“I think that is one of the reasons Scottie struggled” – Charles Barkley on why Scottie Pippen’s addition to the Houston superteam never panned out originally appeared on Basketball Network.
A basketball dream weighed heavily on the Houston Rockets when they signed Scottie Pippen in the summer of 1998.
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After his final championship run with the Chicago Bulls, Pippen joined Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley in a veteran-heavy superteam.
The lineup appeared unstoppable on paper due to its combination of championship pedigree and skill. However, the court is the ultimate truth-teller, as history frequently reminds us.
Pippen’s tough setup
Pippen arrived in Houston under challenging circumstances. He found himself as a point forward on a team with no true point guard to initiate plays and set the tempo. This was a complete redefinition of his game at a time when every possession carried playoff weight in a shortened season.
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“I think that is one of the reasons Scottie struggled, because he had to do so much as our point forward,” Barkley said. “I think if we get a legitimate point guard we are really going to be strong.”
There wasn’t much time for chemistry to develop, because the NBA had just finished a lockout that reduced the 1998–99 season to 50 games. Pippen had to adjust to a new role following Michael Jordan’s retirement, without the comfort of a well-known system or the triangle offense that had helped his career take off in Chicago.
Pippen had to plan the offense as a whole in addition to being asked to defend top wing scorers and make offensive contributions. Jordan’s scoring prowess and Phil Jackson’s offensive ball movement in Chicago counterbalanced his role as a facilitator. The system in Houston was slower and centered on post play with Barkley and Olajuwon.
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A veteran team
Although talented, the Rockets were an older team that had outlived their explosive prime years in the early to mid-1990s. The team turned its focus to youth and speed as soon as the season ended and the roster started to rotate.
A dynamic rookie from Maryland named Steve Francis came into play as the spokesperson for that change. The Rockets had to evolve to stay competitive in a Western Conference ruled by the likes of the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. What looked like a strength on paper became an exposed flaw in high-pressure matchups, especially against younger, faster opponents in the Western Conference.
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“We’re old, that is all that ‘veteran’ means,” Barkley said. “Steve Francis is obviously going to have to play the one [the point], he is not big enough to play the two. He says he is comfortable playing the one, he said that the point was his original position in Junior College. I’ll tell you, he has got a lot of talent and if he is able to make that transition, then we are going to be a lot better team.”
In Barkley’s view, Francis was the missing ingredient that might have allowed the 1998-99 experiment to succeed if he had been present from the start. The Rockets’ one season with Pippen ultimately ended in disappointment, with a first-round playoff exit against the Lakers.
The fallout was immediate. Pippen requested a trade, landing with the Portland Trail Blazers, while Barkley played one more season before retiring. Olajuwon’s Hall of Fame career wound down shortly after and the dream of a veteran superteam in Houston faded.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 12, 2025, where it first appeared.