Basketball legend Scottie Pippen looked back on the tail-end of his career spent between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Chicago Bulls. In retrospect, Pippen regrets not ending his career with a veteran team.
Speaking on The Jump, Pippen shared his thoughts on the final years on his NBA career. To recall, he played the last five seasons with the Trail Blazers and the Bulls, both of which were young and upcoming teams during that time. From his perspective, Pippen should've gone to a team loaded with veterans so he could've focused more on the playoffs rather than the regular season.
“…played with more veteran teams. Teams where I could pull back on my minutes. Even playing in Portland I carried a lot of minutes on that team. After I left, I think that going to Chicago I went to another young team. where it would've been a better fit for me to a veteran team and being to pull off the court a bit and focus more on the postseason instead of the regular season.”
His four-year stint with the Blazers resulted in four playoff appearances which included a trip to the Western Conference Finals. They were considered as one of the best teams in the league back then. But given their youth and inexperience, they succumbed to better and experienced teams.
Back with the Bulls, Pippen just played 23 games as injuries and old age caught up to him. The organization, too, were still trying to rebuild their roster and only had the likes of Kirk Heinrich and Tyson Chandler as prospects.
Despite his regrets, this doesn't take away the fact that Pippen is one of the greats of the game. Young guys or especially those in the middle of their careers could learn a thing or two from Pippen's experience.
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