Pippen or MJ ? Who was the better defender in their primes?

[ILikeTheGrizz]

goddamn he's so sexy

I'm not one of those guys that thinks gay jokes are real funny or are afraid to say they know when a guy is good-looking or not but "goddamn he's so sexy" is an interesting choice of words. "Sexy" by itself could fly, but you put "so" and "goddamn" in there and I start wonderin.

Unless you're a chick, in which case just simmer down.

[NO-KG-AI]

Jordan easily IMO.

[Jordan23Forever]

Jordan easily IMO.

Nah, even I wouldn't say "easily." Pippen was a tremendous defender. Like I said earlier, I feel that they each had certain advantages over the other defensively, though each of them were elite in all defensive areas. I do think that if Jordan just had to score 20 ppg, he would have been an even better defender, since, while he gave consistent effort, he couldn't focus on it to the extent that Pippen did.

If Jordan was just asked to be an all defense, no offense player like, say, Bruce Bowen, he would have been a monster. I'm talking complete lockdown, multiple years of 3+ stl/2+ blk monstrous.

[ponder276]

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I'm not one of those guys that thinks gay jokes are real funny or are afraid to say they know when a guy is good-looking or not but "goddamn he's so sexy" is an interesting choice of words. "Sexy" by itself could fly, but you put "so" and "goddamn" in there and I start wonderin.

Unless you're a chick, in which case just simmer down.

Easy there Tim Hardaway. Nothin wrong with a little man-love for Jordan.

[Harry Palmer]

In terms of what they actually did, Pippen was a much better defender. He played great defense a LOT more than MJ did.

But MJ had similar defensive ability, although probably not as versatile...he just expended his defensive effort a lot more selectively because he needed so much for O, and because he had Pippen to carry most of the load on D.

I know a lot of MJ fans want to deny this, and it's understandable in that when MJ did pick his moments, he usually do so at key times, thus making them memorable, but I remember watching so many Bulls games during that era, and at the time it was acknowledged that Pippen was the guy putting out more on D over the course of a game.

[Jordan23Forever]

In terms of what they actually did, Pippen was a much better defender. He played great defense a LOT more than MJ did.

But MJ had similar defensive ability, although probably not as versatile...he just expended his defensive effort a lot more selectively because he needed so much for O, and because he had Pippen to carry most of the load on D.

I know a lot of MJ fans want to deny this, and it's understandable in that when MJ did pick his moments, he usually do so at key times, thus making them memorable, but I remember watching so many Bulls games during that era, and at the time it was acknowledged that Pippen was the guy putting out more on D over the course of a game.

From 1995-1998, sure. But until '93 (Jordan's first retirement) they were about equal in terms of effort. It's understandable, since Jordan was 3 years older, and their defensive primes did not coincide save for '92/'93.

[kooldude]

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Easy there Tim Hardaway. Nothin wrong with a little man-love for Jordan.

[ILikeTheGrizz]

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Easy there Tim Hardaway. Nothin wrong with a little man-love for Jordan.

Of course there's nothing wrong with it. But I don't expect a dude's dick to be another dude's mouth unless he's actually gay, ya know?

[Bgil]

Phil Jackson said Pippen was the best defensive mind he'd ever seen. Sometimes he'd see a role player make a great defensive adjustment and when questioned about it the most popular answer was "Scottie told me to do it".
When Kobe asked him who he should study to improve his defense he told him to watch tapes of Scottie.

I think that says a lot.

I'd say Pippen was the best perimeter defender I've ever watched. Although Jordan's help defense was probably only rivaled by prime Stockton.

[carrottop12]

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Link or source for that quote? I know Sloan thought very highly of Jordan, but I've never heard him say that. Interesting if true (though I disagree; Jordan is a top 5-10 all-time defender, though; it's mostly bigs up front).

Pregame Jazz show when he does an interview with Hot Rod Hundley every game day.

He was commenting on how what made Jordan special wasn't his scoring ability, it was his perfect defensive skills.

[Typhoon20]

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I'm not one of those guys that thinks gay jokes are real funny or are afraid to say they know when a guy is good-looking or not but "goddamn he's so sexy" is an interesting choice of words. "Sexy" by itself could fly, but you put "so" and "goddamn" in there and I start wonderin.

Unless you're a chick, in which case just simmer down.

Goddamn is an understatement. And he's sexy, not the way he looks (though he's probably the sexiest looking athlete, perhaps ever)
but just his overall aura, finesse, style. The way he dunks, the way he runs the court, the way he sticks his tongue out, the way he dunks on yo ass then looks you deep in the eyes...scary but sexy to watch.

I also said it was his SWAGGA that's sexy, one's own unique style or personality that sets them apart from anyone else. Not their physical outlook.

[Retrolock]

Here's a youtube compilation of MJ's defense. Its good work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4gigN2zMU4

[Farsi Man]

Jordan didn't bring it every night he cheated at times, sagging off and not closing out every time.

[Teen Girl Squad]

I give the slight edge to Pippen only because his defense was so consistent that it allowed Jordan to gamble more on assignments. Luckily Jordan is just about as good so he could gamble without giving up too much/getting burned.