It was great to see “The Last Dance” episodes 1 and 2 on this past Sunday night. Especially since there hasn’t been any sports on since like March 12. Everybody and their baby’s momma, Uncle Leroy and cousin Man-Man was talking about it Monday morning.
One of the biggest takeaways was the Scottie Pippen contract. When ole boy was drafted with the 5th overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft he signed the worst contract known to man for a pick that high in my opinion. It was for 7 years and worth $18 million.
Coming from the little country town of Hamburg, Arkansas and playing at Central Arkansas which was a little NAIA school he got taken advantage of Jerry Krause and Jerry Reinsdorf.
Now for the record, Scottie signed the dumb contract and in his own words said that he was looking for the longest term in the event that he got hurt. Therefore, he could take care of his family. After all, he did have 11 siblings and both parents. Those were his words.
SIDE NOTE: One thing people need to understand “YOU CAN’T TAKE CARE OF EVERYBODY. That’s the fastest way to got broke. Take care of momma and daddy first and help your siblings get on their feet. But you can’t take care of grown folks. I see players come into the league every year with three or four homeboys or family members living and eating off of them serving absolutely no purpose and draining the players accounts.
Back to the documentary: Everybody watching the joint was pissed because Pip had obviously out-played the contract but he signed it. It’s no different than Toni Braxton, TLC or any number of musical artists that sit down at the table desperate to be famous and signs a bad deal. They sell a million records, look up and they’ve got no money. Then they want to be pissed at the label because they’re broke. YOU SIGNED THE CONTRACT and it’s legally binding.
PIPPEN SIGNED THE CONTRACT WIDE AWAKE WITH AN AGENT SITTING NEXT TO HIM!!! First off, his agent needed to be taken behind the barber shop and beaten like he’d stolen something and then fired. Secondly, the Bulls weren’t obligated to restructure his deal because he turned out to be great.
It’s the same thing in the music industry. When you sign the deal the label has no idea how great you’re going to become. It’s all a risk. Nobody in America knew who Scottie Pippen was before the 1987 NBA Draft.
So he screwed himself by signing that deal.
Now don’t get it twisted Jerry Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause were some hustlers that took complete advantage of a young kid from Arkansas that was totally green on how things work.
Even in the documentary Reinsdorf said out of his own mouth that he wouldn’t have signed that deal. If you wouldn’t have signed it why would you stick it in front of a man to sign?
The crazy thing is, they were screwing everybody on that team but Toni Kukoc. He was making $12 million per year and Jordan was only making just a little more than $3 million. Wheredeydodat? Jordan was the best player in the NBA leading the best team to titles and he was only getting north of $3 million!!!! He only made a total of $86 million while playing for the Bulls and he got $33 million of that during the 1997-98 season. So Pippen wasn’t the only one getting screwed.
SIDE NOTE: Jordan was a trip on the documentary saying that Pippen was being selfish because of his beef with the contract but he was making $33 million and getting Jordan Brand bread. I completely understood Pippen being pissed but he was pissed at the wrong person.
Jordan wasn’t trippin’ on the bread because he was making a fortune off of the court in endorsements. The Jordan Brand was feeding the heck out of him along with others endorsements. But please understand the Bulls front office were like some music industry gangsters. They were FOUL!!!!
Moral of the story: Don’t sit down with a boy to do big time business unless you fully understand what’s going on. If you don’t the dun with you better understand it. Otherwise, you’re going to get screwed. It’s just business. Stop me when I start lyin’!
