Photo. Stephen HillAfter Scottie Pippen poked holes in pretty much the entire Chicago Bulls team the other day (then said he’d like to coach the team), the Chicago Tribune got the players’ reaction.
You can read what Scottie said about the Bulls HERE. As for the current Bulls, here’s some of what they had to say:
“I don’t really care what Scottie has to say,” Ben Gordon said.
“Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but it doesn’t have anything to do with anything,” Gordon said. “When I see him, I say hi out of respect. He’s a top-50 player. That’s the extent [of our relationship], really.”
Pippen also bluntly assessed Kirk Hinrich’s game, claiming “you can’t have midgets running your backcourt.” The two had a strong relationship as teammates during Hinrich’s rookie season of 2003-04.
“I always liked Pip, and we got along great,” Hinrich said. “I don’t think he’s ever been afraid to speak his mind, even when he was here. I never felt like it was anything too crazy.”
Interim coach Jim Boylan defended his players.
“It’s Scottie’s opinion,” Boylan said. “I don’t necessarily agree.”
All I know is this: After becoming an early-season laughingstock (until the Heat took over that role), getting a new coach, and getting put on blast by Pippen, the Bulls have no excuse not to crank up the effort, rally together for the rest of the season and make a push for the playoffs. They’ve been called out by any and everyone with a forum to do so — if they’ve got any pride whatsoever, I would expect to see this team finish strong; don’t be shocked if they end up doing what the Warriors did last year.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:14 am
Logan says:
WOW… Pip gave it to them. Good for him! Remember all the mind games Nelly was playing with Golden State last year through the media? All the talk about Dallas being the superior team made the Warriors want the W even more. More coaches should take this role! The NBA would be far better - and it’s quite silly with talent as is - if players had an “I’ll prove you wrong” mindset.
Kobe drops 81 - told you I’m the best scorer in the league.
Shaq wins with D Wade - told you I was the man in LA.
Bron making the finals - told you I was the MVP.
The “show me” attitude is all over the college game, but once players make it they chill. I hope this gets the Bulls going… they need it.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:31 am
rean_pinoy says:
here here logan..
nice comment by kirk.i hope he take it as a challenge..
the season still young, baby bulls can still get their acts together…
January 1st, 2008 at 11:46 am
kowtz says:
Can’t believe when he said he kept CHI at check before and forced his airness not to take over the game too much????
Is he really the only one who could have controlled Jordan???
hmmm…
Can’t believe PIP was this brutally egotistic…
January 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
BustJlaze says:
Yo Kowtz, you KNOW he’s right about that tho…cats forget that Jordan was doing the SAME thing Kobe gets blasted for all the time. Until Pip convinced him he was just as hard a player as he was.
BUT…how are you going to say you want to coach a team, and in the same sentence kill all your potential future players?
January 1st, 2008 at 6:38 pm
damn says:
just fucking hire him as coach, clearly he can shape these guys up, he knows the game I think they should give him a chance. Go Pippen!
January 1st, 2008 at 6:40 pm
damn says:
and btw: that trade the bulls had for sefalosha, thomas, and gryapha or what the hell ever was a huge waste of money along with overpaying a rebounder who isn’t even playing that well right now, Pip was right they made a huge mistake with Ben Wallace, way to much money for not enough action.
January 1st, 2008 at 7:26 pm
K-Dizzle says:
Hold up. Is this the same Pippen who wouldn’t go back into the game cuz ‘phillip’ wasn’t callin the play for him? yeah, you can be my coach cuz you’d understand better than anyone else if I start actin like a bitch
It doesn’t matter if they hire him or not; everybody and they dog knows the bulls ain’t doin shit without an interior offensive force. Trade for Gasol, trade for JO, shit, trade for Chris Wilcox, whoever so you just ain’t shootin jumpshots for 48 minutes. Until that happens, it don’t matter if Larry Brown’s the coach, much less Pip
January 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
kowtz says:
Yeah… agree, maybe that’s why he and Jordan always guarded and try to kill each other at practice…
And maybe he saw that if he didn’t take a crack at the Bulls, nothing would happen… he took a gamble, slepers that could ba tyson chandler, or eddy curry…
they gave up on chandler too early BTW, and gave up too late on eddy curry… LOLZ…
January 1st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Logan says:
So he becomes the coach and lights a fire under the players… what’s the worse that can happen. They miss the playoffs? Yeah, that’s going to happen regardless, might as well bring in an icon and try to salvage the box office.
In any right, props to Scottie for talking his mind and then putting it out there.
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
Jules says:
They got 2 top 10 pick for Curry, Id say that was a pretty high “sell” right there….