THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Credit Pippen, Revolution for Bull Market

Disrepect for Da Bulls: Stop me if you have heard this one.

The Bulls are kicking everyone’s rear ends.

And people still think they are overrated.

Said Detroit’s John Salley after a recent game: “They’re not a better team than we are. No way.”

And Phoenix’s Tom Chambers: “They have no more offensive weapons than we do. We were comfortable playing them. I compare them to a team very similar to us.”

Sure, give or take a Hall of Famer or two.

The Bulls are defending champions who blitzed through the playoffs with two losses and they were on a 70-victory pace (after a midseason lull they are still headed for 65) when Salley and Chambers made their comments.

This is nothing new. A year ago, Indiana’s Reggie Miller posed the magic question: “Take away Michael Jordan and who do they have? Tell me, who do they have?”

Even Bulls coaches seem to wonder about that.

Before a recent game with Indiana, they were talking how nice it would be to have Rik Smits, who would be an improvement over their centers. . . . and Detlef Schrempf would be a big plus off their ordinary-at-best bench . . . and Micheal Williams would be a better defensive point guard.

The bottom line doesn’t lie, so how do the Bulls do it?

One answer is, there has been a revolution.

The other is Pippen.

We are used to starting evaluations with centers and point guards. The Bulls have journeymen Bill Cartwright and John Paxson . . . but in reality they have Paxson, Jordan and Pippen playing the point and Cartwright, Horace Grant, Jordan and Pippen getting the ball off the boards.

This is an extension of the trend, furthered if not created by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, whose contributions overflowed traditional roles.

The 6-7 Pippen and the 6-6 Jordan have gifts Johnson and Bird never dreamed of and are as versatile, demonstrating it when they ganged up to neutralize Magic in last spring’s finals.

Then there is Pippen’s breakthrough.

A year ago, the jury was still out on him. When he made his first All-Star team, a respected general manager said he owed it all to Jordan.

Pippen then had an uncertain offense that didn’t travel. Midway through his fourth season, he was averaging 13 points and shooting 39% on the road.

Since, he has emerged in a big way. The question on him now is will he make the Hall of Fame?

Even with the old Laker advantage, dominating the weaker conference while the other powers collide, the Bulls are no shoo-ins to repeat. It’s what you do in April that counts. A year ago, the Trail Blazers were consensus picks.

But believe this, the Bulls are no fluke.

GARDEN STATE, REVISITED

The Celtics, in the Meadowlands last week, weren’t flattered to read in the New York Post how they represented a respite in the Net schedule.

“If I worried about what was in the New York Post,” said Kevin McHale, “I’d believe there were aliens and three-headed men in New Jersey.”

He paused.

“There may be, but I’m not sure.”

The Nets proceeded to beat the Celtics, 109-95.

THE LAST BOY SCOUT:

The man who cannot tell a lie, Charles Barkley, on 76er prospects:

“We’re just not quite good enough. Face the facts. We’re close--like Phyllis Diller is close to becoming Miss America. That’s how close we are.”

Proving it, the 76ers lost their next game at Charlotte, 136-84.

Barkley scored seven points, threw the ball at J.R. Reid to start a third-quarter melee and was ejected with the 76ers trailing, 90-51.

Personal to L. Brown, Sports Arena:

I know you may be second-guessing your decision to pass on this guy, but you were right.

Just keep telling yourself: “It could never work, it could never work.”

RILES: HIS SECOND COMING

Whether Pat Riley’s head became swollen with fame or pumped up by self-generated pressure, he gets an A for grace in last week’s homecoming.

He walked an emotional tightrope and never slipped.

His discomfort is understandable. A player on the first Los Angeles Laker champion, an assistant on the second and coach of Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6, it is hurtful to hear your former mates remember you more for the last turbulent months than the preceding 20 years.

Then the Knicks scored a franchise-low 68 points. “I saw that hollow-eyed look,” said a friend of Riley’s watching on TV. “He looked like he wanted to die of embarrassment.”

