Portland Trail Blazers All-Time Most Disappointing Acquisitions #14: Scottie Pippen
by Dave on Sep 28, 2011 10:00 PM PDT
in News
Email
PrintToday we continue running down the Portland Trail Blazers All-Disappointment Team. Players can disappoint for many reasons. Some don't have talent. Others never connect with fans. Still others are given far too much money or responsibility for their level of play. None of those apply here. Today's disappointing player had worlds of talent. Just a couple years before coming to Portland he was considered one of the top 3-4 players in the league. He played well enough in a Blazer uniform, became a fan favorite, and could shoulder whatever was thrown at him. Nevertheless, Scottie Pippen never delivered fully on the excitement generated by the six-player deal that netted him for the Blazers in the fall of 1999.
When that deal went down, October 2nd to be exact, it made national headlines. Mind you, this was the era before internet journalism turned every surreptitious nose wipe into a national headline. This was legit...a true Big Deal. Pippen was meant to be the Missing Link in Portland's lineup, bringing championship experience, scoring punch, and defense alike. This was the move that served notice to the league that Portland was gunning for a title and nothing less.
Though he played decently for the Blazers--12.5 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists in 82 starts in his first season--and certainly helped the defense, Pippen never provided the hill-topping push that the Blazers needed. He played games but didn't dominate them on either end. Once in a blue moon he'd break out with a monster performance but the next night normality returned. One could argue his lack of production was due to teammate interference (the team was stacked) but the Blazers were really looking for a take-charge scorer during this period. Pippen wasn't that. Nor was he able to shift the mental and emotional focus of the team away from the mercurial Rasheed Wallace. Scottie knew how to win but this was never his team.
The single piece of evidence that damns Scottie to the most-disappointing team despite his talent and production can be summarized in but two words: no rings. Pippen was brought here for titles. The Blazers never reached the NBA Finals with him on the roster and only went to the Conference Finals once. Though he had a couple of nice games Pippen himself contributed to the collapse against the Lakers in that WCF series by turning over the ball like it was buttered. It became among the strongest of his defining moments.
After 2000 the Blazers never got more than 60 starts a season out of Scottie. He played one decent playoff series in 2001-02 versus those same Lakers but otherwise tanked hard in the postseason. In his final years the on-court sparks came fewer and farther between and in the end he became known more for grousing and riding out his contract than leading the team to victory.
Looking at his body of work post-Chicago Pippen's story seems to be advancing age combined with an inability to produce while not being the focus of the offense. Most of that story was written with the Blazers.
If anyone else besides THE Scottie Pippen amassed this legacy he wouldn't even sniff at the All-Disappointing Team. But the gap between what the Blazers hoped to get from Scottie and what he actually ended up delivering was wide enough to land him here. Maybe it was him, maybe it was high expectations. Either way, it was disappointing.
As always you can agree, disagree, enhance, or modify in the comment section. If you missed reading about our #15 disappointment, Walter Berry, click here.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
56 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
yeah, scottie's legacy is all chicago
Too bad he declined the way he did in PDX…I really liked watching him play for the longest time.
LET'S PLAY SOME DAMN DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!
by Batum Shakalaka on Sep 28, 2011 10:34 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
On the one hand a bit surprising to see him on the list. On the other hand, this happened:
Infamous sliding door defense on Kobe crossover before throwing the oop to you know who:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onEnvKrxHVc
Very disappointing game and situation indeed.
Scottie was fine
it was the rest of the team around him that folded faster than a lawn chair.
"How you gonna fire a ninja Paul?" - Rich Cho
by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Sep 28, 2011 10:52 PM PDT reply actions 6 recs
Rec
Scottie was the reason we made it so far when he was here. He was the leader.
My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.
by OCBlazerFan1 on Sep 29, 2011 10:53 AM PDT up reply actions
My memory of the Pippen acquisition is quite different.
