Scottie Pippen- More Than a Sidekick (article)
When people discuss Scottie Pippen’s career and legacy during his 17 NBA seasons, it’s impossible not to mention his running mate Michael Jordan. Sure, Pippen played Robin to Jordan’s Batman. Most players would have. I disagree with people who feel Pippen’s hall of fame career was only due to the fact that he played opposite to Jordan. In my opinion, Pippen would have been a hall of fame caliber player for any team, in any system, under any coach in any era.
He is one of the league’s greatest treasures. His versatility was matched by few players in NBA history. Scottie Pippen was a very unique player. On defense, he mixed unusual length with strength and athleticism. There wasn’t an area defensively that he didn’t excell in. He was a lock-down defender guarding three different positions- small forward, shooting guard and point guard. Remember when Phil Jackson would use Scottie to defend the other team’s point guard? I remember opponents not beginning their offense until there were 11 seconds left on the shot clock because Pippen would pressure the point guard 94 feet. During his era and possibly beyond, he was the best permiter and wing defender in the sport. When he was forced to defend the low block, he succeeded there, too. He was truly a defensive mastermind. Body. Length. Athleticism. Intelligence.
For as versatile as he was on the defensive end, you could argue that he was more versatile on offense. Listed as a small forward, Pippen was practically the point guard for six Bulls championship teams. Certainly during crunch time. I remember Scottie crossing the time line dribbling the ball settling the Bulls into their offense more than any other player on that team. It seemed like he was always playing point guard. In NBA history, no other forward has more career assists than Pippen. He could also score off the dribble. He was a good slasher and not easy for opponents to defend. It was tough for opposing small forwards to defend him because he was often playing point guard. And you couldn’t defend him with a point guard, they were too small. He was a decent outside shooter (32% from downtown) and an above average free throw shooter.
To sum up Pippen’s overall game: He could do a lot of things well.
To me, he’s been completely misjudged. Or maybe underrated? I can’t determine which one.
Jordan would still be the best player of all time with or without Pippen. Jordan would still have multiple championships to his credit. But would he have six? I’m not sure Jordan would be wearing six rings without having Pippen be the player he was.
Maybe Michael needed Scottie more so than Scottie needed Michael? When Jordan bolted the NBA in 1993 to pursue a baseball career, Pippen became the Bulls’ unquestioned star and should have won the league MVP award during the ’93-94 season. Without Jordan, The Pippen-led Bulls won 55 games and took a tough Knicks team to seven games in the Eastern conference semi-finals. Pippen wasn’t able to beat that Knicks team without Jordan. I’m not sure Jordan would have been able to either without Pippen. In the Jordan absent ’93-’94 season, Pippen finished first or second in every major statistical category on his team (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) and was named MVP of the all star game that year. He proved he could lead a team as one of the leagues best players. Pippen didn’t have a ton of help that season, Pete Myers was Jordan’s replacement, ok. The Bulls were still one of the best teams in the league that year.
His 10 NBA All-defensive team honors and 8 All-Defensive first team awards are each one shy of the all time record. He holds the NBA record for career steals from the forward position, like he does with assists. Those accomplishments in my opinion would still have been achieved with or without playing opposite to Jordan. I understand that statement may be easy to disagree with.
Again, don’t think I’m saying that Pippen was better than Jordan. That would make this article even more irrelevant. I’m just saying it’s closer than you might think. Jordan was the face of sports across the globe, but no player can win championships alone. Certainly not six of them. You can’t win six championships by yourself, even if you’re Michael Jordan.
In 1986-87 the Bulls won 40 games with Jordan playing all 82 and averaging 37.1 points per game. That was the year before Pippen was on the team. Jordan alone couldn’t help a poor supporting cast finish the season above 500. What happened the year Pippen arrived? The Bulls had a 10-game improvement and finished the ’87-88 season with a 50-32 record and would continue to improve each year. As Pippen progressed into a lock-down defender and 20 ppg scorer, the Bulls became a dynasty. When the Bulls were at their absolute peak, Jordan and Pippen were both in their primes. Again, not saying Jordan wasn’t the primary factor for the Bulls dynasty, but he needed a another great player, and my belief is that he had one in Pippen.
And if you want to know my take on the one black eye on Pippen’s career, here that is: the argument he had with Phil Jackson during the 1994 playoffs when he refused to enter the game because Jackson elected Toni Kukoc to take the final shot (which he sunk at the buzzer)…that sequence was no doubt a punk move by Pippen. He felt he had earned the right to take the final shot in big games. It was his team, and his “Jimmy Chitwood moment” as my boy Bill Simmons writes. Jackson obviously chose correctly as the Bulls won the game. Though I feel it should have been Pippen’s moment, he earned it by carrying that team all season, he did act like a jackass throughout the ordeal. To Jackson’s defense, Pippen had never been in a moment like that before, and for whatever reason didn’t trust him with the biggest shot of the season. The bottom line is the Bulls won, and Scottie should have been happy with the outcome. It does remain to be the dark moment of his solo act in Chicago without Jordan. Which is too bad when you look at the season he had. Here were is rounded yearly averages for ’93-94: 22 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block per game. One hell of a year!
