In a Tuesday appearance on flagship radio station SportsTalk 790, Bullard looked back on those memories. “When Scottie Pippen left the Bulls, I didn’t realize that he was coming off of being very underpaid for seven years,” Bullard said. “I didn’t know that he had that saltiness about being underpaid when he came to us. But I do remember, the rest of us — when Scottie came, and it was already after training camp had started a little bit — he came into Houston, and he never really did integrate himself into the Rockets’ organization.” Bullard continued:
He never really tried to make an effort to be a Houston Rocket. … He was coming in thinking, ‘Hey, I’m Michael Jordan.’ I mean, not really Michael Jordan, but ‘I’m Scottie Pippen.’ And the rest of us could feel that. Those types of things still stick with me. … Looking back on all the teammates I’ve had, I would say that Scottie Pippen was not one of my favorite teammates. Because when I did play with him, he wasn’t trying to be a Rocket. He was just trying to be the man, and it didn’t really work
Matt Bullard:
When Barkley came to the Rockets, he did try to integrate himself. He did a really good job of being a great teammate. He’s one of my favorite teammates of all-time. … I really enjoyed playing with him, and he really tried to make the Rockets better and play alongside Hakeem and Clyde , and really tried to win games. Charles had to take a paycut in order for Scottie Pippen to sign that big contract. I think when Charles made the sacrifice to take less money to bring in Pippen, and Scottie comes in and doesn’t try to integrate himself into the roster or the team, I think that really rubbed Charles the wrong way. Barkley really wanted to win a championship
Houston broadcaster Matt Bullard has fond memories of former Rockets teammate Charles Barkley, but not so much for Scottie Pippen.
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