A job for Pippen?

A couple times in camp so far Avery Johnson has alluded to time spent with Scottie Pippen during the offseason. The former Bulls great attended Johnson’s annual coaching retreat last month at his home in The Woodlands, along with assistants Joe Prunty and Paul Westphal. Mario Elie hadn’t been hired yet.

Pippen, one of the better-conditioned athletes around during this playing days, shared his ideas on staying fresh on the 82-game grind. The Mavs have adopted some of those techniques in their strength-and-conditioning program.

I asked Johnson if he considered Pippen for this staff. “We don’t want to go down there, but he was very helpful,” he answered. “Let’s just leave it at that.”

Sure. The Mavs visit the old stomping grounds of their unofficial consultant tonight against the Bulls at the United Center.