Pippen Writing Memoir, Tells His Side of Story

[The Explorer]

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Basically, he was so upset with the Last Dance that he decided to write a book refuting some of the narratives that come out of it.

“Pippen details how he cringed at being labelled Jordan’s sidekick, and discusses how he could have (and should have) received more respect from the Bulls’ management and the media,” the “UNGUARDED” description reads.

“He discusses what it was like dealing with Jordan on a day-to-day basis, while serving as the real leader within the Bulls locker room.”

“I don’t think it[The Last Dance] was that accurate in terms of really defining what was accomplished in one of the greatest eras of basketball, but also by two of the greatest players – and one could even put that aside and say the greatest team of all time,” Pippen told The Guardian in December 2020.

“I didn’t think those things stood out in the documentary. I thought it was more about Michael trying to uplift himself and to be glorified. I think it also backfired to some degree in that people got a chance to see what kind of personality Michael had,” he explained.

Pippen, in the same interview, said he confronted Jordan over his feelings about the documentary.

“I told him I wasn’t too pleased with it. He accepted it. He said, ‘Hey, you’re right.’ That was pretty much it,” Pippen recalled.

[dougthonus]

I'm torn between thinking Pippen is almost certainly right, and that he is likely going to come of terribly in this and it will totally backfire.

[MrSparkle]

Yeah- I’m with doug.

Just going by perception, how many guys have sung Scottie’s praises over the years? With MJ, everyone from Pax to Kerr to Rodman to Kukoc to Barkley to Bird to Harper to Wennington admits he was an ****, but felt privileged to play with or against him.

I do feel there’s some animosity/mixed-feeling towards MJ from the first 3-peat group (Hodges, Cartwright, Grant). They’ll probably take Scottie’s side- I don’t know how annoyed they were about that very poor display in the Toni clutch game. Then the second 3-peat caught the peak of Scottie complaining about being underpaid and under-appreciated, which wears thin eventually.

Either way, Scottie did punk in the Kukoc game and he didn’t handle his end professionally. He eventually got what was due with a very big pay-out with the Rockets and they had a quick meltdown. Great HOFer but not a top-10. I think everybody acknowledges MJ doesn’t win 6 without him, but you could say the same about several pieces (perfect chemistry and build of the coaching staff, role-players). Great idea to cash on a memoir book as the Last Dance is still on people’s minds.

[The Evidence]

Good for Pippen.

Last Dance was a Jordan propaganda piece.

[TheStig]

Pippen was so flakey and mentally weak at times. Super talented but I don't think he would have ever been as good without MJ pushing his butt everyday. MJ made Pip IMHO. He would have been just a guy or above average starter.

[ATRAIN53]

Interesting.

I guess Scottie still needs to make some $$$.
I'll read it. We love Scottie.

MJ worked in the title probably would help it sell more, but I wonder if he's gotta gets Mikes permission.

Will it be Jordan Rules 2.0?
Does the public still have that much of an appetite for MJ tidbits? (I do)

We know MJ does take this stuff personally, there will probably be a few things that rile him up.
But I think he just retires to his estate and hangs with his people and gets hammered at night.

also kinda wonder what SCP JR thinks of this, esp with the draft looming and him hoping to get picked......

[dougthonus]

Pippen was so flakey and mentally weak at times. Super talented but I don't think he would have ever been as good without MJ pushing his butt everyday. MJ made Pip IMHO. He would have been just a guy or above average starter.

If Pippen was flakey and mentally weak, then a guy like Jordan would have had a negative impact on his career not a positive one. He would have needed someone more nurturing. Mentally weak people don't become mentally strong by being beaten up and having someone drive them like that.

I don't think Jordan made Pippen even remotely, and I think you might be right that he was mentally weak but I think you saw him have his best season ever as soon as Jordan was gone, and he might have done better without him overall. At any rate, it doesn't really matter what could have/might have happened. Jordan was clearly the superstar, Pippen was clearly a tier below him and probably below other top guys in the league as well.

[dougthonus]

Interesting.

I guess Scottie still needs to make some $$$.
I'll read it. We love Scottie.

MJ worked in the title probably would help it sell more, but I wonder if he's gotta gets Mikes permission.

Will it be Jordan Rules 2.0?
Does the public still have that much of an appetite for MJ tidbits? (I do)

We know MJ does take this stuff personally, there will probably be a few things that rile him up.
But I think he just retires to his estate and hangs with his people and gets hammered at night.

also kinda wonder what SCP JR thinks of this, esp with the draft looming and him hoping to get picked......

I don't know if he needs the money so much. It might not hurt, but I'd bet more than anything he was just hurt by how he was portrayed in the last dance and felt he deserved more credit.

