Pippen not "best player" in Scandanavian league

[eliteballer]

"He is the best player in the league," Honka coach Mihailo Pavicevic said. "[Trail Blazers] coach Nate [McMillan] asked me how he was doing, and I said, 'Coach, he'll be ready for you.' He's a real point guard, and he has a head for that position; he is able to create for others and for himself.


Pippen was more impressed with the overall basketball being played in this part of the globe.

"There are players I played with in Finland and Sweden that are more talented than players who are playing in the NBA," Pippen said. "But you have to fall in the right spot; you have to go to a team that needs somebody of your caliber."


http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/0114/nba_g_pippen_200.jpg

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=Pippen-080114

[dnyk1337]

Well, if you're scoring 21 points, then the guys there aren't as talented.

[reppy]

Looks like he's in pretty good shape.

[Lebron23]

Well, if you're scoring 21 points, then the guys there aren't as talented.


Exactly I do not think that players from Sweden and Finland are better than those players that are currently playing in the D-League.

[Lebron23]

Looks like he's in pretty good shape.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K2LQH1tAoQ

[TheOne]

Obviously "best player" means Koponen.

[Number2]

How many incredibly tall and big boobed Scandanavian chicks did Pippen bone while on this tour? I can't even imagine it.

[OPM]

Obviously "best player" means Koponen.
Yeah, if anyone actually read the pice they would have read that they were referring to Kaponen as the best player, and he was telling McMillan that because the Blazers hold the rights to him. He isn't over here yet due to military duties, but he will be shortly... But yeah, he wasn't talking about Pippen in that first quote that the OP posted.

[mhg88]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K2LQH1tAoQ

:roll:

Pippen's only saying some are better than NBA players to make himself look better. Hilarious when he banked that three and also to see him blowing by guys at that age. The defense was laughable, wow.

[Kblaze8855]

He didnt say the whole league is. He said some players are more talented than some people in the NBA. Why is that hard to believe? There are people in the NBA who ARE the guys from france and sweden and end up back there. There are NBA players less talented than people currently in HS. All kinds of 18-20 yearolds in europe could be the next big thing and turn up here barely better than they are now. And unless they are the worst players in the league right away Scottie would be right. I could see the best players in any number of leagues being better than the worst of the worst in the NBA.

I bet there are plenty of guys who will never make the NBA who could help a team as much as Eric Snow or Mark Madsen can at times.

[Lebron23]

Obviously "best player" means Koponen.

http://www.nba.com/media/act_drew_gooden.jpg


I heard that Drew Gooden is Half Finnish. I am not saying that he is better than Koponen but if he never played in the USA Team ( HS/ College) he can actually played for the Finnish National Team in the near future.


Source:

[quote]Gooden is half Finnish; his father, Andrew Gooden, met Drew's mother, Ulla, while playing pro basketball in

[mhg88]

He didnt say the whole league is. He said some players are more talented than some people in the NBA. Why is that hard to believe? There are people in the NBA who ARE the guys from france and sweden and end up back there. There are NBA players less talented than people currently in HS. All kinds of 18-20 yearolds in europe could be the next big thing and turn up here barely better than they are now. And unless they are the worst players in the league right away Scottie would be right. I could see the best players in any number of leagues being better than the worst of the worst in the NBA.

I bet there are plenty of guys who will never make the NBA who could help a team as much as Eric Snow or Mark Madsen can at times.

Yeah I kinda jumped the gun. I was just making a comparison between those guys on the floor with the guys who you'd normally see on the floor in the NBA and saw an enormous difference. As far as being better than the worst of the worst I can't argue with that. But I can't help but think Pippen may have a little bit of an agenda as far as "look at me, I'm doing good in a league with NBA-level talent, please sign me (insert championship contender here)"

[TheOne]

Gooden is half Finnish; his father, Andrew Gooden,

Drew Gooden's father's name is Andrew Gooden? So his son's name will be something like Rew Gooden or Ew Gooden. :oldlol:

[Myth]

Pippen looks like a giant next to some of those players!

And I'm glad to hear Koponen is still looking good for my Blazers.

[Gundress]

21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two steals in 30 minutes of action. At least for his age cause he's 42 years old. He's in good shape.

[eboloid]

Ew Gooden.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h24/scostc/hairthing.jpg

Never forget.

[ikoiko]

you think no players in the swedish or finnish league are more talented than, say, jaron collins?

[Lebowski]

Bah I wrote a long text about basketball here in Sweden but I got logged out and text got deleted...

Anyway, cliff notes:
I dont see a swedish player, any time soon, being a star in NBA/Europe except from our own league. Still, most stars in our league are the imports so really we dont even have any real swedish stars in our own league.. :(

Thanks to Pippen for playing here tho, was at the game and the small "arena" was packed (2,800 in attendance) and spirits were high ! :)

Basketball hasnt been this hot (it hasnt been hot at all) in Sweden since Magic played here.. like 5 years ago.

[adamcz]

I made the thread title slightly better. Let's try not to be too misleading.

[DCL]

remember pippen's last years in chicago (2nd time around)? if you don't remember, don't worry because it wasn't memorable. but he was 38 at the time. it was time to go because he lost about.... say, a dozen steps or so.

well, he's 42 now and will be 43 for the next season. that's pretty "ancient" in professional basketball years. if he was already a dinosaur back in 2004, he's close to being a fossil soon.

even though he had some years off to rest, it's unlikely his athletic ability nor health have improved from the last time he was in the nba. due to age, the body, knees, and lung tank just aren't going to hold up. and it's not like he was playing like a freak of nature at 38. he might have had the mindset and iq, but his body was already well below average in the nba when he retired.

he looks like he's tearing finnish assho!es now, but that's the point - he's playing in freaking finland or scandinavia or wherever the hell he is...

