Don’t Ever Forget About Scottie Pippen

Comments this week about Scottie Pippen being inferior to Kyrie Irving were not only short-sighted, but extremely disrespectful to an NBA legend. Take a trip down memory lane.

This week, a sports radio host tweeted an NBA observation out into the world.

This would not usually be anything out of the ordinary. But this time, it was different.

By any measure, this was not the best tweet ever written.

Kyrie Irving is a very capable player in his own right, and his continued and impressive postseason play is establishing him as an elite point guard. However, he cannot yet be considered better than Scottie Pippen.

Look at this list of Pippen’s accomplishments:

• Six-time NBA Champion
• Seven-time All-NBA player, including three First Team selections
• Eight-time All-Defensive First Team player
• Two-time All-Defensive Second Team player

Michael Jordan’s greatness was always a shadow cast over the greatness of his teammate, a perennial All-Star who survived perfectly well when Jordan took his baseball sabbatical. Pippen finished 3rd in MVP voting the first year of Jordan’s baseball career, and actually finished 5th in 1995–96, the first year after Jordan’s return from his sabbatical.

Defense and versatile offensive play was the hallmark of this Hall of Fame wing’s career. Pippen was the premier perimeter defender of an entire generation of NBA players, and not until Kawhi Leonard has the league witnessed someone who could rival his skills. If he had been born twenty years later, Pippen would likely have been a Defensive Player of the Year winner at least once, but in his prime it was big men who claimed the plaudits.

Pippen’s defensive ability took the pressure off Jordan, an All-Defensive stud in his own right. Pippen constantly took the primary assignment on the defensive end, leaving Jordan free to worry about offense. Though he stood 6'8", his 7'3" wingspan allowed him to smother opponents.

Even on sometimes poor offensive nights, his defense would carry the Bulls to victory. In game one of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals, Pippen swallowed up Mark Jackson, forcing the Indiana Pacers guard to turn the ball over seven times in a 85–79 loss. It was a quintessential Pippen performance, as despite only scoring four points he still produced seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals in a crucial win.

His play in the 1991 NBA Finals alongside Jordan’s historical play is what led Chicago to it’s first championship. The point forward’s ability to stay with Magic Johnson was crucial, as the rest of the league had practically found it impossible to find a defender big enough, strong enough and quick enough to match up with the Lakers’ transcendent floor general.

Pippen would average 20.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 2.4 steals and 1 block per game in the series, a stat line unmatched in NBA playoff history. Irving’s play in the last two postseasons has been lauded, but Pippen’s first three NBA Finals series were masterpieces.

Jordan’s performances such as “the flu game” and others are revered, but Pippen had his own moments that were crucial in securing championship silverware. If not for a 14–2 run with the second unit to start the 4th quarter of game six in the 1992 NBA Finals, the Bulls would have been pushed to an ominous game seven with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Pippen helped the Bulls trim a 15-point deficit before Jordan rejoined him on the floor and helped secure their second title together. Pippen finished with 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting, in addition to five rebounds and four assists in the 97–93 victory.

In 1993, during the Jordan vs Barkley Finals it was Pippen’s triple double in game two that was the difference as the two team’s alphas dropped 42 each. His selflessness, rebounding, defense and playmaking keyed the Bulls to a 2–0 lead. Their two road wins to start the series were the platform upon which Chicago built it’s 4–2 series win.

It’s also fitting that one of his most memorable plays in the Finals came on the defensive end, when he deflected Byron Russell’s inbound pass in game six in 1997. His deflection fed an easy Toni Kukoč dunk, and led to Pippen’s fifth NBA title. Steve Kerr’s jumper gets talked about the most, but Pippen’s steal was the closer (9:35 mark below).

Without Jordan in 1994, Pippen’s alpha identity came to the fore. He was the 1994 NBA All-Star MVP, and it may have been his arrival as a true NBA superstar. He dominated both ends of the floor (in an age where players defended in All-Star Games) and showed the world he was not simply a second option.

Later in the year during the 1994–95 season, (once again versus Barkley’s Suns) Pippen put on quite a display. He dropped 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, including a perfect 4-of-4 from deep. Pippen added 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. Barkley was destroying the Bulls weak interior early, but Pippen switched onto the Suns star and held him scoreless for two straight quarters. It was domination of the game’s premier name outside of Jordan at the time.

His well-rounded offensive game, combined with good rebounding and exceptional playmaking for a forward, was a combination that has rarely been seen. Kawhi Leonard is a good comparison, with the Spurs forward an equally elite defender, slightly better scorer but weaker playmaker than Pippen.

Irving is and will be known as a better scorer than Pippen will ever be, and it’s likely why the tweet of Irving over Pippen came to be in the first place. Scoring is such a heavy benchmark for so many people, and highlight reels are more important than an all-around game is. The Bulls legend was a superior defender, rebounder, playmaker than Irving, and overall a far better player. The Cavaliers guard while brilliant and who has time on his side, is not there quite yet.

Pippen is a legend of the game, a Hall of Famer and perhaps the greatest perimeter defender in NBA History to date. The argument will always be that he doesn’t win six titles without the help of Jordan but the opposite rings true — Jordan doesn’t win them without Pippen either.

He wasn’t an alpha dog scorer, but he had a playing style that would have flourished in every era. Imagine him today, his skills are what every wing player is just trying to scratch the surface of.

Don’t forget about Scottie Pippen’s greatness, because the NBA never will.