I think with the Last Dance, Jordan permanently etched his version of events as facts in the minds of the masses. People who dig deeper and read the various books out there will know Jordan was a real difficult guy to be around, but most people won't really bother with that.

I doubt Pippen's book will add so much to what was already in some of the books on the topics from the 90s.

[TheStig]

Pippen was so flakey and mentally weak at times. Super talented but I don't think he would have ever been as good without MJ pushing his butt everyday. MJ made Pip IMHO. He would have been just a guy or above average starter.

If Pippen was flakey and mentally weak, then a guy like Jordan would have had a negative impact on his career not a positive one. He would have needed someone more nurturing. Mentally weak people don't become mentally strong by being beaten up and having someone drive them like that.

I don't think Jordan made Pippen even remotely, and I think you might be right that he was mentally weak but I think you saw him have his best season ever as soon as Jordan was gone, and he might have done better without him overall. At any rate, it doesn't really matter what could have/might have happened. Jordan was clearly the superstar, Pippen was clearly a tier below him and probably below other top guys in the league as well.

Or MJ molded and trained him in a boot camp environment to prepare him for the tough situations. And then took the toughest moments upon himself.

Oh please, they had one good regular season where they didn't even make it out of the second round. What was their record before MJ came back the following year? .500 ish..... And that's taking a Pip that had already been in the MJ training process through 5-6 years and 3 titles. I was speaking about him staying in Seattle from day 1. I've just seen Pip choke away or get injured right at the key moment too many times. The Jazz last series game, the migrane game 7 against Detroit, the inbounds vs the knicks. I think he'd crumble being the #1. Playing next to the best closer, most consistent and best #1 ever elevated him.

[TheStig]

Interesting.

I guess Scottie still needs to make some $$$.
I'll read it. We love Scottie.

MJ worked in the title probably would help it sell more, but I wonder if he's gotta gets Mikes permission.

Will it be Jordan Rules 2.0?
Does the public still have that much of an appetite for MJ tidbits? (I do)

We know MJ does take this stuff personally, there will probably be a few things that rile him up.
But I think he just retires to his estate and hangs with his people and gets hammered at night.

also kinda wonder what SCP JR thinks of this, esp with the draft looming and him hoping to get picked......

Be careful saying that, he might sue you.....

[dougthonus]

Or MJ molded and trained him in a boot camp environment to prepare him for the tough situations. And then took the toughest moments upon himself.

Not that it really matters, but if Pippen responded to that type of environment, then he wasn't mentally weak.

Oh please, they had one good regular season where they didn't even make it out of the second round.

Ignoring the end results in the playoffs which were decided by one of the worst officiating calls in the history of basketball, Pippen's numbers that year were easily the best of his career. He set career highs in virtually everything from basic to advanced statistics. The next year where Jordan was there half the year was similar. The team result isn't necessarily relevant, you would expect a team to have considerable drop off in team result by subtracting the greatest player to ever play basketball from the team.

And that's taking a Pip that had already been in the MJ training process through 5-6 years and 3 titles. I was speaking about him staying in Seattle from day 1. I've just seen Pip choke away or get injured right at the key moment too many times.

I agree that Pippen wasn't a superstar and also don't think he was particularly mentally strong. I only disagree that Jordan made him. Mentally weak people don't get better under pressure, take it from a mentally weak person who has been coached by guys who applied extreme pressure and guys who supplied nurturing and patience. If you're mentally weak and fragile, you absolutely need the second of those things.

Maybe to make it more clear, I think Pippen's legacy is enhanced by Jordan. I agree with your assertion that I don't think he would have come through in the clutch in the biggest moments of the biggest games and with Jordan that burden wasn't placed upon him. I don't think his individual skills or play or stats were enhanced by being next to Jordan and may have been better as a lead player on a team through his prime. He would have been remembered as a worse player even with better stats though, because those other holes in his game would have been more prominent.

If you're driving at that second thing, then I agree. Pippen will be remembered as a better player due to Jordan instead of as a player that could never get it done when it mattered. In terms of his actual growth as a player, I think it would have been more without Jordan. That said, all hypothetical what if scenarios either way.

[kodo]

I don't know if he was mentally weak after his early years, but rookies are rookies and Scottie came from nowhere, he wasn't on a big stage before the NBA.

It's more that he had no real consistent offensive game. The bad call at the end of the NY series was terrible, but it's not like Scottie was a smooth offensive leader. He shot like 40% FG in that series, Ewing was far better. The team with the better player won that series, call or no call. In the final series with Utah, Pip was 15 ppg on 41% FG. He was a special defender, historically, but that was his role. Even on the dream team and international teams, his job was mainly defense.

