Pippen Writing Memoir, Tells His Side of Story

[twyzted]

slightly better prime iguodala. Thats a really good basketball player. Ive never found someone who thinks any less of him.

Slightly better? Nah. Remember the season Michael took off, Pippen led the Bulls in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocks. I remember that season really well, because it was the first I had cable tv, and WGN had all the Bulls games, so I saw at least half of them - even though I wasn't a Bulls fan. He was amazing - better than the impressive stats - was the best defensive wing I ever saw, their primary ball-handler, the best finisher in the game at that time, finished 2nd to Ewing in MVP but probably should have gotten it. My negative on him - he did have some years where he had a bad back and was not the player he was in his best years - in those years, it was fair to call him MJ's sidekick.

Hakeem won the mvp in 94 pippen came 3rd with 7% of the votes but sure Ewing stole 5th place from him

[Sedale Threatt]

This is why it is so difficult to find the perfect #2 because that guy has to have the following:
- Lead the team when the #1 is injured/off the court (see 1994)
- subjugate your statistical goals for the #1 guy/benefit of the team
- Lower your ego for whatever the #1 guy wants to do on the court

This is why Scottie got so mad in that playoff game vs the Knicks when Phil drew up that last shot for Kukoc, he was thinking, "Finally I get to have the last shot and be the man." That may sound petty and it is, but it is a natural human desire and it was taken away from him.

This is the same thing Kobe went through with Shaq and I'm sure a few teammates of Lebron.....

But how many players have ever done what Pippen did even in a regular season game, let alone the playoffs? It was heat of the moment, a split-second decision that I never really held it against him given that I loved his game and thought he was a magnificent player. I never really liked Jordan -- hero ball isn't my thing -- but Pippen was extremely easy to like. But that's a totally chicken sh*t thing to do, pretty much unheard of in NBA history despite the metric crap ton of enormous egos that have come through over the years, and illustrates just how thin-skinned and sensitive he can be.

[Lockdown504090]

slightly better prime iguodala. Thats a really good basketball player. Ive never found someone who thinks any less of him.

Slightly better? Nah. Remember the season Michael took off, Pippen led the Bulls in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocks. I remember that season really well, because it was the first I had cable tv, and WGN had all the Bulls games, so I saw at least half of them - even though I wasn't a Bulls fan. He was amazing - better than the impressive stats - was the best defensive wing I ever saw, their primary ball-handler, the best finisher in the game at that time, finished 2nd to Ewing in MVP but probably should have gotten it. My negative on him - he did have some years where he had a bad back and was not the player he was in his best years - in those years, it was fair to call him MJ's sidekick.

Well they are certainly both two way playmaking forwards with great athleticism who were great in transition.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/805126-pippen-20-andre-iguodala-could-be-the-nbas-most-underrated-player
https://heatnation.com/media/steve-kerr-confidently-compares-andre-iguodala-to-scottie-pippen/
https://warriorswire.usatoday.com/2018/05/18/scottie-pippen-iguodala-comparison/
NBA media thought so and both kerr and pippen agree, numbers and tape also stack up as well. IDK who else to compare him to because it fits perfectly. We just underrate iggy for all the reasons pippen gets underrated.

[Kingshadaine]

Most overrated, bitter and ungrateful player in NBA history.

Wow I thought LeBron fans were bad but Jordan fans has them beat by far, just look at this thread, everyone is basically saying pippen should worship the ground Jordan walks on.

[Michael Jackson]

He's like your Oakley.

No Oakley is my Oakley. I cried like MJ when they traded the Oak Tree for Cartwright! I was young and Oakley was my guy at that point.

Fair enough. My comments were more "black sheep of the org" than personal.

Pippen wasn’t even the black sheep. He got the proper amount of respect. MJ just got more. The org took good care of him at the time they traded him, his last contract and post career.

[Michael Jackson]

Most overrated, bitter and ungrateful player in NBA history.

Wow I thought LeBron fans were bad but Jordan fans has them beat by far, just look at this thread, everyone is basically saying pippen should worship the ground Jordan walks on.