Pippen’s last year in Chicago was pretty ho-hum and injury filled, and then his year in Houston was worse. By the time we acquired him he was 34 and had lost much of his athleticism. I really didn’t have many expectations for him in Portland except as a veteran player that would fit in easily on what was already a veteran team. He didn’t need to be a leader, just a good fit in the latter years of his career.
We gave up next to nothing to get him. Basically it was Walt Williams and Kelvin Cato (a 2nd year big that never developed into anything more than an adequate backup) plus scraps. Pippen may have even exceed my expectations as a Blazer. Certainly he wasn’t a disappointment to me. The rest of the team was a disaster after Pippen’s 1st season in PDX. No wonder he wasn’t happy with the Blazers, neither was I.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Sep 28, 2011 11:10 PM PDT reply actions 8 recs
I agree with this completely. I am not sure Pippen belongs on this list at all.
i like it here, there, everywhere.
Couldn't have said it better
rec
I have nthn btr 2 do than spend time coming up with a clever signature
I was not disappointed with Pippen at all,
I really appreciated his contribution to the team.
We all knew he was not as young as he used to be, he showed heart, and was good for the team.
Really surprised to see him listed.
Now I am pretty confident Kemp will be on the list….
Wake me when the game is on.
by Berkeley on Sep 28, 2011 11:26 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
If Kemp isn't, it can only be because he was "disastrous" instead of disappointing
I felt the same way about Pippen as you did. We knew he was old and basically expected him to add some leadership. I think he tried, but there were just too many loose cannons rattling around the deck. Maybe not, maybe he just cashed it in, but it seemed he was giving an effort to me.
Steve Goodman lives.
by twinsbrewer on Sep 29, 2011 8:26 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Well..I disagree...
…I think about the only criteria you could apply to Scottie Pippens tenure and even remotely come to the conclusion that he was a disappointment would be the criteria that we didn’t win a championship with him. True we didn’t.
But in all other respects? I liked Pippen. We often used him as a “Point” Forward and I enjoyed watching Pippen masterfully execute the offense.
I don’t think it’s fair to attach the disappointment of the failure of the 2000 incarnation of The Blazers to win a Championship on Scottie Pippen. Without Pippen that team is not even a challenger. Ultimately the team failed…the entire team, not Pippen.
I know some of the feeling at the time was that Pippen wanted the chance to define himself as a champion outside of the framework as Michael Jordans #2 guy….and as a Blazer fan it is disappointing that Pippen was unable to accomplish that as a Blazer. But my memories of Pippen are of an aging but supremely talented player, that used his skill and on the court cunning to great advantage. I enjoyed watching Pippen much as I enjoyed watching Sabonis. Both players that seemed to have trancendent skill sets.
We didn’t win a Championship with Pippen? Sure..disappointing. Pippen himself? Not dissapointing….that’s my opinion….
"Mother Nature started this fight, I think it's about time we ended it!"
by Krang on Sep 28, 2011 11:41 PM PDT reply actions 5 recs
Very well put Sir
His defense never disappointed me. In fact, although my memory is failing, the Lakers was way behind until Pippen fouled out in the fourth quarter. I contribute the lost to foul trouble and of course Sabby being on the bench.
hg
I agree with ya
I have always thought Pippen overachieved as a Blazer. I wasn’t expecting him to have as much in the tank as he did. I think the 2000 WCF collapse just couldn’t be pinned to his shoulders.. Just my 2 cents..
"At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player, that I'm a better person because of my failures and disgraces." -- Bill Walton
by MischiefPortland on Sep 30, 2011 6:48 PM PDT up reply actions
i also gotta disagree with this
pippen was a great player and exceeded all of my expectations when we aquired him.
Wow, there are really 13 acquisitions that were more disappointing than Pippen?
For me he has the triple whammy of:
1. Not bringing us home against the Lakers (in game 7 when we led by 15 in the 4th quarter), combined with massive gut punch he leveled against us;
2. Leveling an identical gut punch AGAINST us in game 6 of the 1992 Finals; and
3. Taking ungodly amounts of cap killing cash from Paul Allen (and supplying no rings) after spending the previous decade getting massively underpaid by Jerry Reinsdorf (and helping to supply six rings).
