Getty Scotty Pippen Jr. shoots the basketball in a January 5 game against the Kentucky Wildcats.
Whether he falls to the Chicago Bulls or not, it’s safe to say fans will be tracking the pending career of Scotty Pippen Jr., who’s declared for the upcoming draft.
His father Scottie Pippen, as you are no doubt aware, won six championships with the club from 1991 to 1998.
The 20-year old guard made his announcement Saturday on Twitter:
Pippen’s coming off of a strong sophomore season with Vanderbilt, where he averaged 20.8 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.8 steals per game for the commodores.
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A Potential Second-Round Steal?
As David Cobb of CBS Sports notes in a recent report, it may be more about the team than the player for Pippen:
His savvy as a distributor will likely be essential to his hopes of playing in the NBA. At just 6-foot-1, Pippen would be undersized as an off-ball guard unless paired with a larger point guard. He’s shown promise as an outside shooter, though, and may project as a combo guard in the right professional system.
The second-year guard will need the proper foundation and structured organization to make the most of his potential, which as it stands, isn’t necessarily eye-popping.
Cobb reminds readers that at this point, Pippen can always return to Vanderbilt for a third year, should the immediate return on his value be unoptimistic:
Of course, returning to college is still an option, and choosing that route would be helpful for a Vanderbilt program searching for its footing as coach Jerry Stackhouse enters his third season with just a 20-37 record.
Stackhouse has experience in the NBA’s G-League program, as he coached the Toronto Raptors affiliate from 2016 to 2018, and even earned Coach of the Year honors in 2017.
Another year under a coach of his qualifications wouldn’t be the worst thing for Pippen, but for now, he remains committed to at least gauging the temperature on his draft stock.
As of now, he’s not listed in any top-rated mock drafts, and isn’t featured on ESPN’s top-100 list of prospects.
If Pippen wants to play in the league next season, it may come by way of a two-way deal, or even just a deal to play in the G-League, which could potentially see him signed to an NBA team.
Updated Bulls Playoff Odds
The Bulls are now 22-29, good for the 10th seed in the East, two games back of the eighth-seed New York Knicks.
Five Thirty Eight currently has a Chicago playoff berth at 16 percent likelihood.
That’s good for the third-worst mark of all teams with greater than one percent odds.
But they’ve got an opportunity to make a run here, in their next span of games.
Chicago is slated to take on the league-worst Timberwolves on Sunday night, with two matchups against a streaky Grizzlies team and a rebuilding Magic team over their next three.
Tankathon.com has the Chicago Bulls remaining schedule as the 13th-toughest in the NBA.
Time to lock in.
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