Pippen Calls Carlos Boozer A Liability

Scottie Pippen has a lot of time on his hands. I guess that's what happens in retirement and not having a job after being let go by the worldwide leader. In his idle time Pippen has found time to analyze the NBA from afar and have a forum to speak on his observations. He seems to still love his former team, the Chicago Bulls, but seems to take issue with the team when he thinks that certain players aren't carrying their weight.

Of course we know that the Bulls never won until Pippen matured as a player and became a solid number two behind Michael Jordan. But he never won after he left Chicago, so trying to paint himself as the ultimate winner kind of puzzles me. If he was the Portland Trailblazers and Houston Rockets would have a few more Larry O'Brien trophies.

Pippen, the king of idle time and criticism, found more time to bash Bulls forward Carlos Boozer . First during the playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Pippen called out Boozer specifically and his teammates for a lack of toughness and not standing up for star player Derrick Rose.  Now he called Boozer a liability. This after igniting a firestorm for saying that LeBron James is the greatest player of all time and Jordan was the greatest scorer. 

Pippen said that Boozer is the key reason the Bulls didn't advance to the Finals.

"When you're playing at this stage of the playoffs, the best of the best are still there and you have to have guys stepping up," Pippen told ESPNChicago.com. "And I just felt like it finally caught up with the Bulls, who didn't have consistent play from guys who needed to play big down the stretch. When those pieces are not falling into place, you're going to fall out of it.


"You can't have two of your top high-paid players sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter," Pippen said. "And that isn't just last night's game. We have seen this the whole season. So for us to think the Bulls are going to go farther when your high-priced players are not going to carry you and finish games for you ... you're not talking about a championship team.



"You can't hide at this stage of the season. At this point, you have to be able to play through everything because if you're trying to hide a guy or a guy is not performing for you, it's going to show offensively in the playoffs and it's going to be magnified ... We all know Carlos did not play at the level the team needed him to and that that hurt them more than anything because they couldn't rely on him.


"The flagrant foul, the pushing calls, the inability to finish strong around the basket. Now you're a liability. We can't hide you and now we have to take you out of the game."

Here some things I bet you didn't know about the so-called great Scottie Pippen.


Game 6, at home against the Pistons in 1989: Scottie leaves the game after a run in with Bill Laimbeer. He did not return. Bulls lost. Pistons swept the Lakers for the championship.

Game 7 against the Pistons in 1990: Scottie claims to have a migraine. He goes 1-10. Bulls lose. Pistons go on to annihilate Portland for the championship.

1992- Knicks get into Pippen's head for the entire series. MJ comes to his rescue against Oakley, Starks and Xavier McDaniel.

1994- MJ is playing baseball (well, trying to). The Bulls are down 0-2 to the Knicks. In Game 3: 1.8 seconds left, Bulls losing by 2. Pippen refuses to go back into the game after Phil Jackson calls Toni Kukoc's number to take the last shot. Kukoc made the shot and went on to win in OT, keeping the Bulls from going down 0-3. Yet it is Pippen who gets credit for taking the Knicks to 7 games.

Pippen shot 34% in the 1996 Finals

Pippen shot 38% in the 1997 Finals

Pippen shot 36% in the 1998 Finals.

Some sidekick. I could argue that the Bulls won those championships in spite of Pippen rather than because of him. Did Pippen help MJ win. Of course. Because no player wins without help.

Although Pippen was one of the greatest sidekicks of all time, he had moments where he went into "hiding".

From a personal opinion I think Pippen should keep his mouth shut with the rap sheet I just listed above.

The Bulls need another creator on the perimeter ( O.J. Mayo?) to team with Derrick Rose and I think they would be able to keep pace with Miami's big three.