Yeah I know, he played well, blah blah blah, but he was supposed to be the linchpin of a Yankees-style stacked roster. No rings = huge disappointment.
"Ted Thompson's running Brett Favre out of Green Bay was the biggest mistake by a GM in the history of the league."
-Skip Bayless, November 2008
by The Cactus Leaguer on Sep 29, 2011 12:53 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs
So does that mean Drexler should be number 13?
No rings with him either, and he was the linchpin of the ’90 & ’92 Blazers.
Pippin was a big part of a very talented, but somewhat dysfunctional team. He added to the talent, but not the dysfunction. Not bad for a 34 y/o small forward.
Drexler could be on the list
as he jumped ship before we could bring Sabas over.
This is actually an interesting question
I haven’t seen discussed much. It almost should be it’s own thread, or post by Dave (or at least I’d be curious to see what he thinks).
So what IF Drexler had stayed and Sabas had come over, say in 1995. Say further, Portland had hung on to the rest of its aging core, Kersey, Porter and Buck and they all stayed healthy, although their same aging selves. Let’s add Rod Strickland on the team, too. Would the relatively spry Sabonis from his first couple of years in Portland, and whatever the previous Blazers had left in the tank including a more motivated Clyde and the addition of Rod have been enough to make some teams afraid?
Could they have challenged a Houston team lacking Clyde? Maybe not. Hakeem could have been too much. But what would that team have been like?
We talk a lot about what-if Sabonis had come in time for the early 90’s. But what if he had come just in time, and Drexler had stayed for some overlap.
Or to make it just as interesting, adjust the question to say what if Sabonis had come in ’94. Or even more interestingly, ’93….
by HowlinJoeWolf on Sep 30, 2011 3:04 AM PDT up reply actions
Where does Drexler stack up in those three areas I mentioned above?
The 89-92 team was a team consisting mostly of mid-to-late first round picks who had grown together as a unit, and they happened to peak at the same as three other dynasties.
The late 90’s Blazer team was a fantasy league assemblage of talent and they had the still wet behind the ears tandem of Kobe and Shaq on the ropes, and they let them off the hook.
I fully admit that my high ranking of him on the disappointment scale is symbolic. He wasn’t individually responsible for crushing the ‘92 Blazers, for blowing it against the Lakers, or for destroying the team’s finances, but he is a symbol of all three for me. He is disappointing to me, but maybe the better word is infuriating, as in throw a brick at the TV-type infuriating.
"Ted Thompson's running Brett Favre out of Green Bay was the biggest mistake by a GM in the history of the league."
-Skip Bayless, November 2008
by The Cactus Leaguer on Sep 29, 2011 5:49 PM PDT up reply actions
I Disagree
game 5 of the 2000 wcf, after the blazers lost both games at home and with injured fingers, pippen does this:
22 points 6 boards, 6 steals, 4 blocks 3 assists on 8 of 12 shooting.
and on a completely unrelated note, HAHA red sox!!!!!!
(The part of my brain that come up with clever signatures is locked out)
Red Sux
I lived in Boston for four years and grew to loathe Red Sox fans. I loved watching their epic choke job this fall.
by unblindloyalty on Sep 29, 2011 2:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah I've gotta disagree as well.
Without Scottie that year I’m not even sure Portland makes the WCF and I’m pretty sure we would have lost in 5 not 7. Did he have a bad 4th q? Sure but who didn’t?
I was at that game and really once it started to roll down hill not even Scottie could do anything about it. Remember he was a #2 on that Bulls team and never became a #1. I see Scottie as the greatest #2 of all-time; made everyone around him better. But a #1 he was not. And we sometimes forget the Lakers had 2 #1’s.
I’d actually put Scottie in my top 10 All-Time Great Blazers. He made so many game turning shots.
But when the whole team collapses you need a go-to #1 player and your #1 had better be better than their #1 (see all heartbreaking Blazers losses).
