Pippen Talks to Jackson About Possible Return

Any Scottie Pippen fans hoping for his return to the NBA will enjoy the most recent news on the subject. There have been relatively quiet talks throughout the last couple weeks of a possible return for Pippen.

Phil Jackson has said that he has talked to Pippen about the possibility of making his return to the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson said that the conversation was very normal with just basic talk about a possible comeback. There were talks initially about Pippen signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers before the trading deadline but a deal was never worked out.

Pippen fans would most likely be even more happy with him returning to play for Phil Jackson. Pippen won six NBA titles with Phil Jackson in Chicago during the era of total dominance by the Bulls. Pippen played for the Chicago Bulls for 12 years. He even made a brief return to them in 2004. The Bulls were a true dynasty and Pippen, behind Michael Jordan, was likely the second most important to the Bulls chemistry.

Lakers fans could also be very excited at the prospect of signing Pippen. The Lakers have suffered serious injuries to Lamar Odom and Luke Walton recently. Odom is facing the prospect of having season ending shoulder surgery. The timetable for Walton's return is not yet known as he has already missed quite a few games. With the hopefully solid play of Pippen, the Lakers could have some stability heading into the playoffs.

The return of Scottie Pippen would be great for the NBA. It could possibly get back some fans that stopped being interested after era of dynasties ended. With the exception of the Lakers of 1999-2002, the Bulls represented the end of an era when one team at a time seemed to have almost total dominance. The time of the great Celtics, Lakers, and Bulls dynasties are over. Contracts are shorter now and players don't seem to have the same loyalty as they used to.

Scottie Pippen would bring back an old-school flavor to the league, not to mention probably make a lot of money for whatever team he signs with through the sale of jerseys and other memorabilia.

During his 17 year NBA career, Pippen averaged 16.1 points per game to go along with 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists. Pippen's best season was probably the 1993-1994 season when he averaged 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. Pippen was chosen as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time in 1996.

The next couple of weeks should yield an answer to the question of whether or not Pippen will make a return to the NBA.

Cited:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2787572

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/content?statsId=268