Vince Carter 2009 = Scottie Pippen 1999?

[Minstrel]

Pippen was 34. He was on the verge of falling apart, physically. After the 50 game, shortened season, he played in all 82 with Portland. Then he missed about 20 games each of the next three years.

His production dropped, too.

Year Tm PER
1996-97 CHI 21.3
1997-98 CHI 20.4
1998-99 HOU 16.8
1999-00 POR 16.4
2000-01 POR 15.3
2001-02 POR 14.9
2002-03 POR 15.3

These numbers didn't capture his defense, and he was able to run the offense better than any other Blazers PG at the time... but the slide is pretty clear.

Carter's PER is 20.6, after 18.8 last year (Pippen had 20.4 and 21.3, respectively, at the same age).

I don't think it's unfair to say that, right now, Carter is better than Pippe was when the Blazers acquired him.

It's not unfair, but not conclusive. It depends on how much defense makes up the gap in productivity. Pippen's defense was rare in that it wasn't just man defense but he had a significant positive effect on the team defense. That's generally the province of very good defensive big men.

After Game Two of the WCF in 2000, Phil Jackson said something to the effect of "I said that Pippen couldn't guard our whole team and I was right...just Kobe, Shaq and Harper." Bit of an exaggeration, obviously, but a pretty nice indication of Pippen's overall effect on defense.

 

[Minstrel]

Pippen won games 5 and 6 of the 2000 WCF damn near by himself. One of the reasons for the Game 7 Choke was that Scottie had nothing left in the tank for the stretch run.

He also had busted fingers in Game 7, on his shooting hand.

 

[julius]

Actually, I was thinking it reminded me of Adrian Dantley trade to the Pistons. He was 30-32 (86-89) when he was with the Pistons. Won a ring with them. Got traded to Dallas in the Mark Aguirre trade.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dantlad01.html

Dantley did not win a ring with the Pistons.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I'm more interested in comparing the situations than the players. When the Blazers traded for Pippen, they already had a veteran playoff tested team. They were looking to make improvements that would get them to a championship within a year or two. So Pippen was a good acquisition.

Today, they are a team that is struggling to get into the playoffs after a longtime absence. They have a onetime chance to acquire an impact player that can be with them for the next 5-6 years. Carter is not the answer in this situation.

 

[GoBlazersGo]

 

[Natebishop3]

It's funny... I was thinking the same thing.... Carter could be to this team, what Pippen was to that team.