When the Houston Rockets traded for Scottie Pippen in 1999, it was part of a last-ditch effort to make one final championship run before rebuilding the roster and starting from scratch.
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Fresh off winning six titles alongside Michael Jordan in Chicago, Pippen joined the Rockets via a January 1999 sign-and-trade. In return, the Bulls received Roy Rogers and a second-round pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. Pippen stepped into a stacked Houston locker room featuring Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. But behind those marquee names was an overlooked second-round rookie, 6-foot-4 guard Cuttino Mobley.
The Rockets drafted Mobley at No. 41 overall in the 1998 NBA Draft without handing him any promises. That year’s lockout-shortened season and veteran-laden roster squeezed Mobley’s margin for error. But while he fought for survival, Pippen helped spark his emergence — a story Mobley recently shared with Paul George on Podcast P.
Back then, coaches didn’t give rookies easy minutes. Most preferred experienced players and pushed young guys down the depth chart. “When I got drafted, [they had] Rodrick Rhodes on the team,” Mobley said. “They had Scottie Pippen on the team. [They had] about six or seven guys in front of me… guys that had contracts.”
Mobley fought to earn every touch, possession, and scrap of floor time he could. “[There were] guys that was in front of me that got drafted, so I’m sitting here, you know, fighting uphill,” Mobley continued. But Pippen, already a Hall of Fame lock, refused to let his struggling teammate fade into obscurity on that bench.
“If it wasn’t for Scottie Pippen, I don’t even know if you guys would know who Cuttino Mobley is; he’s the one who advocated for me to play,” he said. Pippen did not just whisper behind closed doors. Mobley said Pippen challenged coaches: “He needs to start, he’s bringing energy.”
That support changed everything. Coaches began noticing him, and Mobley used every second to prove his worth and earn his spot. “At the beginning, the only thing I could do [was the coaches] wanted me to bring the ball up, pass it in the post, cut through and wait for a shot from Charles [Barkley] or Scottie or Hakeem Olajuwon,“ Mobley said.
Mobley studied the pecking order (Barkley, Pippen, Olajuwon) and learned how to make his minutes matter. “Defending and shooting threes was my thing, my first year. That is all [the coaches] would want me to do.”
Mobley logged 49 games that season and posted 9.9 points, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game. He shot 35.4% from three — enough to survive, stick, and build confidence in a harsh environment. But the real value came from lessons taught by three future Hall of Famers, all legends in their own right. “You have a Hakeem Olajuwon, you have Charles Barkley, and you have Scottie Pippen,” Mobley said. “Hakeem showed you how to be a pro. Scottie showed you how to be a pro.”
Mobley painted Pippen as intense and locked in: “Scotty is up [early] in the morning, working out, shooting extra, doing all these things.” He remembered Hakeem’s grace just as vividly: “Hakeem was off the court flawless. He’s reading; he’s quiet; he’s dressed well; he’s calm with you.“
Mobley soaked it all in. The professionalism, contradictions, energy, and energy carried it into a 10-year NBA career. Two decades later, Mobley still credits one man for opening that first door: Scottie Pippen believed in him.