"Every time I make one, it always feels like the first time," Roy said. "I was just so excited and so blessed to make a shot like that. It never gets old, it always feels like the first time. I was excited and the fans cheering, teammates jumping up and down."
I would think
Kemp would be in the top 2 or 3 on this list.
I agree, and am glad someone else thinks so
I was disappointed when they acquired him. I liked the acquisitions of Smith and Schrempf and was excited to see how they were going to blend in with the ‘99 WCF team, minus Jim Jackson and Isaiah Rider. They had a great collection of talent and role players that they traded in for a player past his prime who never was able to pull everybody together. I would give him a pass to a certain degree because I just don’t think Wallace was ever going to be corralled while in his most immature period.
That being said, he was huge in getting that team to the 2000 WCF and Whitsitt just needed to stop tinkering and they might have had another shot or two in his final two years.
PTB Liberation Day - 2/10/04
I don't know about Pippen.
By 1999, he was in the twilight of his career and he had never been The Man (except when Michael was trying to hit outside curveballs in Birmingham) so I don’t think disappointment is the right word.
The real disappointments in Blazer history, for me, are Shawn Kemp, Derek Anderson, Darius Miles, Nick Van Exel, , Dale Davis, Damon Stoudamire, James Robinson, and Voshon Lenard (just kidding).
Also disagree
For all of the reasons already posted. Plus, just considering placing a hall of fame player on this list is disrespecting a true professional. Adding Scotty to the list of disappointments is a mistake.
Gotta defend Pippen on this one
Pippen’s team was a disaster. Pippen himself was an excellent worker and terrific hire. Part of the Trader Bob problem was expecting business from people who play for a living. Scotty was the exeption to the rule. He was a terrific professional with a great work ethic. Scotty will always be a Bull, not a Trailblazer. As a Trailblazer fan he is the enemy like Bill Laimbeer. To suggest that Pipen the man was a disappointment is rediculous and bush. I’d like to think that Portland has more class than that.
As a man...?
I don’t think the argument is whether or not he was a disappointment as “a man” but as a player for the Blazers, based on expectation. You can agree or disagree, but I can’t remember anything that he did off the court to warrant disappointment, unless you’re disappointment that he wasn’t caught smoking weed with Rasheed. (not saying he didn’t).
What I meant was
that Pippen the player should have never left Chicago. The Trailblazers should have never hired him. I think it shows great strength of character for him to do what he did.
Hindsight is awesome, however
as a fanbase we were screaming to use that cap space & Paul Allen went Steinbrenner on it to try to bring a championship to Portland – I love him for that, better for Donald Sterling that is for sure. Could Paul Allen have spent the money better on other players? Perhaps.
On any note, we should have put pinstripes on our uni’s that year, after the Magic dropped it… and before the Bobcats failed miserably in them.
Get it done... Paul.
Portland didn't use "cap space" to acquire Scottie Pippen from Houston. That wasn't it at all.
Basically, it was a six-for-one trade that included a bunch of fodder from Portland’s end to match Pippen’s salary. Houston even released half of the players who were acquired in the deal. In the process, the Rockets ate approximately $5.5 million in salary by releasing Stacey Augmon, Brian Shaw, and Ed Gray once the deal was consummated.
One of those players, Augmon, even returned to the Trail Blazers at a cheaper salary after he got cut by the Rockets.
All told, “cap space” had nothing to do with the Pippen trade. Nothing at all.
"I Am Mine"
What? Are you serious Dave?
This is worse than some of Blazers crap on oregonlive. Pippen was a key on that team. Even though his stats weren’t eyepopping, he got us deep in the playoffs. Without him we would not have been playing lakers.
by variousartists on Sep 29, 2011 11:10 AM PDT reply actions
I've got to agree with the peanut gallery here...
…the big disappointment here was Bob Whitsitt and Mike Dunleavy’s inability to make a decent meatloaf from filet mignon.
Must be getting near lunchtime?