If it was Finals Game 7, 8 seconds left, Bulls are inbounding to Scottie no Michael, what shot are you even hoping for? Pull up jumper? God no. Post-up? No. What else is there? No 3 pointer for sure. Scottie was best when the other team screwed up and he's in the open court with no defenders in front or there's a clear lane to the basket.

Bulls won games with him as a leader but it was mostly on defense, our offense was extremely average, 14th. The first full season with Michael back the offense jumped to #1, that's an incredible leap for 1 person.

I do think he wasn't given enough credit, the Bulls won because of offense (MJ) and defense (Scottie). He should have been given a ton more money than what he got from Chicago. I was happy he was finally paid, sad it took other teams to do it.

It's also sad most of the social media on this book is about Pip's tipping

[TheJordanRule]

Pippen was so flakey and mentally weak at times. Super talented but I don't think he would have ever been as good without MJ pushing his butt everyday. MJ made Pip IMHO. He would have been just a guy or above average starter.

Jordan didn't need to be a bully to make his teammates better. They probably played worse because he was such a prima donna. How many guys have been mentally broken or later expressed how much they hated playing with Jordan. The list is too long. Jordan did that crap to fuel himself more than anything. Hell, what's more interesting than anything we saw in that documentary are probably the clips that didn't get released of Jordan's even more out of control behavior.

Also, Pip was a beast. During the 1993-1994 season--the year that MJ was out swinging bats and catching fly balls-- Pippen basically put up Lebronish numbers... except with a ton more defense:
PPG 22.0
RPG 8.7
APG 5.6
SPG 2.9
PER 23.2

The PPG is misleading. This was in a bygone era where guys didn't typically average 20. Pip was 8th in scoring that year, and second in steals. The claim that Pippen would have been just a guy without Jordan is ridiculous. I don't think anyone ever played his level of defense at the small forward position, while being such a complete player on the offensive end. There were SEVERAL seasons in which Pip averaged 2.4+ steals and 1+ block at the same time to go with strong scoring, rebounding and assist numbers. He was an absolute freak in this regard. Claims that Pippen was mentally weak are overblown. On a team where Pip was more featured, they would've paid him what he was worth. He wouldn't have done that sitting out of the game horse crap if they had. He could really see the floor, too. Pip wasn't quite the intuitive passer that Lebron is, but if he'd been on a half decent roster that allowed him to be THE featured guy, I believe he would have put up gaudy PG assist numbers. Without Mike, Scottie's supporting cast was basically at the level of today's Bulls team... or worse. The fact that he pulled them into the playoffs at all is a miracle.

[MrFortune3]

There was definitely some glorification going on in the last dance but it's not unknown about Scottie's behavior.

I don't think Jordan or Pip made the other. They helped fuel one another and that led to heights that they likely never would have achieved by themselves.
The problem with playing with MJ was that no matter how great you were, you were never anything more than his help. Top stars in the NBA all have egos, you don't get this far in basketball if you do not.

Jordan told his version of events, Scottie will tell his side. The truth probably falls somewhere in between.

[TheStig]

Pippen was so flakey and mentally weak at times. Super talented but I don't think he would have ever been as good without MJ pushing his butt everyday. MJ made Pip IMHO. He would have been just a guy or above average starter.

Jordan didn't need to be a bully to make his teammates better. They probably played worse because he was such a prima donna. How many guys have been mentally broken or later expressed how much they hated playing with Jordan. The list is too long. Jordan did that crap to fuel himself more than anything. Hell, what's more interesting than anything we saw in that documentary are probably the clips that didn't get released of Jordan's even more out of control behavior.

Also, Pip was a beast. During the 1993-1994 season--the year that MJ was out swinging bats and catching fly balls-- Pippen basically put up Lebronish numbers... except with a ton more defense:
PPG 22.0
RPG 8.7
APG 5.6
SPG 2.9
PER 23.2

The PPG is misleading. This was in a bygone era where guys didn't typically average 20. Pip was 8th in scoring that year, and second in steals. The claim that Pippen would have been just a guy without Jordan is ridiculous. I don't think anyone ever played his level of defense at the small forward position, while being such a complete player on the offensive end. There were SEVERAL seasons in which Pip averaged 2.4+ steals and 1+ block at the same time to go with strong scoring, rebounding and assist numbers. He was an absolute freak in this regard. Claims that Pippen was mentally weak are overblown. On a team where Pip was more featured, they would've paid him what he was worth. He wouldn't have done that sitting out of the game horse crap if they had. He could really see the floor, too. Pip wasn't quite the intuitive passer that Lebron is, but if he'd been on a half decent roster that allowed him to be THE featured guy, I believe he would have put up gaudy PG assist numbers. Without Mike, Scottie's supporting cast was basically at the level of today's Bulls team... or worse. The fact that he pulled them into the playoffs at all is a miracle.

