Pippen effect on the NBA

[TheKid]

I know the majority of people think this man was overrated, etc. etc. However the problem with the Mavs is directly related to the effect Pippen had on the NBA. When alot of fans (Especially MAVERICK FANS) look at their team makeup, they look at the small forward and think this position is suppose to be so versatile and a great defender who can play strong on the front court and help out in the back court.

As a result people hold players like Dirk, Pierce and other small forwards to the same level. However there won't be many players like Pippen who can average 20 points and come down and defend a small forward, power forward, shooting guard or a point guard. He was a freak of nature. With that in mind, Dirk is VERY capable of playing small forward. I don't care how good of a rebounder Dirk is, he'll never be a great defender. That's not in his makeup, however he's HELL and damn near IMPOSSIBLE to stop. Think about players like Bird, Dominique, Gervin, they're surely weren't known for their defense. However they worked from a mental aspect. Got in your head so badly where they had the opposition coming down forcing shots. Has all of these players gotten litten up before on the defensive end, YES but guess what, they came back and made their opponents play.

I say all of this to say, Bird has the offensive ability to be a Dominique, Bird or Gervin, but he will NEVER be a Pippen unfortunately but that's ok. So we need to stop expecting Dirk to be this defensive Hawk because it's not going to happen.

[DrtyFlthyNstYnQuik31]

yep..pippen is one of the greats..was i should say. but he still helps his team a lot... and whoever thinks he is overrated must not know ball..

[LRB]

<< So we need to stop expecting Dirk to be this defensive Hawk because it's not going to happen. >>



A better expectation would be to have Dirk develop the kind of smart defensive game of Bird. Bird was a below average individual defender, but a superb team defender. To do that we need one hell of a better defensive system put in place for the team and to surround Dirk with better talent on the Defensive end. In other words the Mavs need a regime change.

[DirkNash1341]

Pippen would be such an amazing fit for this team it's not funny. He'd be the perfect three- point forward, amazing defender(at 4 positions). Anyone got a time machine??

Even at this stage, however, if his knee could get healthy I'd love to have him next year.