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Kemp for Pippen Trade in 1994
HeretoBeatmyChest
Member Posts: 4,295
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-07-01/sports/9407010179_1_trade-pippen-scottie-pippen-bulls
I don't remember this alleged deal or at least I vaguely do. Would have been Kemp and Ricky Pierce for Pippen.
MJ told George Karl that the Sonics would win the championship if they made the trade, according to the article. What do you guys think?
I don't remember this alleged deal or at least I vaguely do. Would have been Kemp and Ricky Pierce for Pippen.
MJ told George Karl that the Sonics would win the championship if they made the trade, according to the article. What do you guys think?
Comments
I would have hated that deal
I wasn't a big fan of it at the time. In the playoffs that yr., Pippen refused to go in the last part of a playoff game Because the coach called a play for Kukoc instead. He wasn't exactly a team player. Pippin alone would not have just magically bought Championships to the Sonics.
Only thing questionable about the deal would have been the fit. We already had Detlef to play the 3. Would Pippen be the 2 and we trade Gill for another big? Pippen at the 3 and Det at 4? Or would we sign another big to pair with Perkins/Ervin Johnson? There would have needed to be another move or 2, but Pippen was better than Kemp ever was. Pippen was a top 10 player, maybe even top 5. Kemp was good. Pippen was borderline great.
I always hated Pippen.
I didn't like it due to the bolded part. In the west you had a stable of bigs and the Sonics would have left themselves no bigs.
I love Kemp but I would take Pippen who in 1994 was a top 3 player in the game maybe even 2nd behind only Olajuwon at that time. Now Kemp was a better fit.
My greatest what if of all-time is what if the Sonics had simply kept Pippen the 5th pick in the draft instead of immediately trading him for Oldin Polynice? Watching Kemp, Payton and Pippen do the fast break would be fun.
Here is George Karl's take on the Pippen trade who was pissed it DIDN'T happen. He said that is when he knew his relationship with Wally Walker was going to be doomed.
This video he describes the difference between Kemp and Payton
This is where Karl talks about the Denver collapse and the trade.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/63754-top-five-worst-nba-trades-of-all-time
Pippen Win shares from 94-95 to 97-98= 43.8
94-95 11.8
95-96 12.3
96-97 13.1
97-98 6.6 (Only played half the season because of back injury. Was never the same again, but still a very useful player
Kemp from 94-95 to 97-98= 38.6
94-95 10.6
95-96 11.2
96-97 10.0
97-98 6.8 (played full season)
Both were good, Pippen was better. When you factor in discipline too, there is another check to Pippen. Champion experience? Pippen again. Frankly, other than fit and possibly fan outrage, this deal should have been a no brainer. Pippen won 55 games the year Jordan retired with a garbage team other than Horace Grant. For a few years, he was a great player.
Yet people wonder why we are so jaded as fans?
The thing about Kemp is he was huge in the 96 playoffs and on his way to being a top 5 player and superstar. Then Wally Walker completely fucked it up. I seriously hate Wally Walker. He should be completely ostracized from any new team in Seattle.
In the linked article, there was also mention of a Kendall Gill and Mitch Richmond trade and an attempt to sign Horace Grant at PF.
First, while Kemp was a great player and one of the better PF of his era, Scottie was arguably the best at his position in the game and one of the greats of all-time (in Bill Simmons' Book of Basketball Pippen was 24th all time and Kemp 88th).
Second, after the '93-'94 season, it was very clear that Kendall Gill wasn't a great fit on this roster as his game was about having the ball and slashing to the basket. He needed the ball in his hands and that wasn't going to work. Moving him for Mitch Richmond who was a dynamic scorer who was capable of being a catch and shoot guy made a ton of sense. Particularly with Payton and Pippen on the court, you could then hide Richmond on defense fairly easily. Instead, you held onto Gill, watched his stock drop further, and you ended up getting Hersey Hawkins. I love the Hawk but he wasn't Mitch Richmond.
Third, if you were able to then go out and sign Horace Grant to a deal, you'd solve the PF issue as well as a long-term lingering issue through those Sonics teams of questionable depth. You'd be able to move Det back to the bench and able to play the 3-4 positions and have a very strong 2nd unit - particularly if you also included Ervin Johnson in your starting lineup as that would then push Perkins to the bench. Even if you switched that, when you add Mac10 into the equation, you then had a very deep 8 man rotation with everyone of your bench guys capable of being a starter on a championship caliber club. And that doesn't even include guys like Vincent Askew who were capable of providing solid minutes.
I can understand being cautious about making the deal. I can understand thinking about the implications of the deal and how you made your lineup better to cover a weakness that would be created. But in the long run, that's a club that has significantly better depth and would have had the flexibility to go small against a team like Phoenix (GP, Mitch, Pippen, Det, and Perkins) or big against a team like Houston (GP, Pip, Det, Grant, Perkins/Johnson). It's a team that probably wins a title and quite possibly 2 or 3. You probably take away Houston's 2nd title, you'd nip the Bulls 2nd 3 peat in the bud, and be better positioned to neutralize a Utah team that couldn't keep up with this depth.
In the end, Wally Walker was always a pussy looking for an easy solution. He definitely didn't have any forward thought to how the game could or should be played. He had a massive ego (that was never deserved) and instead of working with his coach to try to build the optimal roster based on a desired way of playing he would dictate to the coach the way he should play.
Seattle wins a title in 94-95 with that trade.
Discussing what could have been with those Sonics is as depressing as talking about the Lambo years. Good thing they were happening at once.
Fuck.
Kemp was clearly the second best player on the court in the 96 Finals and that was going against Rodman.