Scottie Pippen on NBA: 'Maybe the players are earning too much money' / News - Basketnews.com

Pippen was highly critical of the NBA All-Star Game and questioned whether the players' lack of interest in providing a quality product on the court comes from the league's ever-increasing wealth.

Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer - Scanpix Credit AP Photo/Rick Bowmer - Scanpix

Despite seemingly high ratings and engagement online, this year's NBA All-Star Game drew increasing criticism due to a lack of defense and effort on the court. One of the critics is NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen.

Pippen appeared in an Australian Basketball League's (NBL) press conference ahead of the playoffs, where he bashed the NBA for the product they put out.

"I didn’t catch any of it, and I think I did a good job," Pippen said. "I think we have been seeing this for the last few years, with the All-Star game and the importance of the game. I think it all falls back on the players, whether or not they want to compete. I heard one player say they don’t think anyone wants to be there."

The East and West teams scored almost 400 points combined and took a collective 168 three-point attempts. In addition to the All-Star Game, the entire weekend drew widespread criticism because of how some of the participants behaved in the skills challenge. The dunk contest was universally seen as not having met the high standard it should.

Pippen thinks the All-Star Game is not a defunct concept, but it desperately needs improvement. A big part of the blame falls on the players themselves, Pippen believes.

"Maybe there is a time and place for it. Maybe the players are making too much money. They don't feel that they can generate the energy, the excitement in mid-season to go out and excite the fans anymore," Pippen proclaimed.

"It's something the league has to take a look at because it's doing more harm than good to the game right now," the 6-time champion said.

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