Lebron James Needs Scottie Pippen
Lebron James needs someone to take pressure off of him having to do everything.
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No, I haven’t lost my mind. I know Scottie Pippen is retired (for now anyway). What I am trying to say is that Lebron James needs a Scottie Pippen-like player to help him.
Why? Good question.
In game 6 of this past season’s NBA Eastern Conference Finals, it was clear that Lebron James was totally exhausted from having to do so much in the Cavaliers offense. Often James has to bring the ball up the court, start the offense, dribble around trying to create a shot for himself or a teammate and rebound not to mention playing defense and rebounding on the defensive end of the court.
He is simply required to do too much.
Lebron needs a complimentary player, the caliber of Scottie Pippen at the small forward position to relieve some of the pressure that he faces on the offensive end of the court, like Pippen did for Michael Jordan.
With Pippen on the floor it made it harder for teams to double team Jordan which gave him more room to operate without running into another player guarding him. Having Pippen allowed Jordan to face more one-on-one defense than he did before Pippen arrived.
It wasn’t until Pippen came to Chicago that Jordan and the Bulls started winning championships.
There were plenty of quality role players on those Bulls teams but Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan were the ones who drew extra defenders to them which allowed role players like B.J. Armstrong, John Paxson and Steve Kerr to be effective.
As it stands now, there is too much of a burden on Lebron James to produce offensively. Without a quality “sidekick”, Lebron has to exert himself to the point that his effectiveness is reduced due to fatigue.
The recent acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal may bring some relief but probably not as much as James needs. Shaquille, although still a force to be dealt with, doesn’t demand the attention that he used to. Many teams choose to cover O’Neal with one player, taking their chances that he will not score.
Lebron needs a player who will draw the same kind of attention that he does and O’Neal doesn’t fit the bill.
Scottie Pippen routinely drew double teams himself which left three defenders to guard four people, many times one of those people was Michael Jordan. If the team Chicago was playing chose to double team Jordan also, this left one defender scrambling to cover three players.
It was in these situations that Paxson, Armstrong, Kerr and other perimeter and low post players found themselves wide open for shots.
Having Scottie Pippen also allowed coach Phil Jackson to interchange him with Jordan which enabled him to have at least one dangerous offensive player who needed to be double teamed on the floor at all times.
And contrary to popular hearsay, Scottie Pippen was no slouch on his own. In the two years that Michael Jordan was off playing baseball (mid-life crisis?), Scottie Pippen averaged 20 points and 7 rebounds per game which was the same as he had done in previous years with the Bulls.
Before Scottie Pippen arrived Michael Jordan had to do everything too , just like Lebron James has to do now. The Cavaliers would do good to take a page out of history and go get a Scottie Pippen before Lebron leaves town.