I may have never had to write this article if is wasn’t for one failed fourth quarter in the 2000 Western Conference Finals. Pippen was the leader of a talented but misguided Portland Trail Blazers team that battled the young combination of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in one of the greatest seven game series of all time. The upstart Lakers were coached by Phil Jackson, as if you don’t remember. Pippen’s Blazers had a 17 point lead during the fourth quarter of game seven before completely falling apart and allowing the Lakers to pull off one the the NBA’s greatest comebacks and begin a dynasty of their own.
I think if Portland won that series and defeated the Indiana Pacers in The Finals that season, which they would have done, Pippen would have earned his seventh ring, giving him one more than Jordan and illustrating part of his legacy without mentioning Jordan- for at least one chapter.
Jordan never won a title before or after Scottie. In fact, Pippen came closer to winning a title without Jordan than Jordan did without Pippen. Just saying.
I hope Pippen will be remembered for what he was- one of the game’s all time versatile players, a historical defender and bona fide star. An all time great. A player who could get you 20-8-7 per night while locking down the opponent’s best player on defense.
I have a feeling some won’t look at his career the way I do. Most will remember him as a sidekick, a player who accomplished what he did due to the fact that he balled with the best ever.
I hope he gets his due.
24 Responses to “Scottie Pippen- More Than a Sidekick (article)”
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I couldn’t agree with you more. You are absolutely correct when you say that most people only view Pippen as a sidekick to MJ. True enough but sidekicks don’t take on night after night the toughest defensive assignments and singlehandedly change the course of games the way Pippen did from a defensive end. Jordan will always be the best but in reality he never would have reached that status without Pippen being Pippen. Jordan could be Jordan because he had the TYPE of help he had. Jordan was a lockdown defender himself but he never drew the heavest assignments of guarding the opponent’s best offensive threat. That always went to Pippen. The greatest proof was in the Bulls 1st championship when Jackson took Jordan off of Magic and inserted Pippen. Magic disappeared for the rest of the series.
Pippen deserves to be recognised for who his is and can stand on his own against any of the best of all-time.
Thanks, Jim…Great comment. I love fellow Pippen-lovers!
So true on the ’91 Finals. Pippen defended Magic tougher than any other player Magic faced.
I’ll also never forget Pippen locking down Mark Jackson in ’98 and later Hornacek in that same playoff run. He made Hornacek look and play like a 12-year old.
My point being one was a PG the other a SG, it didn’t matter. Scottie could defend practically anyone- and still get you over 20 pts on the offensive end.
As I said in my article- one of the league’s greatest treasures.
It also has to be mentioned that Pippin nearly defeated the Knicks in 1994 while Jordan dabbled with baseball. If not for a phantom foul called on Pippin at the buzzer, Bulls advance and face Hakeem and the Rockets. Only game I ever watched where the commentators anounce “Bulls Win!” only to be snubbed by the biggest bogus call to end a playoff game. I still have yet to see any contact on that play to this day. In addition to this story lets not forget the best poster dunk of all time! I mean it had to be Ewing’s most embarassing moment of his career.
Man, I was just talking about this the other day. I hate to even think that some people say Jordan made him good. He is a true talent. He was also an expert at the run and gun 3 pointer.
Pippen was one of my very favorite players to watch when I first started watching the game and I’m really glad he got his due.
I definitely agree that he was an important piece of that Bulls dynasty…much more so than many people are willing to admit. Chicago would have been a very good team without him, but I don’t think they win six titles.
Yeah, I noticed that too, great article
Hi, i will add myself to those who say Scottie Pippen is his favourite player ever. Of course Michael Jordan is my second favourite player, as he is and probably will always be the best player ever. But there was something about him, some strange otherworldlyness, where everything in him was so studied, so predestined, so unatainable that it was difficult to relate to him. No with Pippen; he always seemed to me like a guy who wasnt truly destined to greatness but worked himself into it, with day to day effort, and i could totally relate to that. I always appreciated all the little things he did for the team and the level of understanding he achieved when playing with jordan.
The day Pippen retired, i stopped watching the NBA
Joseph, I agree with you on Pippen, too. However let’s not assume he wasn’t unbelievably talented, too. True- he wasn’t destined to greatness and worked very hard to make it, but he also had an insane amount of athletic ability- almost on par with Jordan.
The most under-rated dunk of all time (and I’m not huge on dunks at all) was the one year Scottie participated in the NBA DUnk Contest. In that contest, Scottie dunked from the free throw line almost exactly as Michael had done years before. And for whatever reason- you NEVER see that dunk on highlight reels or anything- nobody ever even mentions it.
Look it up on youtube! In fact, I believe Pippen’s Top 10 Dunk reel is on this site in the videos section.
I couldnt resist commenting – great info thanks.
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I love the Pippen article, as a kid I had a Pippen Jersey not an MJ jersey. I hate hearing people say that Pippen was made by MJ, he made MJ better. I also don’t like the Lebron to Pippen comparisons, it isn’t fair to either player, both are to unique and rare a talent to get compared to really anybody. Just like we will never see another MJ we will never see another Pippen, great article!!
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Pip was the man. He had grace, athleticism, and a style like no other. I hope one day I can meet him.
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