Nah. Juwan found the fountain of Youth last year here, and decided to take his talents to South Beach to win a title. Can't blame him for that.
He was talking about locker room presence and possibly becoming a coach. He said he hasn't seen a player with that kind of an impact. Everybody thought Howard had that impact last year. No shit Camby is better, but that isn't really relevant to what he said.
RealGM had a quote from Rudy up saying that he would go back to spain if traded. I really don't mind having Rudy/Camby say that they want to stay here. They are both having a huge impact with this team and are doing there best to make everyone around them better. I do wish we could have kept Howard and kept him as a coach and I like the thought of Camby as an assistant coach later down the line.
What makes you say that? Back in '99-00 Pippen almost won a championship for us. He was the driving force in coming back from being down 3-1 in the series and dominating Game 7 (until the meltdown). His defense turned that series around. He wanted it so bad - to prove all the naysayers wrong who said he couldn't win a title w/o MJ. Remember his outburst after game 3? (see link at 7:35). He was the glue that held that team together IMO. Why didn't he "feel like a Blazer"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlPA57KnjEA
I agree that Pippen was the glue guy to the blazers. He seemed to be the only one who could keep all the head cases in line. I was really really bummed when we refused to offer him more then a 1 year contract and he walked after the 2003 season.
I'm fully aware of what Pippen did. that's why I said he had a similar "ON THE COURT" impact. I was talking about an off the court impact. A large part of that was due to the fact the franchise was in a different part of its history, we didn't hear about Pippens appreciation for the fans, or love of being here. Although it might never happen, it seems that Camby could see himself spending time here in some form, with the franchise. I never got that sense from Pippen. Anything he's done in the league since then, he's done with the Bulls, or because of Phil Jackson, the Lakers (iirc).
I understand. But had Pippen and the Blazers won a title in 2000 things might be different. It's not surprising now that he doesn't spend much time around the Blazer Organization. The way things ended for him here were not great. He won 6 titles with the Bulls and had his most productive seasons there, but he would have really cherished winning a championship w/o MJ.
Even if we didn't win a championship Pippen wanted to finish his career in Portland. If we had offered him a 2 year deal instead of letting him walk away we might have seen him around here from time to time afterwords.
Seems from what, out of curiosity? I've not read (though I may have missed it) him saying that he particularly loves Portland and/or wants to stick around once his playing days are gone. Not wanting to be traded is a little different...he's never wanted to be traded. I also wonder whether there was any interest on the Portland end to have Pippen do some coaching for them after he was done with the NBA. I personally would have loved for Pippen to work with the Blazers perimeter players, especially Roy and Batum.
Actually *Editted* Rudy info was on realgm.com. I love how that conmment will be deleted, even though a mod once said that as long as you state in your opinion someone was whatever then it was ok. Then again, that was directed at Mixum, so I would assume the double standard will be in full force
he re-signed before the season ended or right as it ended, iirc. To me, that "seemed" like he was happy with the city and the fanbase. not that he didn't get paid handsomely, but I don't think he was overpaid to stay here. Juwan seemed more like he was brown nosing, then anything else. Sucking up for a contract. I wish they had contacted him, and if they had, he would've agreed.
