At the Hall of Fame on Friday, Karl Malone said he thinks the Lakers will win another title, and Scottie Pippen isn't even sure the Heat will make the NBA Finals.
"I would say this: With the guys they got, they're going to be a hell of a team," Malone said of Miami. "I pick the Lakers."
Pippen did not seem to agree with Jeff Van Gundy's recent assertion that the Heat could break the record of 72 regular season wins set by his own Bulls during the 1995-1996 season.
"I'd like to see them win a championship first," Pippen said.
"I don't know what all the grief was about," Pippen said about the criticism that James drew for dumping his hometown team and for doing so on live television. "No fans, no organization, no one can decide what a free agent can do or should do or where he's going to go, and there's no reason for anyone to hold a grudge against LeBron for making that decision."
Malone spent most of his career in Utah, then left near the end to pursue a championship with the Lakers. But Malone doesn't approve of the public way that James departed the Cavs.
"That's his decision. My decision, when I left Utah, I went to L.A. to win a championship and had an opportunity," Malone said. "Him leaving, that's him. I don't know what to tell you. The way it went down, I'm not into that."
Pippen envisions a lack of size hurting Miami's chances of getting out of its conference.
"There are a couple of teams in the East that they're going to have to contend with, that they're going to have matchup problems with," Pippen said. "You think of Boston, Orlando. I don't see anybody that they can get to run up and down the court with (Dwight) Howard right now and that's a game changer."
