Phil Jackson Is Making Room For Scottie Pippen

It appears that the Scottie Pippen comeback train is headed to Los Angeles. The questions that remain are when, and at whose expense? Chris Sheridan of ESPN spoke to Phil tonight (insider access required), and the Lakers coach acknowledged that his team had contacted the league office to see about the possibility of adding a 16th player to the roster, which would open the door for the Lakers to sign Pippen to a 10-day contract.

The Lakers have been ravaged by injuries this season, but league rules state that in order to get the additional roster spot, four players must be sidelined with injuries at the same time for fourteen consecutive days. The Lakers aren't quite there yet, and likely won't get there because Luke Walton is expected to return before Lamar Odom reaches his fourteen days. Sheridan says that the Lakers might also consider waiving Chris Mihm to open that spot if the league doesn't grant the Lakers that extra spot.

As far as how much Scottie might be able to contribute, that remains to be seen. But Phil seems to think he could contribute something immediately:

"I have no doubts about Scottie's ability to fit into what we do because this is similar to what he played for a number of years. The biggest question is how many minutes could Scottie fulfill, and how many minutes would we need a player to play."

Let's face it, any help that Pippen could give the Lakers would be more than welcome, especially after L.A. basically fielded a D-League team the other night in Milwaukee while Kobe was serving his suspension.