That’s not it at all though. Pippen does owe MJ and the situation a lot though. If he is drafted by say the kings no one woukd ever kniw who Pip is, he doesn’t develop into the player he is and he never has a ring nor an Olympic medal. In fairness John Paxson may have never been a GM if not for being on that team and Steve Kerrs career is altered too if not hitting that **** with the Bulls. SA likely doesn’t sign him and he doesn’t get the GS opportunity. It’s not that these players don’t deserve respect and that they haven’t earned their place either they absolutely did, but with out the gravity MJ brought with him, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did imho.

[Ruzious]

slightly better prime iguodala. Thats a really good basketball player. Ive never found someone who thinks any less of him.

Slightly better? Nah. Remember the season Michael took off, Pippen led the Bulls in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocks. I remember that season really well, because it was the first I had cable tv, and WGN had all the Bulls games, so I saw at least half of them - even though I wasn't a Bulls fan. He was amazing - better than the impressive stats - was the best defensive wing I ever saw, their primary ball-handler, the best finisher in the game at that time, finished 2nd to Ewing in MVP but probably should have gotten it. My negative on him - he did have some years where he had a bad back and was not the player he was in his best years - in those years, it was fair to call him MJ's sidekick.

Hakeem won the mvp in 94 pippen came 3rd with 7% of the votes but sure Ewing stole 5th place from him

Fair enough - thanks for the correction.

[BallinBug]

Pippen is such a disgusting joke. Still constantly looking for validation. He should be happy that because of Jordan a lot of fools think he's a top 50 player of all time. Without MJ he's nothing but a role player. He wouldn't crack the top 200. He's Julius Randle. Lol at calling himself one of two great players - those Bulls had one great player, MJ. Pippen you weren't even his sidekick, you were a glorified role player that got to play some defense. Hope his book flops and he goes bankrupt.

[dhsilv2]

This is why it is so difficult to find the perfect #2 because that guy has to have the following:
- Lead the team when the #1 is injured/off the court (see 1994)
- subjugate your statistical goals for the #1 guy/benefit of the team
- Lower your ego for whatever the #1 guy wants to do on the court

This is why Scottie got so mad in that playoff game vs the Knicks when Phil drew up that last shot for Kukoc, he was thinking, "Finally I get to have the last shot and be the man." That may sound petty and it is, but it is a natural human desire and it was taken away from him.

This is the same thing Kobe went through with Shaq and I'm sure a few teammates of Lebron.....

But how many players have ever done what Pippen did even in a regular season game, let alone the playoffs? It was heat of the moment, a split-second decision that I never really held it against him given that I loved his game and thought he was a magnificent player. I never really liked Jordan -- hero ball isn't my thing -- but Pippen was extremely easy to like. But that's a totally chicken sh*t thing to do, pretty much unheard of in NBA history despite the metric crap ton of enormous egos that have come through over the years, and illustrates just how thin-skinned and sensitive he can be.

Do you remember Jordan games? Every game, everywhere the camera's flashing, the just insanity every time they called his name. An they weren't bulls games, "we're going to see Jordan" was what people would say. Even if it was their home team...if you weren't a hardcore fan of the team of course.

No player has ever had to work around THAT! So yeah...I kinda sorta get G35's point. Awful thing that Pippen did, but having to work with the monster that MJ was AND to be under a shadow like nobody has or likely ever will see again, I can see why he did it.

[dhsilv2]

Most overrated, bitter and ungrateful player in NBA history.

Wow I thought LeBron fans were bad but Jordan fans has them beat by far, just look at this thread, everyone is basically saying pippen should worship the ground Jordan walks on.

That’s not it at all though. Pippen does owe MJ and the situation a lot though. If he is drafted by say the kings no one woukd ever kniw who Pip is, he doesn’t develop into the player he is and he never has a ring nor an Olympic medal. In fairness John Paxson may have never been a GM if not for being on that team and Steve Kerrs career is altered too if not hitting that **** with the Bulls. SA likely doesn’t sign him and he doesn’t get the GS opportunity. It’s not that these players don’t deserve respect and that they haven’t earned their place either they absolutely did, but with out the gravity MJ brought with him, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did imho.

