Scottie Pippen Stopped By The Dan Patrick Show Recently, And Things Got Real In A Hurry

The Scottie Pippen, “Run Tell That,” Promotional tour continued Monday morning during his appearance on the Dan Patrick show. During the interview with Patrick, the Hall of Famer [Pippen] spoke on quite a bit, including his recent interview with GQ, promoted his new bourbon, and of course, Patrick asked him about the memoir due out this fall. 

Credit Pippen since he did not back down from anything he recently stated. The GQ article comments have kept his name in media headlines over the past week. Patrick did not waste any time and started by asking Pippen if he wanted to clarify anything he’d said in the GQ article.

Pippen began with a tilted head and shoulder shrug, then continued, “Not really, I mean, I think with the Kevin Durant thing people may not have understood the question asking me – had he surpassed Lebron James?” Pippen explained. 

“From a standpoint of looking at it, at basketball and what Lebron James have been able to do from carrying a team, I don’t think Kevin Durant is at a position where I can say that he surpassed Lebron James.”

When the GQ article was released, and Durant caught wind of what was said by Pippen about him, of course, Durant had to hop on social media and put those twitter thumbs to work. Durant bashed Pippen, and although many things he said may be true, they didn’t need to be said. But we all know at this point, unless you’re praising Durant’s game, everything is else is taken as a slight. That’s just how KD rolls.

Throughout the conversation, at different points of the interview, Pippen displayed a nonchalant attitude and at one point even got snarky with the host [Patrick], asking him if he understands English. Pippen’s tone at times certainly came off as annoyed with some of the questions presented by Patrick. But as one of the better interviewers in sports media over the past 20 years, Patrick asked the questions he knew his audience wanted answers to.

LET’S GET REAL FOR A MINUTE

Later in the interview, Pippen dropped a bombshell of a statement that felt like a passage straight out of his soon-to-be-released memoir. When the topic of Tony Kukoc having his number called in 1994 during a playoff game for the final shot to win the game instead of Pippen’s, this seemed to ruffle Pippen’s feathers just a bit. This was the infamous play where Pippen refused to go back into the game for the final play.

 In the GQ article, Pippen takes shots at former head coach Phil Jackson, where he says, “it was a racial move to give him [Kukoc] a rise.” Pippen then doubled down on those comments in his retort to Patrick. 

 “If you knew that Scottie Pippen had been with the Bulls from ’87 battled through the Pistons and every other team that we had to get to those three championships, wouldn’t you give Scottie Pippen one opportunity to get a last-second shot without Michael Jordan?” Pippen exclaimed.

“One year without Michael Jordan, can I get one shot?”

 Pippen then explained what he meant by it being a “racial move” on the part of his former coach, and claimed he had no problem with calling Phil [Jackson] a racist. Patrick then followed up by asking if Pippen felt Jackso was or is a racist.

 “Yeah, I mean do you remember Phil Jackson left the Lakers, went and wrote a book on Kobe Bryant, and then came back and coached him?” Said Pippen. “I think he tried to expose Kobe; in a way, he shouldn’t have.”

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 There is some resentment from Pippen toward his old coach that he has harbored all of these years. Maybe his new book is a way to get everything out and off his chest after holding these grudges for such a long time. Maybe this book will help bring some closure for Pippen. Not exactly a bad deal either way. Writing about one’s life and career can be a therapeutic process, and why not make a few bucks off it along the way. After all, that is the real American dream right there. Monetize any and everything you can, for as long as you can, any way you can.

The release of Pippen’s memoir titled, ‘Unguarded’ is still over four months away. In the meantime, hopefully, we will be treated to a few more Pippen interviews along the way. Maybe, he will continue to give away many of the juicy parts of the book, so by the time it is released, we will have heard most of the good stuff by that time. I am only kidding.

With all that Pippen seems to be getting off his chest right now, there isn’t much doubt that ‘Unguarded’ is going to be one of the most highly anticipated sports memoirs we have seen in a long time.