffs when Pippen screwed up, he blamed Barkley, even though it was his mistake that cost us that game. In Portland Pippen blamed coaches and management, rather than being the leader they thought they were getting with him, and despite the fact that he was one on the floor. As good as Pippen was he was never great, and never lived up to his potential because he could never accept responsibility and be a leader. As far as Barkley goes he slams the Rockets, but Barkley has a big mouth, and it is silly to take what he says seriously most of the time. I don't think he hated his time here with the team. He clearly loved Rudy T. and has come back for charity events, etc. But that doesn't stop him from making stupid comments about our team now all the time.
Whoa - hold on a second, people... In his article, Pippen mentioned Juwan Howard but didn't mention the injury. That means that the article was almost definitely written BEFORE the game at Golden State. At that time, we had won only 3 games of the road trip - the 4th had not yet been played. And, at that time, we were 2 games behind Sac. If anything, his comments were spot-on and have been proven since the Warriors' game. (note: I still hate him, though. Puck Fiffen.) -- droxford
I won't be defending Pippen's lack of leaedership in taking on responsibility for his own shortfalls. He has one huge ego, which I think is rather acceptable given his accomplishments in the league as one of the best, if not the best, all-around players in history of the league. However, with that being said, Pippen was one of the best on-the-court leaders in Portland, and he did quiet well there for a few years, nothing to scuff at, especially given it was towards the twilight of his career. As for the argument about Barkley doing a "selfless" act by taking the $1 million a year, I can refute that easily by saying that nothing about that was "selfless", and that Barkley was not acting altruistically in that situation, but rather out of self-interest in wanting to win it all, and he clearly thought enough of Pip to provide that help, although things didn't work out accordingly. Pip had his shortfalls like ANY other player. Even MJ had to abandon his selfish ways in the first few seasons of his career and had to depend more on Pippen in order for him to win, and to say Pippen was "MJ's caddy" is rediculous and completely false. True, he did play second-fiddle to MJ, but he was an equal partner in those championships, and MJ would have Never gotten 6 rings without Pipp, so let's be honest about this now. To say otherwise would show complete incompetence as far as basketball knowledge is concerned. I watched the Bulls consistently during those championship runs, and the toughness/defense/ballhandling/etc. that Pippen contributed to that team was major in leading that team to all those rings. Did Pipp make mistakes? Of course! to say so about ANY player in history of the league is true. I can name tens of things MJ did wrong throughout his career, so that is NOT a knock on Pippen, he was very competitive in that situation where Phil Jackson drew the play for someone else, and if anything it shows that he DOES want the responsibility of leading the team to a win, not that he "lacks leadership" in wanting that responsibility, so that opposite is true in this situation. Although, this does not take him off the hook for his response to PJ in that situation. Anyways, I don't want to dwell on this subject for too long, but to say Pippen was somehow an overrated player is rediculous. If you watched those Bulls championships (beginning from the first one when Pippen was holding Magic Johnson that rendered his effectiveness on the court to later performances in latter championship runs) you would NEVER dismiss Pippen's importance to that team, just ask Phil Jackson himself. Ask MJ himself. Pippen was the engine that made that team run, PJ was the person that steered the ship, and MJ was the one that led them over the helm to win it for them. But without the philosophy provided by Phil Jackson, and the steady hand Pippen provided for that team (the guy who did it all and was asked to do it all), Jordan would not have enjoyed the type of success he enjoyed. He understands that, so I am surprised that some NBA fans still don't 'get' that. But I do understand that this is a byproduct of the hatred towards Pippen. It is not very objective though, I must tell you.
off topic somewhat, but pippen is clearly one of the greatest small forwards ever to play the game. anyone who doesn't at least want to consider that notion obviously never watched the bulls closely, especially during their last championship run (when jordan had already lost much of his athletic abilities). off the top of my head, if i were to construct all-time team and pick only one small forward, i'd pick pippen (with garnett a close second, and bird a distant third).
I agree the thread has been derailed a bit into a discussion of Pippen's abilities as a player instead of his abilities as a commentator/analyst of the Rockets or other teams. But since that DID happen, and in response to your ranking of greatest SF ever, I would say that Larry Bird and Pippen are right at the top. I don't see Garnett and Nowitzki and those guys as true SF, I think they represent more of the new breed of mobile, athletic, 3-point shooting PF who play in the league today. They have reinvented the PF position rather than being considered actual Small Forwards. But sorry again for helping derail this thread, let's get back to commentary on Pippen's blog.
Pippen has always said complimentary things about the Rockets even when they were struggling earlier this season on that midnight NBA show that features MJax (NBA matchup?).
Nice words from Pip. Maybe he officially moves to No. 2 on this board's "most hated" list, after, of course, No. 1 most-hated (for life) Karl Malone.
