Pippen, Scottie
Basketball
b. Sept. 25, 1965, Hamburg, AR
Pippen was an NAIA All-American at Central Arkansas University for the 1986-87 season, when he averaged 23.6 points and 10.0 rebounds a game. He was chosen by the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the 1987 NBA draft. Seattle almost immediately traded him to the Chicago Bulls for the Bulls' first-round pick, Olden Polynice, and future considerations.
The 6-foot-7, 225 pound Pippen played as a backup for two seasons, then became a starting forward who also played at guard on occasions. A good outside shot and the ability to drive to the basket made him a powerful offensive force on a team that won three straight NBA titles, from 1991 through 1993, and again from 1996 through 1998.
Pippen is also an excellent defender who has been named to league's all-defensive ten years in a row, 1991-2000. He was a first-team member in seven of those years.
Although he has detractors who attribute much of his success to his playing with Michael Jordan for most of his career, the stats seem to say otherwise. In 1994-95, when Jordan came out of one of his retirements to play 17 games at the end of the season. Pippen led the Bulls in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocked shots. He was the first player to lead a team in five categories since Dave Cowens with the Celtics in 1977-78.
He's in the top 40 all-time in five NBA categories: fourth in steals with 2,307, 13th in minutes played with 41,069, 23rd in assists with 6,135, 32nd in three-point field goals made with 978, and 40th in total points with 18,940. He ranks second on the Bulls' all-time list in many categories, including points, field goals, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, assists, steals, seasons played, games played and minutes played. He's third in team history in total rebounds and blocked shots.
Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets in 1999 and the Rockets traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers less than year later. He returned to the Bulls for the 2003-04 season, but played in only 23 games because of a left knee injury.