Scottie in his book "Unguarded": MJ & I were never close friends & I was always the better teammate.

[Ugly Duckling]

I've read at least 10 different books on that era, and 2 out of 3 ain't bad:

1: It's obvious Jordan/Pippen aren't close friends by just watching them over the past 30 years
2: Everyone from the era that had something to say about it, said Jordan was a complete dick as a teammate and Scottie was the guy who lifted them up
3: Jordan was a superstar before Pippen even arrived on the team, GTFO.

As for Scottie, I noted before in the Luc documentary thread, he just seems unwell. He looks totally unhinged lately and the death of his oldest son I'm sure is weighing on him heavily. He seems deeply unhappy and in need of help. I also wouldn't be surprised if he has some money troubles too based on some of his decisions. That said, hopefully he's already doing better as most of the stuff like this book and his Luc interview were dated by the time we saw them and could be trailing indicators.

there was an interview of him several months ago denouncing mj that shocked me. i figured it was a marketing ploy for this book combined with what mj said in the last dance about how pip will never live down the kukoc incident. thought mj was harsh there and that the documentary didnt emphasize pips importance enough. that combined with his own complex of being looked at as riding the goats coattails and memories of mj getting after him a couple times prob triggered him. didnt know his son died. pip is the man regardless

[Ugly Duckling]

i honestly feel like they were closer than they're letting on, but had a fallout after. pip was prob a bit jealous that mj was a billionaire and though comfortable, wasn't even close. pip didnt think the skill level/contribution gap between him and mj was nearly as big as the gap in their fame and that mj didnt do anything to rectify that (save his hof speech). and he's right. its the culture we live in

[The Explorer]

Read on Twitter

This is also a poorly thought out take by Pippen. A surprisingly rudimentary way of analyzing a fantasy matchup.

Pippen in his prime was a lot better than Durant on defense,no question about it,he was one of better defensive players of all times.And Pippen could do all things Durant makes today so there´s nothing wrong in taking him or KD in a fantasy series against the Warriors.I really believe the 96-98 Bulls would win such series 4-2 with the 96 team(even with the same players but younger) possibly winning by 4-0 or 4-1.People who watched how dominant was the Bulls from 1996 season can only confirm that truth,you have Jordan eager to prove he was still the best and Rodman hungry to prove he could still play in high level.Nobody could have won a playoff series over the Bulls that season.

That's all fine but that analysis is just very poor. its something you might see from teenagers debating on twitter, not from an all time great who is claiming to be a better teammate than Jordan.

[erlim]

I remember slam magazine having a hypothetical matchup of Durant vs Pippen, and they called it a draw, but that was before Durant was Durant. Even Pippen at 6’8” with a 7’3” wingspan can’t bother Durant. Nobody can.

[The Explorer]

Read on Twitter

This tweet is making the rounds. More fuel to the notion that this book is all about money & publicity.

[Jo Jo English]

Ended up getting an e-mail from our library that I had this book on hold and it was there waiting for me to pick it up. Apparently I put my name on a list for it at some point in the past few months and had totally forgotten about it.

Ran and picked it up today. Should be interesting to occasionally page through over the next couple of weeks.

Let me know how badly it'll crush my childhood. Still haven't decided if I want to read it.

Finished it tonight. It was worth the read. Following the team as closely as I did during those years gave me a pretty good baseline of knowledge about most of these stories, but the book definitely added detail and context that I had never known, or long since forgotten. I did enjoy the parts of the book that focused on his childhood and his early basketball career in high school and college especially.

You've likely already read just about everything controversial from the book during the pre-release previews and the talk on social media. Scottie definitely has a chip in his shoulder that he is vocal about in the book, but when has that ever not been a sizable part of his public persona during the past few decades? None of this should really shock longtime Bulls fans.

I thought it was worth my time. Recommended.

[troza]

And really this isn't all that surprising. Look at Kobe and Shaq. If anything, today's game is too buddy-buddy, where you're not only friends with your teammates, you're friends with your opponents and do photo sessions on the court after losing.

The irony - Shaq and Kobe were always being compared to MJ & Scottie - how their selfishness ruined all the potential , how they couldn’t be like the Bulls pair- & to just suck it up and win some more..

& in the end. Kobe and Shaq had a more meaningful relationship as they got older & eventually patched things up for the better. Recognizing who they are as individuals and that they actually did their best under the circumstances.

unlike with Mj & Scottie - looks like that ship has sailed or perhaps , it never really was there..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is perhaps more impressive about this is that they weren't good friends, they weren't real close, and despite that they recognized they needed and wanted each other in the moment and won six titles and didn't try to kick each other off the team or have any other bad blood while playing together.

Jordan threatened to walk away if the Bulls traded Pippen for Kemp, which Jerry Krause wanted to do, and Jordan stopped it from happening.

These aren't a set of guys whom with some time apart reflected on what they had and appreciated it later. These are guys who appreciated it in the moment and did everything they could to preserve it. It was only after the moment when Pippen's own demons caused his world to slowly unravel over the following 20 years in many ways.

I'm pretty sure that it was Pippen for McCarty and that Jordan told George Karl (while retired for the first time) to trade Kemp for Pippen.

Anyway... the point you told is valid so... no argument here.


And Pippen saying that Jordan destroyed the game... lol!

[kodo]

Scott Williams has some things to say about MJ.

