Throughout history, Scottie Pippen was considered one of the most respected and impactful players to ever set foot on an NBA hardwood. A six-time NBA Champion, his two-way skills were unmatched at the time.
Pippen, however, often had to deal with Michael Jordan’s shadow. He never liked being considered Jordan’s sidekick, which is only normal when you’re playing side by side with one of the greatest – if not the greatest – players of all time.
Now, following MJ’s ‘The Last Dance’,Pippen has finally let it all out. He wrote a book that pretty much talks about how great he was, how people should look up to him, and how Michael Jordan was responsible for cancer and the rise of the Third Reich… sort of.
Scottie Pippen Says Jordan Ruined Basketball
Pippen has had his fair share of delusional takes and disrespectful comments but now, he’s officially gone too far. According to his memoirs, Michael Jordan ruined basketball. Yeah, the same Michael Jordan who made the game global and saved the NBA:
“I may go as far to say Mike ruined basketball. In the 80s on the playgrounds, you’d have everyone moving the ball around — passing to help the team. That stopped in the 90s. Kids wanted to be ‘Like Mike.’ Well, Mike didn’t want to pass — didn’t want to rebound, or defend the best player. He wanted everything done for him. That’s why I always believed LeBron James was the greatest player this game has ever seen — he does everything and embodies what the game is truly about,” Pippen wrote.
Pippen Says The Bulls Won In Spite Of Jordan
Scottie also said that he was a better teammate than Michael Jordan ever was and that the team won in spite of him. Yeah, that’s the same Scottie who chose to undergo surgery midseason and that decided to sit out due to a contractual dispute. Also the same player who threw a tantrum and refused to go in because Phil Jackson drew up a play for Toni Kukoc.
(Transcript via Fadeaway World)
“In the doc, Michael attempted to justify the occasions in which he berated a teammate in front of the group. He felt these guys needed to develop the toughest to get pastthe NBA’s more physical teams. Seeing again how poorly Michael treated his teammates, I cringed, as I did back then.
Michael was wrong. We didn’t win six championships because he got on guys. We won in spite of his getting on guys. We won because we played team basketball, which hadn’t been the case my first two seasons, when Doug Collins was our coach. That’s what was special about playing for the Bulls: the camaraderie we established with one another, not that we felt blessed to be on the same team with the immortal Michael Jordan.
I was a much better teammate than Michael ever was. Ask anyone who played with the two of us. I was always there with a pat on the back or an encouraging word, especially after he put someone down for one reason or another. I helped the others to believe in and stop doubting themselves.”
Scottie Pippen is just going down badly at this point. We get it, he wants to sell his book but he didn’t need to embarrass himself like that. People looked up to him, admired him, and would’ve still been interested in listening to his side of the story. Now, he’ll just go down as Jordan’s no. 2.
