Scottie Pippen has joined a long list of former NBA players who aren’t happy with what they are seeing from the current generation. During an appearance on the PBD Podcast, Pippen called out today’s players for being too sensitive.
“It’s truly a different game,” Pippen said. “The players are a lot more sensitive in a sense that they don’t want any reaction with the fans. They don’t want the fans having any type of camaraderie with them at all. They always feel that fans are a threat.”
“To me, they have separated themselves,” Pippen added. “It’s the players and it’s the fans and if you say something to me, it better be f***ing nice or I’mma have you removed from the arena.”
Pippen claimed he embraced the negativity from fans of opposing teams and is disappointed with how today’s players react to it. The 59-year-old believes they just can’t take any sort of criticism but he might have been a bit too harsh here.
Sure, we have seen players have fans removed from arenas, but it’s not exactly a common occurrence. It might not have happened even once this season and it’s not like fans have been on their best behavior. Players get heckled at every game and they just get on with it.
It’s usually only when a fan crosses a line that must not be crossed, that players have them ejected. There are instances, of course, where a player was in the wrong to have a fan kicked out of the game but those are rare cases.
There are certainly many things you can criticize today’s players for, but this might not be one of them. A large majority of players have never had a fan removed, so it is quite unfair on Pippen’s part to make a statement like that.
Scottie Pippen Believes Michael Jordan Would Dominate In Today’s NBA
Pippen and Michael Jordan are not on the best of terms these days. The two have fallen out but that didn’t stop Scottie from giving his former teammate the odd compliment in this episode. Pippen explained why Jordan would dominate in the modern NBA.
“In Michael’s era, early on, it was physical, 85-90 point games,” Pippen said. “In today’s games, we’re looking at some games that will get to 130-140 points. So I think that Michael would have thrived off of being free, open, and not having the physicality that he had to play with night in and night out.”
Jordan averaged an NBA-record 30.1 points per game in his career and won 10 scoring titles along the way. He certainly would have put up big numbers in this era, especially with the rules favoring offenses.
One might point to Jordan not being a great three-point shooter as something that could be a problem, but we have seen the likes of DeMar DeRozan average over 25 points per game in multiple seasons. Jordan would have easily put up over 30 a night and been a dominant player.
Pippen himself would have excelled in this era too. He would have been an outstanding point forward and a perennial DPOY candidate.
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