Sucks that Pippen is broke but some of these guys weren't so smart. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...a-little-less-broke-these-days?urn=nba,252310 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...krupt-and-no-longer-has-his-ch?urn=nba,235999 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AqEHX7SDOpkD0AYm8hfH0E7YrYZ4?urn=nba,226915 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...Ib82yh_AKWWqJZQrYrYZ4?urn=nba,233379#comments
Didn't know Pip was broke, but I guess I'm not surprised. I still remember Spree talking about how he turned down a $21M/3 yr contract because he needed more money... had "a family to feed". Still, no sympathy. I'm sure I could somehow manage on the league minimum for any of the major sports in this country.
I guess I shouldn't have sympathy, just a drag that MJ continues to rake in the endorsements while Pippen is bankrupt. Doesn't seem right somehow.
Here is a longer magazine article from 2005 about Pippen and his former financial adviser. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2005/Foul-Trouble/
I definitely feel less sympathy after reading that - these guys are driven so much by ego it's not surprising they end up bankrupt.
There are so many warnings out there and programs to help athletes but it's always the mindset of, "It won't happen to me." *Shrug*
Why? You don't think that MJ did enough for Pippen? Pippen road Jordan's coattails to enormous fame and wealth. Should he have also been his financial advisor? What happened to Pippen is on Pippen.
This is just another prime examples that some people can't handle fame and money properly. Happens to atheletes, happens to actors.
What happened to Pippen is mostly on Pippen, but if you read that article, that adviser didn't do him any favors by instead of investing in moderate risk investments, he put all his money in extreme risk propositions.
I feel like posting some Bob Gist quotes. Pip only has to hold out for six more years to start collecting that NBA pension.
IMO its because over time, Pippen's been more likeable. Michael Jordan's an interesting one. He was always a little stand-offish to the media, to events - even to basketball. You'd never really see him as a pundit, announcer because he's so withdrawn. Remember after Jordan's hall of fame induction where he went so far as to bring in the guy who beat him out in his high-school team and effectively go: "How ya like me now?" And then the divorce with his wife... it's intriguing (and maybe creepy too) to figure that there's no telling what else is in Jordan's closet. You knew about the gambling & other shady things... But Pippen was pleasant as an announcer and pundit on different shows and seemed, even as a player, happy to be there. When Jordan first retired I wanted Pippen to do well. The sense that I always got was that at heart he wasn't a bad guy, just a simple guy, pretty friendly that was great at the game. The money... a lot of the players don't have the foundation in place to handle it or manage it. And what they learn in their 20's as millionaires is different than a lot of other people in their 20's. Sometimes they don't figure some important things out until it's too late. Doesn't hurt as much if they are screwed by a bad new car purchase, run up a credit card 5k, or bad cell phone plan, etc. Lessons that some young adults figure out quickly what the repercussions are (the imprtance of credit, etc.) The concept of money is completely different, or non-existent. It's easy to look back or at them from the perspective I'm in now and say I'd do it differently & it wouldn't happen to me. But that's not an experience that many of them have. Their fault, of course for losing the money. Something to be said about humility & shrewdness as well. I also think there's truth to the adage of 'having too much money to even know what to do with it.'
Sprewell's old agent. The things he said made Sprewell's quips seem somewhat reserved. Regarding the $5 million midlevel exception Gist said, "That's a level beneath which he would not stoop or kneel." Everyone used to say to these guys when the went pro to invest their money. Maybe they should have said dump it all in an interest-bearing account. It seems bad busniess investments plague retired professional athletes.
