"Don't do it, Scottie"

Scottie Pippen didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to put himself out there like this, to get reamed by the always voluble Charles Barkley. If Pippen really wants a seventh NBA championship – a way to one-up Michael Jordan – he could have easily become an assistant coach with almost any team in the league.

Who’s going to turn down Pippen? Maybe the Pistons or Lakers. But that’s about it. The Spurs, the Heat, the Mavericks. I’m sure he could have gotten a gig with one of them.

But, no, Pippen would rather play. Pippen, 41, declared late this week that he’s “hoping for a late-season return to a contending team.” In other words, Pippen wants to play maybe 10 regular season games and then cruise through the playoffs to the championship.

Sounds like a good deal to me if anyone’s willing to pick up the man with the bad back. Pippen retired in 2004 after a return to the Chicago Bulls lasted just 23 games. He averaged just 17.9 minutes and 5.9 points per game that season. Between 1998 – the year of the Bulls’ last championship – and 2004, Pippen played for Portland and Houston.

Pippen is kidding himself if he actually believes he’ll be able to return and play a key role for a contending team. He’ll be no more than an assistant coach – relegated to the bench, maybe playing five to 10 minutes a night. If that satisfies his competitive juices, then “Go for it, Scottie!!” but more than likely, this story will end up like his teammate’s did in 2003.

When Jordan made his second return to the NBA in 2002 with the Washington Wizards, NBA fans – rightfully so – were ecstatic. This was, after all, MICHAEL JORDAN! To modern-day fans, the greatest player of all time. I’m sure NBA commissioner David Stern was sipping champagne, because every time Jordan played TV ratings soared.

But Jordan’s two years with Washington – he was also the general manager at the time, but was fired after he stopped playing – were riddled with injuries on the court and issues off it. He refused to listen to doctors about his bad knee, instead playing way more minutes than he should have, basically ruining the knee. He refused to work with his teammates, getting in a feud with Richard Hamilton – who was shipped to Detroit after Jordan’s first season – and demeaning Kwame Brown, whom Jordan had selected in 2001 with the No.1 pick in the draft, in front of his teammates. Jordan absolutely shattered Brown’s confidence, and I’m not sure Brown has completely recovered it.

Jordan left the game in 2003 with nothing more than when he retired for the second time in 1998 after hitting his famous final shot over Utah’s Bryon Russell in the NBA Finals. Jordan’s legacy will never, ever be tainted. He was too good for that. He could have averaged two points a game those last two seasons, and the majority of this country would still consider him the best player to ever lace up sneakers.

Pippen is another story. His legacy could definitely be tainted. During his playing days, Pippen was always characterized as Jordan’s sidekick. No one thought he’d be anything without Jordan. He almost disproved this during the 1994 playoffs, but the Bulls couldn’t get past the New York Knicks in a hotly contested seven-game series.

In 1997, however, Pippen’s legacy was validated when he was named one of the NBA’s top 50 players of all time. Then, in 2005, Pippen had his No. 33 retired by the Chicago Bulls in a tear-stained ceremony that Jordan and several other Bulls’ teammates attended. No longer were there critics jumping on Pippen for being Jordan’s piggyback. His place in basketball lore was cemented.

Now, what’s happened has happened. No one can take away what Pippen accomplished during the 1990s. But he can certainly mitigate people’s opinion of him in the coming months. If Pippen returns to play a few games for a contender, he’ll be viewed as a “ring seeker.” Yep, just another guy hungry for a championship ring, but not willing to put in the work a whole season requires.

And, did I mention, he won’t be doing much playing during his return? Mostly, he’ll be sitting on the bench.

Something he could do as an assistant coach, which wouldn’t tarnish his image one bit.

And he could still play rec ball on the side.