-t
It looks like this is Dave's #1 All-Time Most Disappointing Posting. :)
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Sep 29, 2011 12:33 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs
I actually agree with Dave. Pippen was supposed to win it all
Don’t forget the title of the list. “Disappointing” is a purely relative term, and Dave is comparing a player’s performance relative to the expectations that he had when that player was acquired. If, on the day that a player was acquired, in the midst of all the excitement, you could look into the future and see what the player would really do for the Blazers, would you be disappointed? In Pippen’s case: Definitely Yes. That’s not all Pippen’s fault, as he played really well. But relative to the high expectations (a title or two) that Dave (and others, including myself) had when we acquired Pippen, he was very disappointing.
- on the list seems about right.
formatting silliness
I tried to type the pound sign and the number fourteen, but that ended up formatting my last sentence as you see above. :( I don’t think Pippen should be number 1, he should be number 14! Sorry I should have “previewed” my comment
by unblindloyalty on Sep 29, 2011 2:21 PM PDT up reply actions
isnt failure to win a championship
as well as success, was, is, and forever shall be a team thing?
If the blazers expectations for adding a past his prime superstar was to carry the team to the finals and beyond….thats some escalated expectations, unfairly established.
I get that its supposed to be subjective, but still. Had pippen gone to the lakers would he have been considered the man who won the lakers the championship? Im fairly sure he would be one of the team members, but at his age and his skillset, it certainly wouldnt have been due to him at all.
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
Scottie was a very good player in his prime,
but playing with Jordan made him look better than he really was! Also, age and decline had taken pretty good hold of him by the time he got here. I don’t consider Pippen to be top 50 of all time. Maybe top 100 or even 200.
not top 50?
pip was a mvp candidate the year jordan played baseball (3rd in voting, 5th in 96) top 50 imo.
take a good look at this page
I'm not slamming Pippen or saying he wasn't good.
I even referred to him as very good in my first post. But there have been a lot of players over the years, many great ones. Top 50 all-time is a pretty elite group. I don’t think Pippen belongs there. He is , in my mind, probably in the top 100. He was a very good second fiddle to Jordan, but never really dominated as the #1 option anywhere. Don’t think he ever won a title without Mike either, did he?
he did spend his entire prime with jordan, and was an mvp candidate in the two years he left
so it would be hard for him to win one himself
(The part of my brain that come up with clever signatures is locked out)
by thomasikehara on Sep 29, 2011 4:45 PM PDT up reply actions
true story
mike never won a championship without scottie either…
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
bah
i posted the same link as you…my bad,,,
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
You are shorting Scottie
He could dominate on defense, outrebound just about anyone he matched up against & he had the skills of a point guard. One of the most well rounded players in the history of the NBA.
Get it done... Paul.
yet somehow his best season came without jordan?
but playing with Jordan made him look better than he really was
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/pippesc01.html
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
by piccolomair on Sep 29, 2011 8:41 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
You're wrong.
Read this article: http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=7010
Defensively, Scottie Pippen circa 1993-1994 — which was the season of Michael Jordan’s absence — was arguably the best wing defender of any given season throughout NBA history.
Was Pippen great with Jordan? Yeah, of course. Pippen, however, was also mind-blowingly awesome even without M.J.
"I Am Mine"
On the Pippen wagon
I rember seeing Pippen play live for the blazers. I’ve forgotten the game, but that was the best basketball player I’ve ever seen play, and he was 34-35 at that time. Probably the best perimeter defender to ever step on the hardwood. I thought he played extremely hard for Portland when his body allowed him to. As a basketball and blazer fan, having him play for Portland was a blessing. That game tho, and you know which one I’m talking about, I can’t in good conscience put that on Scotty. He lead on the court with his play, but I never thought of him as a guy who could pull Sheed’s head out, especially in a city like Portland.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Blazer's Edge
Related FanShots on Blazer's Edge
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Behind the Box Score, where the Boston Celtics are moving on to the conference finals
- NBA Playoffs Fan Fiction: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- The Indiana Pacers? Gone till November
- Shaquille O’Neal is in a Chinese beer commercial, too (VIDEO)
- ‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
