Scottie Pippen continues to rail against his former teammate Michael Jordan.
First, Pippen stunned the masses when he considered Miami Heat’s LeBron James the greatest player to play the game over Jordan who he considered the better scorer.
It sparked a huge debate where fans, media and even other NBA players, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, weighed in with their thoughts on Pippen and who should be the best ever to play the game.
Now Pippen is at it again, calling into question Jordan’s capability to evaluate basketball talent and questioned the Charlotte’s drafted selection of Kemba Walker and the trade for Bismack Biyombo:
Michael Jordan wound up with Congo forward Bismack Biyombo, a potential Ben Wallace clone, and UConn’s undersized point guard Kemba Walker in the first round, giving Scottie Pippen more ammo to unload on his old teammate. Pippen doesn’t think much of Jordan’s ability to evaluate talent and makes no secret about it. After this latest draft, Pippen told pals, “He doesn’t have a clue.”
OK maybe this time Pippen may just be stating the obvious. Jordan has not had a spectacular run at finding talent. All one needs to do is point to one name: Kwame Brown.
However, the Bobcats’ selection of Walker is sound. He may be undersized, but it gives Charlotte an added point guard to compete with D.J. Augustine and could be a solid backup point guard. He also is smart enough to recognize his shortcomings.
“Well, I’m going to have to work on a lot of things. First of all, I’m going to have to adjust to the NBA, first of all.”
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement in my shooting and my decision making.”
As for the trade for Biyombo, well that might have been a dicey deal by Charlotte. He is an effective player on the defensive end but his offensive game is highly suspect. Furthermore, after being drafted, Biyombo stated Jordan was excited to meet him and heard many good things about the player from the Congo.
Going back to Pippen’s comment, I think many may not take issue with his comment regarding Jordan and there won’t be any outcry or debate.
Jordan still needs to show he can bring in talent to take Charlotte out of mediocrity. Charlotte traded their best player, Stephen Jackson, to the Milwaukee Bucks for Biyombo and Corey Maggette.
I guess we shall see if Pippen is right on this call.
(photo: daylife.com)