Pippen was going to develop into a star anywhere he want. He was just that athletic and he had the tools to become as skilled as he was. The only real question is how much better would Pippen have been if he'd been around other stars who weren't complete and total dicks like Jordan, who was a horrible leader.

[DavidSterned]

Pippen is so delusional.

Any time people bring up his "leadership" without MJ, I always go back to that 1995 season with the Bulls where Jordan swept into the rescue.

These clips are from the month before Jordan's return

Watch on YouTube

;t=54s

Watch on YouTube

;t=4s

The Bulls were 34-31 and barely clinging to relevance at that point, with a short tempered and short-sighted Pippen desperately looking for a way out.

Pippen still has a tough time reconciling facts like this, in addition to other regrettable moments in his career that he seems to refuse to face. Like the migraine, the bad decision to sign the long term contract, the play he sat out against NY, and his selfish behavior early in the Last Dance season where he delayed surgery and again publically demanded a trade

Watch on YouTube

And people still have the nerve to question Jordan's role in guiding that team when the worst they could really say about him was that he liked to gamble and his competitiveness rose to dick levels?

[Sedale Threatt]

Do you remember Jordan games? Every game, everywhere the camera's flashing, the just insanity every time they called his name. An they weren't bulls games, "we're going to see Jordan" was what people would say. Even if it was their home team...if you weren't a hardcore fan of the team of course.

No player has ever had to work around THAT! So yeah...I kinda sorta get G35's point. Awful thing that Pippen did, but having to work with the monster that MJ was AND to be under a shadow like nobody has or likely ever will see again, I can see why he did it.

I mean, I guess. I never had that kind of ego so I can't relate to needing to be "The Man." (I have plenty of other character defects to make up for that.) But again, we have had tons and tons and tons of egos come through the NBA over the years, all kinds of guys who were focused on touches and shots and roles, and again, I can't remember a single player begging off a crucial end-of-game possession in a playoff game like that. It's unheard of, regardless of circumstances. But if you had to come up with a list of players who might do that, Pippen would be on it given how indisputably thin-skinned and sensitive he is.

Even the need to write this book ... obviously "The Last Dance" was very much The Jordan Show. Other than Babe Ruth, we've probably never had an athlete glorified and mythologized to the extent he was. And he's extremely lucky for that, because it glossed over what a gaping @sshole he was, something that would get a LOT more attention today in the 24/7 mediascape. But at the same time, I thought Jordan bent over backwards in the doc to acknowledge Pippen. At one point he said something to the extent of, when you speak about me, you have to speak about Scottie too. And that's not me trying to defend Jordan; I was never a fan and I have zero respect for the way he treated people.

But at the same time, I don't really understand what Pippen is upset about outside of this being yet another example of him getting in his feelings about something.

[GrindCityHustle]

Put some R on that name. He already knows he wasn't better than Jordan. It was more about the money, always

Watch on YouTube

[Chanel Bomber]

Wow I thought LeBron fans were bad but Jordan fans has them beat by far, just look at this thread, everyone is basically saying pippen should worship the ground Jordan walks on.

That’s not it at all though. Pippen does owe MJ and the situation a lot though. If he is drafted by say the kings no one woukd ever kniw who Pip is, he doesn’t develop into the player he is and he never has a ring nor an Olympic medal. In fairness John Paxson may have never been a GM if not for being on that team and Steve Kerrs career is altered too if not hitting that **** with the Bulls. SA likely doesn’t sign him and he doesn’t get the GS opportunity. It’s not that these players don’t deserve respect and that they haven’t earned their place either they absolutely did, but with out the gravity MJ brought with him, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did imho.

Pippen was going to develop into a star anywhere he want. He was just that athletic and he had the tools to become as skilled as he was. The only real question is how much better would Pippen have been if he'd been around other stars who weren't complete and total dicks like Jordan, who was a horrible leader.

