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Former Rocket Scottie Pippen said recently that he would like to return to the NBA to join a contender for about 15 minutes of court time a night off the pine.
We heard from someone yesterday that the Rockets could have interest in Scottie as a backup point-forward for the team, though we pretty much downplayed the thought of Houston bringing back its version of the hoops Anti-Christ.
Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy put that back on the burner today when he dished out high praise for the now 41-year old Pippen in a New York radio interview with WFAN's Mike & the Mad Dog show.
"You know what, everybody around me says that [Pippen returning] is crazy," said Van Gundy. "But I know this - I look at Dikembe Mutombo with the same type of long, lean body and he's still serviceable. Scottie Pippen had the highest perimeter basketball IQ as an opponent that we had played against. He was the most disruptive perimeter defender from a help defense standpoint of any perimeter defender that we faced. So while everyone else says it's crazy, while everyone else says he can't, I'm of the belief that I want to find out."
When the talk show hosts mentioned that Pippen's defense would be perfect under Van Gundy, the Rockets coach quipped back.
"Hey, hey ... don't think I haven't brought it up."
However, Van Gundy wasn't entirely clueless about what bringing Scottie back to Clutch City would mean. The Rockets signed-traded for Pippen from the Bulls, giving him a 5-year deal worth over $80 million, in January of 1999. He fit in poorly and after just one strike-shortened season, Scottie threw teammate Charles Barkley under the bus, ripping his desire and leadership skills, and got his wish: A trade out of Houston.
So Scottie, who ranks somewhere between Osama bin Laden and 100% humidity on a likeability scale in Houston, would be booed right from the start.
"Just to investigate," said Van Gundy. "He has a bad history here in Houston. It didn't end well with the Rockets here. But I think you do your investigation to see if his body can withstand it because his IQ hasn't gone down and I know his anticipation hasn't gone down. Whether physically he can do it, whether his body can hold up - I really don't know, I really have no idea."
Van Gundy added that he didn't think he would be the only one checking out Pippen.
"I think really a lot of teams will be [looking]. I think everyone will be doing their due diligence to find out just where he is. Now he may have some places he wants to play -- Lakers make sense, Miami maybe makes sense. I don't know. The guy was an unbelievable player. I would never discount him unless I saw him and just physically his knees were shot."
SCOOP: Almu of the Clutch BBS
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