CAPTION

By Andrew D. Bernstein, NBAE/Getty Images

And since it’s impossible to talk to the NBA Hall of Famer without asking him about former Chicago Bulls teammate Michael Jordan, Pippen weighed in on Jordan’s recent mark in NBA history — with the Charlotte Bobcats finishing with the worst winning percentage (.106) in league history with Jordan as the owner.

“I’m very surprised. I mean, he’s a competitor,” Pippen said on ”The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “But this is a different side of the business. His competitive spirit can’t help him out on the basketball court in terms of putting points on the board, but he’s a driven guy. He’s a competitor, and I expect him to be able to bounce back from it.

“You don’t expect anything like that to be happening to the greatest player in the game, and you don’t want to see that happen to him. It’s definitely embarrassing and something you don’t want to associate with Michael Jordan’s name.

“Hopefully, he can come out of this. You know, when you’re at the bottom, there’s only one way to come up. He knows, and I guess the organization knows, that they have a lot of work to do going forward and making some of the right decisions and the players that they are selecting.”

On the topic of Jordan, Pippen said that he believed LeBron James would eventually pass Jordan on the NBA all-time scoring list. He was quick to back off a comment he made in May about James passing Jordan as the greatest player of all-time, but still rationalized James would pass Jordan in some fashion.

“I never said that LeBron was the greatest. That was never said,” Pippen said. “I said by the end of his career, his numbers will be better. And I still stand by that. I think LeBron’s numbers are crazy only because he’s going to get in more years than Michael Jordan.

“Michael probably really only played 11 years in this league, and when you look at a kid like LeBron, who started at 18, 19 years old, he’s probably going to pass Michael by his numbers in his first 10, 11 years in the league.”

After all of the Jordan discussion, Pippen talked about his former coach, Phil Jackson, who retired from coaching the Los Angeles Lakers after the 2010-11 season. He speculated that Jackson could end up coaching back in the NBA, possibly with the New York Knicks at some point.

“I think he had definitely run his course in L.A. He had a lot of success there and had some up-and-down situations, but I think all in all it was probably good for both sides for him to move on.

“But yeah, I do see a lot of basketball left in Phil. He still has a great mind, a lot of knowledge. I know for a fact he had some physical problems going on with him that he needed to take care of. He’s underway with that right now, so hopefully his recovery and everything goes well. Hopefully, we can see him back in the game in the next couple, three years, maybe next year.

“Phil would definitely be a great fit, a former Knick player, a guy who always sort of eyed that New York market, so I definitely think it would be a great win-win situation for both

(AFP) – 5 hours ago

NEW YORK — Two years after Michael Jordan purchased the Charlotte Bobcats, they have suffered the worst season in the history of the NBA by going 7-59 after losing their final 23 regular-season games.

The Bobcats managed only a .106 winning percentage in a campaign that was cut from 82 to 66 games by a money dispute between club owners and players last year.

That was worse than the 65-year-old NBA’s old futility mark, the 9-73 season by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers that produced a .110 win percentage.

“The season itself was a long haul for all of us, upstairs and downstairs,” Bobcats coach Paul Silas said.

“Being the worst team in the history of the game is not something you cherish.”

Jordan, a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player, was the first former player to become a majority owner in the NBA, spending $275 million for the Bobcats in 2010.

Jordan won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and led the 1992 US Olympic gold medal “Dream Team” to a historic championship run, but has been unable to duplicate his success as an executive or owner.

He struggled during a tenure with the Washington Wizards, who this year were the second-worst team in the NBA at 20-46, and has seen the Bobcats, an expansion squad created in 2004, struggle to gain their footing in the NBA.

This season the humiliation and humbling moments have come often.

The Bobcats did not win after March 17 even though they did not clinch the all-time NBA weakest win percentage until a season-ending 104-84 home loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday.

Charlotte lost 22 games, one-third of the entire season’s worth, by 20 or more points. Nine of the defeats were by 20 or more points.

Gerald Henderson, who led the Bobcats with 15.1 points a game and was third in rebounds with 4.1 a game, addressed the home arena supporters before the game and vowed improvement for next season.

“I know it has been a tough year,” Henderson said. “We will be working all summer to turn this thing around.”

The Bobcats were outscored by an average of 13.9 points a game, second-worst among lopsided NBA seasons, ranking only ahead of the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks who were outscored by 15.2 points a game.

Opponents grabbed six more rebounds a game than the Bobcats on average and passed out 3.2 more assists while making 1.6 more steals and 1.0 fewer turnovers a game and shooting 47.5 percent compared to Charlotte hitting 41.4 percent from the field.