Ring culture has been a major issue in today’s NBA. The fans don’t seem to value great players unless they win a championship, which is why they urged Damian Lillard to leave the Portland Trail Blazers for years.
Of course, measuring a player’s greatness based on championships alone might be unfair and insufficient. There are so many incredible talents that were never lucky enough to have a title-winning-caliber core next to them.
That’s the case with Tracy McGrady, who recently shared his thoughts on ring culture, explaining how the narrative around Michael Jordan would be so different if it wasn’t for Scottie Pippen.
Tracy McGrady Says Michael Jordan Was Just A Great Individual Players
“In today’s society and sports, you get defined by winning championships,” McGrady said on the Pat Bev Podcast. “Whereas everybody is not lucky enough to be in those situations. You look at some of the greats that played this game.”
“And I’m not saying that Magic Johnson was lucky, but Magic Johnson played with a lot of freaking Hall Of Famers. Not saying Larry Bird is lucky; he played with a lot of Hall Of Famers, right?” T-Mac continued.
“Jordan wasn’t so lucky about playing with a lot of Hall Of Famers, he just had a great sidekick in Scottie Pippen,” McGrady added. “But if you look at Jordan before Scottie Pippen became Scottie Pippen, Jordan was just a great individual player.”
“Like, Jordan wasn’t getting out of the first round or going deep into the playoffs before Scottie Pippen became Scottie Pippen. So you gotta have the talent to win a championship but not everybody’s blessed to play with a championship organization,” McGrady concluded.
Jordan fans might take those words as an offense or a shot at the six-time NBA champion. Then again, to each his own, and Pippen’s influence On the Bulls’ success is simply undeniable.
