Who would do a better job limiting Peak MJ: Pippen or Tony Allen?

[mdonnelly1989]

Let's say MJ is at his all time peak scoring. Maybe 1990?

Who does a better job limiting his scoring?

[tsherkin]

Let's say MJ is at his all time peak scoring. Maybe 1990?

Who does a better job limiting his scoring?

There weren't really individual defenders who did a hot job on Jordan at his peak. It wasn't until he'd slowed down during the second three-peat that Payton was able to get to him. Team defenses were more a problem. Allen was a little shorter, not close to athletic enough to really keep up with Jordan's speed+handles combo, and in no way prepared to deal with peak MJ where he had his athleticism and his jumper like during the first three-peat.

[70sFan]

I'd pick Allen, you need speed against Jordan and Tony was plenty strong as well. I'm afraid that Pippen didn't have enough quickness to stay in front of peak MJ.

Pippen wasn't a shutdown man defender in general. He was capable of doing that, but it's not his style. You want him to dominate the game with his help defense.

[LukaTheGOAT]

Going Tony Allen. I think you would want more speed on Jordan to stop his drives. Allen also has adequate strength to perhaps be disruptive in the post.

Pippen had many incredible strengths as a defender, however, I do believe top-shelf quick offensive players could give him a bit of trouble. Per Ben Taylor, "Still, Scottie wasn’t blessed with the quickest feet and was vulnerable to quick dribble penetration. Most top-shelf perimeter defenders do not make a lot of errors, but some will rack them up trying to contain elite penetrators.2 In my sample, Pippen had a relatively high error rate, around 2 per 100 (16th percentile), but he offset this by suffocating slower opponents. "

MJ having arguably the best first step of all-time I think makes for a worse matchup for Pippen than it would be Allen.

[giordunk]

This stuff is hard to measure but suppose that Tony Allen is a better individual defender, Scottie Pippen has an edge just by pure virtue of knowing Michael so well over the course of his career. It's like how Seth Curry is a better defender of Stephen Curry than other similarly leveled defenders.

[Im Your Father]

Tony Allen. I think you want someone with elite lateral quickness.

[90sAllDecade]

Besides the height and length argument, Tony has a good case for being a better defender than Pippen, Kawhi, etc. Often the best defensive player isn't necessarily the tallest or longest wingspan. Personally, I think he should be ranked higher in our all-time defensive player rankings.

[Above The Rim]

For 25 minutes I think TA could make Jordan work harder. That was his role to go balls to the wall for a shorter time period. Most guys with his quickness and wingspan don’t commit to becoming a defensive specialists like he did. We never really got to see what Pippen could do in that kind of role. So I’ll take TA