Isiah Thomas Showcases Phil Jackson Age Old Take On Scottie Pippen Being Better All Around Than Michael Jordan

Scottie Pippen was the yin to Michael Jordan’s yang. MJ himself has repeatedly admitted that whenever anyone brings his six championships, Pippen’s name is inseparable from them. Their former Head coach Phil Jackson took it up a notch in 1996 and during an interview, claimed that Scottie Pippen was a better All-Around player than Michael Jordan.

Isiah Thomas concurred with this throwback claim on his Instagram, once again fanning the flames of his decades-long rivalry with MJ.

The Entirely NBA podcast’s official Instagram handle unearthed Jackson’s clip from 1996 where he described how Pip was the greatest all-around player he had seen.

While Jackson acknowledged Jordan’s greatness as a scorer, Pippen’s ability to do almost everything on the basketball floor enamored him. Jackson said,

“Scottie is such an unselfish player. He is the greatest all-around player in the NBA right now. Michael’s a terrific player, I’m not talking anything away from Michael but Scottie’s a rebounder, is a passer, is a defender, and is the whole complete package. And a great energy that he can have on the court, does a lot of things out there on the basketball court… No one can score like Michael, And scoring is a wonderful thing to do but it’s not the end-all end-all. It takes a lot of guys.”

These words are a big deal considering that they came from someone who coached both MJ and Pip during the height of their careers. In terms of numbers, the duo are pretty even in terms of all-round play.

Jordan had superior scoring numbers with an all-time NBA-high career average of 30.1 points a game compared to Pippen’s 16.1 PPG. Meanwhile, Pip had a minute edge in terms of rebounds with 6.4 rebounds a game compared to MJ’s 6.2 RPG.

Jordan had a slightly better career assist tally of 5.3 assists a game, compared to Pippen’s 5.2 APG. However, Jackson was speaking beyond the numbers and had seen his Bulls struggle to win a championship before Pippen’s all-around development.

At any rate, Thomas shared Entirely NBA’s post on his Instagram stories, giving a virtual nod to Jackson’s proclamation.

For Thomas, it seemingly became another chance to undermine Jordan’s legacy. The two have shared an antagonistic relationship for decades after all.

Did Thomas use Pippen to take a shot at Jordan?

Thomas and Jordan had one of the fiercest rivalries in the NBA, as the Bulls and Detroit Pistons had frequent playoff battles with many heated moments. But their relationship deteriorated completely when Thomas was left out of the 1992 Dream Team.

It was widely believed that MJ played a huge role in his exclusion. While Jordan has refuted the claim, Thomas still believes that he was the main reason behind his omission. 

Apart from that, IT was perturbed when Jordan called him an a**ho** during “The Last Dance” docuseries for not shaking hands with the Bulls team after they swept the Pistons in the 1991 playoffs.

Thomas demanded a public apology from Jordan on the All the Smoke pod for his words and asked him to clarify if he really believed what he said. Jordan never responded.

Overall, MJ and IT have never seen eye-to-eye and there is little chance that it will change anytime soon.