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20211118/it-just-makes-me-sad-ex-bulls-forward-williams-troubled-by-pippens-shots-at-jordan

I text him and he always responds," Williams said. "I know he's on the golf course or doing his business with his car or the Hornets. That I can appreciate. Like, 'Hey, I see you're going to be on Good Morning America to pump up The Last Dance. Are you up? You ready?' Little stuff like that.

"He's like, 'Yeah, my brother, I'm up. I'm ready to go.' Little things like that mean a lot. I know plenty of times I've texted Pip and it's been radio silence. Or Amare Stoudemire, 'Hey, happy birthday, Stat,' and then crickets. So you tell me who's been the better teammate over the years?"

"I thought if you were professional around MJ and you came to bring it every day and work hard and not back down in games and give it your all -- you wouldn't have any problems with Mike. You just wouldn't.

"I think guys that just wanted to live the NBA lifestyle, wanted the fame and the money and the cars and the clothes and the women. You were going to have a problem with Mike, absolutely 100%. He wasn't going to stand for that."

[Jcool0]

The irony - Shaq and Kobe were always being compared to MJ & Scottie - how their selfishness ruined all the potential , how they couldn’t be like the Bulls pair- & to just suck it up and win some more..

& in the end. Kobe and Shaq had a more meaningful relationship as they got older & eventually patched things up for the better. Recognizing who they are as individuals and that they actually did their best under the circumstances.

unlike with Mj & Scottie - looks like that ship has sailed or perhaps , it never really was there..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is perhaps more impressive about this is that they weren't good friends, they weren't real close, and despite that they recognized they needed and wanted each other in the moment and won six titles and didn't try to kick each other off the team or have any other bad blood while playing together.

Jordan threatened to walk away if the Bulls traded Pippen for Kemp, which Jerry Krause wanted to do, and Jordan stopped it from happening.

These aren't a set of guys whom with some time apart reflected on what they had and appreciated it later. These are guys who appreciated it in the moment and did everything they could to preserve it. It was only after the moment when Pippen's own demons caused his world to slowly unravel over the following 20 years in many ways.

I'm pretty sure that it was Pippen for McCarty and that Jordan told George Karl (while retired for the first time) to trade Kemp for Pippen.

Anyway... the point you told is valid so... no argument here.


And Pippen saying that Jordan destroyed the game... lol!

I always liked the trade rumor around 1998 of LA saying we will trade you Kobe or Eddie Jones for Pippen and Krause being like i want both and LA going no.

[Michael Jackson]

i honestly feel like they were closer than they're letting on, but had a fallout after. pip was prob a bit jealous that mj was a billionaire and though comfortable, wasn't even close. pip didnt think the skill level/contribution gap between him and mj was nearly as big as the gap in their fame and that mj didnt do anything to rectify that (save his hof speech). and he's right. its the culture we live in

He has always been terrible with money. He can be jealous about it all he wants but Michael created Shoe marketing and that is where the financial gap is primarily fun.

Be like mike is way more catchy than “don’t tip, if I could be like Pip”.

I love Pippen but his off court stuff even at the time was terrible. I get being jealous and all but he is completely unrealistic

[umfan83]

What is perhaps more impressive about this is that they weren't good friends, they weren't real close, and despite that they recognized they needed and wanted each other in the moment and won six titles and didn't try to kick each other off the team or have any other bad blood while playing together.

Jordan threatened to walk away if the Bulls traded Pippen for Kemp, which Jerry Krause wanted to do, and Jordan stopped it from happening.

These aren't a set of guys whom with some time apart reflected on what they had and appreciated it later. These are guys who appreciated it in the moment and did everything they could to preserve it. It was only after the moment when Pippen's own demons caused his world to slowly unravel over the following 20 years in many ways.

I'm pretty sure that it was Pippen for McCarty and that Jordan told George Karl (while retired for the first time) to trade Kemp for Pippen.

Anyway... the point you told is valid so... no argument here.


And Pippen saying that Jordan destroyed the game... lol!

I always liked the trade rumor around 1998 of LA saying we will trade you Kobe or Eddie Jones for Pippen and Krause being like i want both and LA going no.

It’s crazy how many time Kobe was connected to the Bulls over the years. There’s that rumor, the rumor that Kobe was house shopping in Chicago during this FA (possibly the first “star shopping for homes in another city” rumor!) and then the very public trade rumors in 2006.

[troza]

What is perhaps more impressive about this is that they weren't good friends, they weren't real close, and despite that they recognized they needed and wanted each other in the moment and won six titles and didn't try to kick each other off the team or have any other bad blood while playing together.

Jordan threatened to walk away if the Bulls traded Pippen for Kemp, which Jerry Krause wanted to do, and Jordan stopped it from happening.

These aren't a set of guys whom with some time apart reflected on what they had and appreciated it later. These are guys who appreciated it in the moment and did everything they could to preserve it. It was only after the moment when Pippen's own demons caused his world to slowly unravel over the following 20 years in many ways.

I'm pretty sure that it was Pippen for McCarty and that Jordan told George Karl (while retired for the first time) to trade Kemp for Pippen.

Anyway... the point you told is valid so... no argument here.


And Pippen saying that Jordan destroyed the game... lol!

I always liked the trade rumor around 1998 of LA saying we will trade you Kobe or Eddie Jones for Pippen and Krause being like i want both and LA going no.

I actually never knew about that rumor.