Larry Hughes is Scottie Pippen?

Skip Bayless is an idiot. I can't figure out if I hate him or Stephen A. more. This morning on ESPN's First Take Bayless ranted on and on about how crappy LeBron James is. The catalyst for this rant was the Cavs' loss to Chicago last night, where Cleveland squandered a 17-point lead.

Skip: "Michael Jordan in his fifth year would have never let his team lose to a clearly inferior team this late in the season!!!"

If Michael had to play on a team where guys like Devin Brown, a washed-up Ben Wallace, and Varejao were getting major minutes every night, he'd have struggled a bit, too.

But the kicker was this gem: "LeBron James had his Scottie Pippen in Larry Hughes, and instead of embracing him, he resented him and ran him out of town!!!"

Okay, that's just ridiculous. Larry is horrible. Ever since he had a great season with Washington in 2004-2005, he's been bad. This year, he's shooting 38% from the field and only scoring 12 points a game. With the Cavs he never shot over 40% and never scored more than 15 points a game.

That's Derek Fisher territory, everyone. Without the assists or 3-pointers.

I don't buy Pippen as "one of the 50 best players EVER," but he was a legit 6'8" guard who scored over 20 ppg for four straight seasons during the Bulls' first three championships. His rebounding and assist averages hovered around 8 and 5 for almost a decade.

Hughes is 6'5", can't shoot, averages four rebounds and three assists, and gets less than two steals a game, an area that used to be his strength.

Hughes as a number 2 guy equal to Scottie Pippen? Uh, not really.