Pippen couldn't beat anybody off the dribble

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

This is what Doug Christie looks like if he had Jordan.

Pippen's relevance is built off it. Completely over rated by people who never watched him play.

[Michael Jackson]

Wow I thought LeBron fans were bad but Jordan fans has them beat by far, just look at this thread, everyone is basically saying pippen should worship the ground Jordan walks on.

That’s not it at all though. Pippen does owe MJ and the situation a lot though. If he is drafted by say the kings no one woukd ever kniw who Pip is, he doesn’t develop into the player he is and he never has a ring nor an Olympic medal. In fairness John Paxson may have never been a GM if not for being on that team and Steve Kerrs career is altered too if not hitting that **** with the Bulls. SA likely doesn’t sign him and he doesn’t get the GS opportunity. It’s not that these players don’t deserve respect and that they haven’t earned their place either they absolutely did, but with out the gravity MJ brought with him, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did imho.

Pippen was going to develop into a star anywhere he want. He was just that athletic and he had the tools to become as skilled as he was. The only real question is how much better would Pippen have been if he'd been around other stars who weren't complete and total dicks like Jordan, who was a horrible leader.

Andrew Wiggins has all that athletic ability and tools too. How's it working out for him. You posit that Jordan held Pippen back? I don't think Pippen himself would support that argument. Jordan woke up early and worked out with Pippen and Harper everyday the second three peat. Pippen himself has never claimed he was held back by Jordan. P{open mostly is pouting over the migraine issues and generally folding under the pressure of the pistons and Knicks, and for being called out for purposely putting off his surgery to miss the season and screwing over the last championship team. No one in the world is going to argue that Jordan isn't a prick, well someone would but they can be quickly dismissed, but Pippen might hold the petulant title. All that being said he is still my favorite Bull of all time, but I listened to Charles Barkley when he said that players aren't role models.

[yeahM8]

Book should have been called my big penis then had a crying Jordan on the inside cover.

[GoBobs]

I loved Pippen the basketball player, but he’s shown over the years that he’s holding on to so much jealousy that he can’t move past.

He’s within his rights to give his side but there are some things which don’t require further explanation that showed how mentally weak Pippen could be in certain situations.

I’m not saying he needs to kiss the ground Jordan walks on, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Scottie starting his career anywhere else doesn’t have the success, fame or reputation that he ended up with

I strongly disagree. Sure he doesn't win 6 titles, but he'd have been the second best wing in the nba and he'd be much more respected as an offensive player and potentially defensive player had he had his own team to run.

Nah, he would have been 1b for most of the other teams in the league. People act like dude was the second best player in the Jordan era, but he wasn’t close to that. Robinson, Barkley, Shaq, Penny, Ewing, Miller, Dream, Stocton, Malone were all way way better than Pip just to name a few. Grant Hill, Glen Rice, Zo, prime Larry Johnson, there are so many guys from that era MJ could have won 6 tittles with as his number 2. Pip was like the 30-40th best player in the era he played. He proved it after the bulls broke up and he didn’t do much. Now he is talkin about 2 of the greatest players ever, lmao

[dhsilv2]

Do you remember Jordan games? Every game, everywhere the camera's flashing, the just insanity every time they called his name. An they weren't bulls games, "we're going to see Jordan" was what people would say. Even if it was their home team...if you weren't a hardcore fan of the team of course.

No player has ever had to work around THAT! So yeah...I kinda sorta get G35's point. Awful thing that Pippen did, but having to work with the monster that MJ was AND to be under a shadow like nobody has or likely ever will see again, I can see why he did it.

I mean, I guess. I never had that kind of ego so I can't relate to needing to be "The Man." (I have plenty of other character defects to make up for that.) But again, we have had tons and tons and tons of egos come through the NBA over the years, all kinds of guys who were focused on touches and shots and roles, and again, I can't remember a single player begging off a crucial end-of-game possession in a playoff game like that. It's unheard of, regardless of circumstances. But if you had to come up with a list of players who might do that, Pippen would be on it given how indisputably thin-skinned and sensitive he is.

