ESo far there have been few outstanding athletes with a face that exudes as much misanthropy as this one. The facial expression? A mixture of skepticism, fear and being offended. Relieved from an occasional smile that mostly looked embarrassed. The contrast between this aura and its sporty brilliance couldn’t be greater. Scottie Pippen was an exception among America’s top basketball players. Not only did he combine the energy, speed and overview of a development player, jumping power to prevail in a fight under the basket, and accuracy from greater distances.
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He won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, played for the Houston Rockets and Portland TrailBlazers and was Olympic champion in the American Dream Team in 1992 and 1996. Most athletes with such a vita and financial reserves from salary and advertising income of more than $ 100 million gross would be more than satisfied with their lifetime performance.
But over the years Pippen must have cultivated an enormous disenchantment behind this face. He now provides evidence of this in a 320-page autobiography, which appears this Monday under the allusive title “Unguarded”. It is peppered with allegations – also against old companions.
He shot the first broadside in an excerpt published by GQ magazine last Monday. It is directed against Michael Jordan, the shining light of basketball, who was once again uncritically celebrated at the beginning of the year in the ten-part documentary series “The Last Dance”. Not only was Pippen angry that the team’s fight for the sixth NBA title in the 1997/98 season was reinterpreted as a glorification of Jordan and the rest of the Bulls demoted to supporting actors.
His influence in the background as a producer with the right to veto the image material used annoyed him even more. “Michael received ten million dollars for his role in the documentary,” he writes. “My teammates and I didn’t receive a cent.”
Money has always been a sore point for the youngest child of eleven siblings. Pippen grew up in modest circumstances in the village of Hamburg on the border between Arkansas and Louisiana. The NBA was his ticket out of poverty. But when he signed his second contract with the Chicago Bulls, he let the club get him to choose financial security and a lower salary instead of playing poker for larger sums. The reason: He wanted to donate part of the money for his father and a brother, who both lived in wheelchairs. When it comes to investing, he also occasionally pulled the short end of the line.
In the Netflix documentary about the Chicago Bulls, Pippen only appeared marginally.
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Image: ESPN / Netflix
Twenty years ago he made speculations about the purchase of a private jet, and he also paid on it when reselling a mansion in Portland. In both cases he lost millions of dollars. Not to mention the money squandered by advisors he trusted. Rumors increased that he was broke. Wrong, said Pippen in a civil lawsuit against the media who intended to make the claim, and as a prophylactic demand for $ 1 million in damages for each case.
His attack on Jordan caused a huge response in America. The 56-year-old had always given the impression that he had got along well with the distribution of roles – Jordan the larger-than-life-size monument, he the deserving adjutant. Now, many American basketball experts see the attack as something like libel and resentment. Only Jalen Rose, a former NBA pro and now a television commentator, jumped at his side. Pippen is “the most dissipated superstar of all time”, his qualities have never been adequately appreciated.
Which by no means applies to the NBA. Years ago they rated him as one of the 50 best basketball players in history. In 2010, Pippen was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Jordan stood next to him on stage at the gala. And Pippen praised him as someone who had touched the lives of many, but none like his. “Thanks for being the best team-mate. I will always cherish this experience. ”The watch with this one always must have expired in 2021.
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