The nice thing, as Riley would tell you, is it’s over. From now on it’ll be basketball as usual. Everyone is getting on with their lives.

Hopefully they will rediscover the ties that bound them. He was part of them and they were part of him.

FACES AND FIGURES

The next time Tommie Wood, the referee who ejected Michael Jordan, worked a Bull game, he called a foul on the man guarding Jordan, New York’s Gerald Wilkins, on the first play. The Bull bench erupted with calls of “Makeup!” . . . Jordan, on the All-Star game: “I don’t want to knock the weekend because it was a special weekend for Magic Johnson, but I felt kind of awkward. None of the questions I was asked had to do with me, personally. They were all about the problems he’s had to face. It’s a very emotional subject and the questions became a burden.” . . . Comment: What is it with this guy? . . . Weak quote of the week: Chicago Coach Phil Jackson on Dennis Rodman’s 18-rebound average: “I think Kevin Willis (averaging 16.6) is more surprising because he doesn’t have the speed and quickness Dennis has. . . . When guys play 40-plus minutes a night, they’re going to get their rebounds--especially when it’s their only job.” . . . Earth to Phil: Willis is 7-0, 235, Rodman is 6-8, 210. Even if most rebounds are taken below the level of the rim, they still come out of the sky, not off the floor.

Remember Stanley Roberts, the whale who beached himself in last spring’s pre-draft workouts? Slimmed down from 325 pounds to 288, he is putting up numbers (20 points, 15 rebounds in 29 minutes against the 76ers last week) for Orlando. The Magic notes he is on a one-year deal at $550,000 and is inviting him to make a salary drive--and drop another 10-20 pounds. . . . Can’t live with him, can’t live without him: The Spurs weren’t starting Rod Strickland but decided not to give him up without getting a young player and turned down an offer from the Lakers. . . . With Willie Anderson sidelined for a month, they tried starting Paul Pressey, 33, and Vinnie Johnson, 35, going from the most athletic team in the league to one of the creakiest. “I’m the oldest coach in the league,” said Coach Bob Bass, 63. “So I figured I might as well have the oldest backcourt.”

Almost deal of the week: The Clippers and Mavericks came close enough on a trade for Derek Harper to call the NBA office, asking how big a cut it would take to fit Harper under the Clipper cap. Answer: From $1.72 million to $1.3 million. Harper said no. . . . The Clippers were offering Bo Kimble and three No. 1 picks for Harper. . . . With four No. 1s in the next two drafts, the Clippers are the team to see. Look for these talks to resume after the season. . . . Sacramento’s Rex Hughes, a gentlemanly assistant turned referee-baiting interim coach, drew a technical in a recent game against the Trail Blazers with 35 seconds left and the Kings leading, 104-102. Terry Porter made the free throw and the Trail Blazers went on to win, 107-106. “What do you want me to do, get down on my knees?” Hughes said. “I cost the team the game.” . . . Make Seattle’s George Karl a late entry for coach of the year. The SuperSonics went into the weekend with nine victories in 10 games--including a win at Utah where the Jazz was 26-2. If Karl has really mellowed, Seattle president Bob Whitsitt gets credit for an inspired hire. In any case, Whitsitt probably will get to keep his own job. . . . In four games at the Kingdome against the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls and Knicks, the SuperSonics drew an average of 36,174. In their games at the Coliseum, they have averaged 11,375. Overall average: 15,356. . . . The Pistons, always in search of a goal, want to catch the Cavaliers for No. 3 seeding in the East. “Being in the opposite bracket from the Bulls would at least give us a realistic chance of getting back in the conference finals,” Coach Chuck Daly said. . . . Said Joe Dumars: “We may need help from other people to catch Cleveland.” . . . Yeah, like Mandrake the Magician. . . . Coach’s perspective: U.S. Olympic boss Daly on suggestions, since disavowed, the Australians might boycott because of Magic Johnson: “The first thing I thought was it was one less team to beat.”