Even the need to write this book ... obviously "The Last Dance" was very much The Jordan Show. Other than Babe Ruth, we've probably never had an athlete glorified and mythologized to the extent he was. And he's extremely lucky for that, because it glossed over what a gaping @sshole he was, something that would get a LOT more attention today in the 24/7 mediascape. But at the same time, I thought Jordan bent over backwards in the doc to acknowledge Pippen. At one point he said something to the extent of, when you speak about me, you have to speak about Scottie too. And that's not me trying to defend Jordan; I was never a fan and I have zero respect for the way he treated people.

But at the same time, I don't really understand what Pippen is upset about outside of this being yet another example of him getting in his feelings about something.

I'm not per say defending Pippen here. What I'm more getting at is I don't think ANY teammates ever got over shadowed the way Pippen was. This guy was legit the second best win in basketball and a near MVP level guy was we saw in 94. He ended up all be that one season being the number two, heck Jordan didn't even miss games to let Pippen get a game here or there. Pippen never got a few years after MJ retired to be a star on a team because his back was completely screwed up.

My point is thus, we've just never seen someone have to deal with THAT. Does it make it right? No, but while I don't have a huge ego myself, I feel like if i were THAT good at something and it was so often glossed over...yeah I could get it.

[dhsilv2]

That’s not it at all though. Pippen does owe MJ and the situation a lot though. If he is drafted by say the kings no one woukd ever kniw who Pip is, he doesn’t develop into the player he is and he never has a ring nor an Olympic medal. In fairness John Paxson may have never been a GM if not for being on that team and Steve Kerrs career is altered too if not hitting that **** with the Bulls. SA likely doesn’t sign him and he doesn’t get the GS opportunity. It’s not that these players don’t deserve respect and that they haven’t earned their place either they absolutely did, but with out the gravity MJ brought with him, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did imho.

Pippen was going to develop into a star anywhere he want. He was just that athletic and he had the tools to become as skilled as he was. The only real question is how much better would Pippen have been if he'd been around other stars who weren't complete and total dicks like Jordan, who was a horrible leader.

Andrew Wiggins has all that athletic ability and tools too. How's it working out for him. You posit that Jordan held Pippen back? I don't think Pippen himself would support that argument. Jordan woke up early and worked out with Pippen and Harper everyday the second three peat. Pippen himself has never claimed he was held back by Jordan. P{open mostly is pouting over the migraine issues and generally folding under the pressure of the pistons and Knicks, and for being called out for purposely putting off his surgery to miss the season and screwing over the last championship team. No one in the world is going to argue that Jordan isn't a prick, well someone would but they can be quickly dismissed, but Pippen might hold the petulant title. All that being said he is still my favorite Bull of all time, but I listened to Charles Barkley when he said that players aren't role models.

I think wiggin's spacial awareness as well as just general IQ is a bit low for being a star. Could be something else, but he doesn't appear to understand where he needs to be nor can he process where he and others are on the floor. That's why Kerr to get use out of him had to make him play a role more often as the primary defender on the ball, it's easier to focus on the ball. Also helps that he's got dray screaming in his ear. Pippen while not the smartest guy himself imo, clearly had the BBIQ to run point and be just flat out deadly as a defender off ball.

I mean, while I get that MJ and the bull were among the first teams to implement weight training in season....I'm not sure that really moved the needle for Pippen's game like it did for MJ.

I'm sure Pippen wouldn't say MJ held him back. But none the less that seems like the most likely scenario if we're to assume any major changes. Pippen was a late bloomer who came into the league not fully developed offensively after growing so fast so late in life. Getting the opportunity to be a bigger focal point on offense could have only allowed him to improve those areas of his game. i'm sure MJ pushed him, but MJ pushed everyone...only Pippen turned out a first ballot hall of famer. Players find guys to mentor and develop them. I struggle to believe MJ was the best choice.

I fully don't believe this book is about this topic...I"m sure it's about what you mentioned. I'm just saying that if Pippen had played elsewhere I believe he'd be viewed as much more of a star player but less of a star resume/career if that makes sense.