STFU, Scottie Pippen

Yesterday, I read that laughable interview GQ had with Scottie Pippen, the one that set NBA Twitter ablaze earlier in the week.

Here's my hot takes on several issues he raised.

First, he of course was NOT better than Michael Jordan. I don't know whether he really believes that, or he's that butthurt about Michael attention.

Second, re his ragging in general on Phil Jackson for choosing Toni Kukoc to shoot that 1994 NBA playoff game-ender against the Knicks, let alone the racist claim?

First of all, it went in!

Scottie, Toni made the shot!

Why Phil chose Kukoc, I don't know. But he did. I DO know, or am reasonably certain, that it was NOT due to racism. Look, Scottie, I get that both you and MJ, when he came back, hated Kukoc because you hated Jerry Krause for pushing him. OK. Beyond that, in an end-of-game set, inbounding the ball is important, and all too often, too many teams ignore the in-bounder after that. Well, Phil may have been expecting the Knicks would in no way do that, so Scottie would have been a decoy. That's part of being a team, Scottie.

 

And, Chicago sports media like Brian Mazique (oh, he's Black, Scottie) say it was the right call. Mazique said that Scottie wasn't beating Anthony Mason off the dribble. It's true. Look at video of the last minute, part of a four-minute video that is also a YouTube stand-alone. The last Bulls possession before Patrick Ewing ties the game, Scottie bricks a semi-airball from beyond the arc against Mason which didn't matter anyway because he committed a shot-clock violation.

PLUS! Phil had called the same play in a regular season game. And it worked. (Rather than embed, that's a link to the video at the moment of Pippen inbounding to Kukoc.)

AND? Kukoc is a better person than Pippen (or Jordan).

Update: A new piece at Washington Babylon, on the other hand, has a fair amount of goods on Phil Jackson indeed walking, talking and quacking like a racist.

Sidebar? People comparing this to LeBron James telling Dave Blatt, fuck no, I'm shooting? It was dumb on Blatt's part. I can't even remember who it was called for. It was also wrong on LeBron's part.

Third, Scottie using this to rag on Kevin Durant for not being a team player? Well, since Scottie benched himself, he knows jack about being a team player. (Besides that, if assist percentage is a benchmark of being a team player, then Durant kicks Pippen's ass all the way back to Arkansas. No, really. It's not even close.)

Third part two? KD was without Kyrie Irving and James Harden was at 50 percent.

Third, part three? If Scottie's as tough as he presents himself as being, as well as being as much a leader as he presents himself as being, why didn't he punch stand up to Jordan enough to even take a punch to the face like Steve Kerr did?

Kerr: "I'm not going to beat anybody but I WILL fight people!"

Fourth? Scottie without Mike?

In Jordan's initial retirement, Pippen did NOT SIGNIFICANTLY elevate his game. Oh, sure, he did to a degree. But NOT significantly. (His scoring and rebounds were both up, but despite the claims even by many in Chicago sports media about him playing team ball, his assists were down. His assist percentage was unchanged. On sabermetrics, his total offensive rating was 108 in 1992-93, then 109 and 110 the next two years. His Win Shares/48 did jump, but his total Win Shares stayed about the same. Why? Phil rested him; fewer minutes than the previous seasons.

In the post-1998 world? Scottie hit a wall his first year after, at 33. Among some reasonable comps, John Havlicek and Paul Pierce didn't hit that much of a wall until their age 36 seasons.

Fifth, that wasn't all the NBA stupidity there. Next, Scottie said that Kenny Smith was better than Charles Barkley because he had a ring.

Scottie, I don't know if being butthurt about MJ makes you that stupid? I don't know if you were drunk on your new bourbon?

But, you've already gotten a reputation as one of the biggest bullshitters around among ex-NBA players and you just added to it. On that, you ARE Paul Pierce. And, Chicago sports media like Rick Morrissey know this is just your latest tire fire. Morrisey, like Mazique, knows you're hurt over this. He also knows your framing is bullshit.

 

So, let's conclude by repeating the header:

 

STFU, Scottie.