As much as Michael Jordan benefited from having the best two-way player playing a second fiddle to him, Scottie Pippen also hit a jackpot when he landed in Chicago.
Advertisement
It is somewhat a common human trait to go against what the majority of people believe. We are attracted more towards a negative approach to a subject much quicker than the positive aspects of the same.
That is the reason why there are so many opinions on the internet about who is the ‘greatest of all time in their profession or field when we should just be admiring all things greatly if not be ourselves great at something.
Keeping that in mind, most have crowned Michael Jordan as the GOAT, and there are several LeBron James, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar supporters who believe them to be the best of all time.
And almost all of their supporters come down to one common opinion about how lucky Jordan was to have the players like Scottie Pippen play the second fiddle when he could have been the face of another franchise and one of the best players in the league himself.
But rarely do we discuss about how much Pippen benefited from going to a team that already had MJ.
Scottie Pippen benefited the most playing alongside Michael Jordan believes former teammate BJ Armstrong
Pippen came into the league in 1987 after Jordan had 37.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.9 steals, and 1.5 blocks a game. This would be the best statistical year of his 15-year-career and establish him as the greatest scoring threat while also being an All-Defensive First Team calibre defender.
Having that kind of once-in-a-lifetime young teammate wouldn’t just have helped Scottie reach for greatness in his first year itself, it would have given him the idea that the league could be theirs after Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were done with it.
Imagine what motivation he must have had for his future and development as a player when he had a young Jordan speaking in his year every day in practice from Day 1. Their former teammate BJ Armstrong said so in The Last Dance docuseries.
“More than any other player, Scottie benefited from playing with Michael Jordan,” Armstrong said. “Because Scottie had this raw athletic ability. What he didn’t have was what Michael brought every day, which was the drive to be the very best every single day. The mental focus of the game.”
It wouldn’t be fair to credit one for the greatness of the other when both of them helped each other and the Chicago Bulls to become a dynasty and such a powerhouse of a franchise that it was in the 90s.
