Pippen may not see action with Chicago Bills until January after foot surgery

Jet, Oct 27, 1997

The world champion Chicago Bulls have started their quest for a sixth title without one of their main guns--forward Scottie Pippen.

Pippen is expected to miss up to three months since undergoing surgery to correct an injury to his left foot that he received in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat in May.

Bulls operations chief Jerry Krause said that Pippen, who received the outpatient surgery in New York, is recovering and is expected to begin therapy soon.

"We anticipate the recovery will be very successful," Krause said. "We feel very bad about losing Scottie. He's been a tremendous player for us throughout the years. He's special to this franchise. This is a blow to us, but hopefully we'll be able to overcome it."

Krause said Pippen did not have the surgery earlier in the off-season because he was trying to avoid the procedure. But even after much rest and treatment, the foot still bothered the all-star forward.

Pippen, 32, has never missed more than 10 games in any of his previous 10 seasons.

In the absence of Pippen, Coach Phil Jackson will split minutes between Toni Kukoc and newly acquired Scott Burrell.