Scottie Pippen probably never had to call his teammates out like this during the Chicago Bulls' dynasty days.
Pippen chastised his younger teammates for their lack of effort Thursday, saying it's time the Baby Bulls start taking some pride in themselves, their games and the team they represent. Much has been invested in them and, so far, they're not showing much in return.
"That's where it all comes down to: Have you gotten any better since you were drafted here? Are you showing that you're going to make this franchise better in the near future? Have you made any steps?" Pippen said. "And I don't see a lot of steps in a lot of players that have been in this game three-plus years."
After five miserable seasons, this was supposed to be the year the Bulls turned the corner. Prep-to-pro prospects Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler were going to build on their strong finishes last season and be dominant players, and all of Jamal Crawford's considerable talents were going to be on display. There was even talk of the playoffs.
Yet here the Bulls are, losers still. At 12-30, they are three wins behind last year's pace. They have the second-worst record in the NBA and have lost five straight, the last two coming against fellow sad sacks Washington and Atlanta.
They've switched coaches, with Scott Skiles replacing Bill Cartwright. They've traded players, shipping Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall to Toronto for Antonio Davis and Jerome Williams. But the losses keep piling up and there's a real fear it's becoming part of the team's culture, just as winning was when Michael Jordan was around.
"I worry about it every day," said general manager John Paxson, who spoke to the team after practice Thursday. "There's not an easy answer for that. You've got to find a way to win. But a lot of it goes to what we were just talking about: being a competitive person. At some point, you have to feel a little bit unhappy or maybe even embarrassed about the way you're playing.
"It's like I said before, if you're going to go down, go down scratching, clawing, giving somebody a shot," Paxson added. "That's just an instinct I think has to be there."
So far it's not, and Curry is taking most of the heat. He's been compared to Shaquille O'Neal, but he had five rebounds in the last two games combined and he's not even the team's leading rebounder.
Curry's conditioning also has been criticized, with Skiles making him do extra work after practice and before games.
"Everybody's frustrated with the way we're playing. The players, we're frustrated," Pippen said. "No one wants to watch a losing team, no one wants to watch a team that doesn't care, doesn't give any effort, doesn't play hard. We have to find guys that want to do this."
Paxson brought Pippen back in part so he could mentor the youngsters, show them what it takes to be a champion. Pippen has freely shared his knowledge and experience, working with Chandler on the side during practice and shouting instructions from the bench like a coach when he was on the injured list.
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