Lebron has only one year that he ever averaged less than 22 ppg. His rookie year. After that, never averaged under 25ppg. Same thing with the per. And he's lead the league in per multiple years. Bron was also immensely more efficient. He's also the 2nd best player of all time. His abilities, impact, leadership and pretty much everything outside of free throw shooting and defense is vastly better than Pippen. Let's not get carried away.

It's funny you basically describe MJ as the antichrist. One would imagine these hateful and bullying and extreme tactics wouldn't have translated to championships, great chemistry and titles. If Pip was so turned off, he was a unrestricted FA and could have signed elsewhere. He didn't, he hung out on the tv and even asked for MJ to come back? WHy, he respected what he did and was sitting at .500 record as the leader.

[HomoSapien]

Well, I'm definitely going to buy a copy. Am I the only one who felt like Pippen didn't even come across that badly in The Last Dance? I feel like he was a little under mentioned at times, but if anything I walked away feeling even more sorry about how he was treated by management.

[TheStig]

Or MJ molded and trained him in a boot camp environment to prepare him for the tough situations. And then took the toughest moments upon himself.

Not that it really matters, but if Pippen responded to that type of environment, then he wasn't mentally weak.

Oh please, they had one good regular season where they didn't even make it out of the second round.

Ignoring the end results in the playoffs which were decided by one of the worst officiating calls in the history of basketball, Pippen's numbers that year were easily the best of his career. He set career highs in virtually everything from basic to advanced statistics. The next year where Jordan was there half the year was similar. The team result isn't necessarily relevant, you would expect a team to have considerable drop off in team result by subtracting the greatest player to ever play basketball from the team.

And that's taking a Pip that had already been in the MJ training process through 5-6 years and 3 titles. I was speaking about him staying in Seattle from day 1. I've just seen Pip choke away or get injured right at the key moment too many times.

I agree that Pippen wasn't a superstar and also don't think he was particularly mentally strong. I only disagree that Jordan made him. Mentally weak people don't get better under pressure, take it from a mentally weak person who has been coached by guys who applied extreme pressure and guys who supplied nurturing and patience. If you're mentally weak and fragile, you absolutely need the second of those things.

Maybe to make it more clear, I think Pippen's legacy is enhanced by Jordan. I agree with your assertion that I don't think he would have come through in the clutch in the biggest moments of the biggest games and with Jordan that burden wasn't placed upon him. I don't think his individual skills or play or stats were enhanced by being next to Jordan and may have been better as a lead player on a team through his prime. He would have been remembered as a worse player even with better stats though, because those other holes in his game would have been more prominent.

If you're driving at that second thing, then I agree. Pippen will be remembered as a better player due to Jordan instead of as a player that could never get it done when it mattered. In terms of his actual growth as a player, I think it would have been more without Jordan. That said, all hypothetical what if scenarios either way.

I think MJ made him. He worked out with him before and after practice, he pushed him, you could even see the muscle development as well. Remember MJ was the only one having good series against the pistons. MJ and Phil helped build up the weaker guys they needed in Grant and Pip who struggled.

Of course Pip had his best numbers but his usage increased.

I think Pip is a really good player. A legit 2 way star. But I don't think he had the makings of leading teams to deep playoff runs. He shrank in big moments a lot of times. He wasn't a great scorer. I also think working out with MJ raised the level of his game to a level he wouldn't have acheieved on his own.

[Dan Z]

Well, I'm definitely going to buy a copy. Am I the only one who felt like Pippen didn't even come across that badly in The Last Dance? I feel like he was a little under mentioned at times, but if anything I walked away feeling even more sorry about how he was treated by management.

I agree. I didn't think he was treated that bad in "The Last Dance". If I remember correct didn't Jordan even give him credit? As in "I don't win without him".

Sure they talked about Pippen being upset about his contract, and his migraine game, but that was already publicly known.

[TheGOATRises007]

Pippen is being a clown.

Jordan literally said, "You can't talk MJ without mentioning Scottie Pippen."

Give me a break too about him claiming he was the leader.

[dougthonus]

Well, I'm definitely going to buy a copy. Am I the only one who felt like Pippen didn't even come across that badly in The Last Dance? I feel like he was a little under mentioned at times, but if anything I walked away feeling even more sorry about how he was treated by management.

I think it was more that they just didn't make him look as good as he thought he deserved to look. The Last Dance made it feel like 70% Jordan and 30% everyone else combined. Pippen probably felt the ratio was way out of wack.

That said, while Pippen was critical in some ways, I think you pair Jordan with any other top 15 player in that era and you probably get similar results. You couldn't pair Pippen with literally any other player in the history of basketball and get similar results.