[Finn T-Mac]

Pippen was in shape but played horrible in those two games in Finland. I watched the game agains Honka and man he was sleeping the whole time on the floor. But...it was the jet lag and the fact that he's getting old. He's shots looked great but those just didn't go in.

Koponen has been hitting the gym. Atleast it's starting to show, he's getting larger and not fatter. At the start of the season he's shot didn't fall as much cause the time in the weight room but now it starts to get better. Hopefully the Blazers take him in next season cause he can be a good player but still needs to get some work in with better and more experienced NBA vets.


heard that Drew Gooden is Half Finnish. I am not saying that he is better than Koponen but if he never played in the USA Team ( HS/ College) he can actually played for the Finnish National Team in the near future.

And that's true, there was even a article in Slam magazine long time ago. And I have a friend whos friend is Drews cousin :) Hope he'll play some day for Finland (no chance)

[saKf]

Old man Pippen on the Blazers was a top ten favorite of mine all-time. It gave me a pleasure similar to watching old man Jordan.

[Kobe24]

Drew Gooden's father's name is Andrew Gooden? So his son's name will be something like Rew Gooden or Ew Gooden. :oldlol:

You're stupid. Drew is short for Andrew.

[fatboy11]

Pippen playing in Scandonavia?

When did this happen?

[bumpyknucks]

With regards to the comments somebody made about the defense in that league.....the game he played was against the worst team in the league, a team thats only won 2 games the entire year. Obviously, if you watched Seattle play, your impression of NBA defense would be notably different than if you watched the Spurs.

[Jasper]

Pippen playing in Scandonavia?

When did this happen?


HAd a conversation about this the other day ... .these old guys play because of the love of the game ... and their competitive juices may not make them the best golfers ... Ask the Chuckster.

[32MJ32]

My home league (I'm Australian), the NBL, has a heap of ex and borderline NBA guys come and go every season. A few are MVP-calbire, a few are useless but most fit in the okay-to-good-to-very-good category.

Julius Hodge, Sean Lampley, Orien Greene, Homicide Williams, Rick Rickerts, Rod Grizzard and Juaquin Hawkins are some of the dudes playing here at the moment. Homicide is probably playing the best out of the bunch but he wont make the All NBL-First Team or even Second Team. The rest of them are solid contributors but there are a lot of guys here that will never touch an NBA floor that are playing a lot better.

A lot of NBA 12th men and even rotation guys would come down here and get killed. It doesn't surprise me that it's the same in Scandanavia.

[DCL]

A lot of NBA 12th men and even rotation guys would come down here and get killed. It doesn't surprise me that it's the same in Scandanavia.

you mean kill it; not get killed?

[TheHonestTruth]

He's not the best player in the Scandinavian league. He probably got schooled big time there.

[32MJ32]

you mean kill it; not get killed?

No. As I said, the ex-NBA guys that play down here have mixed results. Most are good but some aren't. I'm sure you think you could step off a plane and into a NBL game and drop 25 but Julius Hodge is putting up 13 per at the moment. Orien Greene 12 per. Rickert 17 per. They all had NBA deals as recently as a couple of months ago. Sean Lampley's getting no more than 15 (can't be bothered looking it up). Merely making the NBA doesn't mean you can roll through any other country and kill it. Those guys are doing fine but there are a few dudes who

[SomeBunghole]

This reminds me of some article I read about Jai Lewis, the starting PF on that Cinderella George Mason team 2 years ago. After that season, he decided to give NFL a shot first, and upon getting cut, went to play ball in Europe. He signed for a Bosnian team he knew nothing about, and by his own admission, thought that as a guy who went to the Final Four, he'd be the best player on the team.

Couldn't crack the starting lineup. The dude was a 6'5 PF in college, and the guy he was up against for the starting spot was a 6'11 dude who was picked in the second round that year by the Raptors. Leaner, faster, more talented, and of course a local, Lewis had no chance against him. It's pretty funny, really, because Lewis went to Europe because he wasn't drafted, and ended up backing up a guy who was. Of course, he thought that European basketball was like pick-up leagues at the Y, and that being on the cover of SI would dazzle those foreigners.

[RoseCity07]

Come back to Portland Scottie. He earned his pay for us and I wish he never left.

[Lebowski]

With regards to the comments somebody made about the defense in that league.....the game he played was against the worst team in the league, a team thats only won 2 games the entire year. Obviously, if you watched Seattle play, your impression of NBA defense would be notably different than if you watched the Spurs.

Its true Akropol is the worst team in the league. Still, defense is a weakness for all teams, this becomes very apparent when playing against better teams in europe, like plannja tried to do recently.. that was a slaughter.


The gap between the rest of the world and the US has shrunk considerably. It wouldn’t surprise me at all that a 42 year old Scottie Pippen isn’t the best player in Sweden or Finland.

He probably isnt the best no, however, if he put effort into it, he would be one of the best. While the gap has shrunk between US and rest of the world Sweden has fallen way behind "the rest of the world".

We have no real talents, if we ever get one showing signs of greatness they get picked up to bigger european clubs. And that hasnt worked out for anyone yet. We havent got enough good coaches, since most of them cant make a living coaching a team here. While basketball does somehow survive here, its too small and the lack of exposure does not fill the young talent pool fast enough.

[Lebron23]

21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two steals in 30 minutes of action. At least for his age cause he's 42 years old. He's in good shape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K2LQH1tAoQ

Vintage Pippen