Pippen's Career Start Comparing to Other Hall of Fame/Future HOF Players

[Roundball_Rock]

One of the myths constantly pushed is that Pippen’s career start was unique among HOF player, that only he was not a star from day one (a charge not leveled at others, including his contemporaries), with the implication being his greatness was a fluke. If you look closely, though, you will notice there is never any context provided or even a background on Pippen by these people. There is a reason for that.

Here I compare Pippen’s career start to select HOF or future HOF players. This is not an exhaustive list but meant to provide a good sample of players who weren't superstars on day 1. They are compared by draft pick pedigree and their early progress tracked statistically and by milestones. I excluded high school players to allow for an apples to apples comparison. Note that you never hear about the career starts of any of these other players--only Pippen.

Early Career Statistical Progression (Draft Pick in Parentheses)

Pippen (5): 8/4/2, 14/6/4, 17/7/5, 18/7/6, 21/8/7
Drexler (14): 8/3/2, 17/6/6, 19/6/8, 22/6/7, 27/7/6
Stockton (16): 6/1/5, 8/2/7, 8/2/8, 15/3/14, 17/3/14
Miller (11): 10/2/2, 16/4/3, 25/4/4, 23/3/4, 21/4/4
McHale (3): 10/4/1, 14/7/1, 14/7/1, 18/7/1, 20/9/2
Nash (15): 3/1/2, 9/2/3, 8/3/6, 9/2/5, 16/3/7
Nowitzki (9): 8/3/1, 18/7/3, 22/9/2, 23/10/2, 25/10/3
Billups (3): 11/2/4, 14/2/4, 9/3/3, 9/2/3, 13/3/6
Harden (3): 10/3/2, 12/3/2, 17/4/4, 26/5/6, 25/5/6
Leonard (15): 8/5/1, 12/6/2, 13/6/2, 17/7/3, 21/7/3
Butler (30): 3/1/0, 9/4/1, 13/5/3, 20/6/3, 21/5/5
Worthy (1): 13/5/2, 15/6/3, 18/6/3, 20/5/3, 19/6/3
Payton (2): 7/3/6, 9/4/6, 14/3/5, 17/3/6, 21/3/7
D. Johnson (29): 9/4/2, 13/4/3, 16/5/4, 19/5/4, 19/5/4
Parish (8): 9/7/1, 13/8/1, 17/12/2, 17/11/2, 19/10/2
Barkley (5): 14/9/2, 20/13/3, 23/15/5, 28/12/3, 26/13/4
Manu (57): 8/2/2, 13/5/4, 16/4/4, 15/4/4, 17/4/4

First All-Star Selection (Draft Pick in Parentheses)

Pippen (5): 3rd season
Drexler (14): 3rd season
Stockton (16): 5th season
Miller (11): 3rd season
McHale (3): 4th season
Nash (15): 6th season
Nowitzki (9): 4th season
Billups (3): 9th season
Harden (3): 4th season
Leonard (15): 5th season
Butler (30): 4th season
Worthy (1): 4th season
Payton (2): 4th season
D. Johnson (29): 3rd season
Parish (8): 5th season
Barkley (5): 3rd season
Manu (57): 3rd season

First All-NBA Selection (Draft Pick in Parentheses)

Pippen (5): 5th season
Drexler (14): 5th season
Stockton (16): 4th season
Miller (11): 8th season
McHale (3): 7th season
Nash (15): 6th season
Nowitzki (9): 3rd season
Billups (3): 9th season
Harden (3): 4th season
Leonard (15): 5th season
Butler (30): 6th season
Worthy (1): 8th season
Payton (2): 4th season
D. Johnson (29): 4th season
Parish (8): 6th season
Barkley (5): 2nd season
Manu (57): 6th season

First Season Starting (Draft Pick in Parentheses)

Pippen (5): 2nd season
Drexler (14): 2nd season
Stockton (16): 4th season
Miller (11): 2nd season
McHale (3): 6th season
Nash (15): 3rd season
Nowitzki (9): 1st season
Billups (3): 1st season
Harden (3): 4th season
Leonard (15): 1st season
Butler (30): 3rd season
Worthy (1): 2nd season
Payton (2): 1st season
D. Johnson (29): Unavailable
Parish (8): Unavailable
Barkley (5): 1st season
Manu (57): 3rd season

Note that the more recent players were more likely to start out the gate than the older era players.