[News]Griz court Pippen
Griz court Pippen
Bulls seem to have best shot
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/basketball/article/0,1426,MCA_466_2112143,00.html
By Ronald Tillery
tillery@gomemphis.com
July 16, 2003
NBA free agents can officially sign contracts starting today
and the Grizzlies are entertaining future Hall-of-Famer
Scottie Pippen.
Griz majority owner Michael Heisley is scheduled to meet with
Pippen this morning in hopes of signing the veteran small
forward, according to NBA sources with knowledge of the meeting.
Pippen and his Memphis-based representative, Brian Parker,
will visit Heisley at an unspecified Chicago location.
Pippen, 37, played for Portland last season and has also
drawn serious interest from the Chicago Bulls, whom he helped
win six NBA championships.
Neither Heisley nor Parker returned phone messages left
Tuesday.
Despite sentimental reasons for wanting to return to Chicago,
Pippen is considering several options.
"They gave me the impression they really want me," Pippen
said, referring to the Bulls in a recent Chicago Sun Times
story. "But I owe it to myself to feel out at least some of
these offers before I make my final decision."
If successful in luring Pippen, the Grizzlies would not only
add a highly recognizable name to the roster but also
championship experience, defense and locker-room leadership.
Injuries have limited Pippen to 64 games or less in each of
the past three seasons, and he's looking to play only one or
two more seasons.
Last season Pippen averaged 10.8 points and a team-high 4.5
assists.
Pippen has expressed a willingness to take a pay cut from
$19.7 million to $4.9 million - the league's midlevel
exception - as long as a suitor considers either a management
or ownership role for him after retirement.
The Grizzlies most-stated goal is to add a center but they
expect to fill that need with a sign-and-trade. The team
could conceivably offer Pippen either the midlevel exception
or part of it.
Although salary-cap rules prohibit the Grizzlies from
promising ownership, Memphis makes sense for Pippen's
post-playing plans.
Heisley, who owns 70 percent of the Grizzlies, has been
willing to sell up to 17 percent over the past 18 months. A
group of local investors owns 30 percent.
Pippen also would join a team fairly close to his hometown of
Hamburg, Ark. He attended college at Central Arkansas in
Conway, Ark.
He wanted to return to Portland, but Trail Blazers owner Paul
Allen is cutting his payroll, and the team is unlikely to
make Pippen an offer.
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如果pip 真能加盟 Griz ，想必下個球季勢必會相當有趣..
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