Netflix documentary ‘The Last Dance’ spelled the end of Michael Jordan’s friendship with Scottie Pippen, as the latter called MJ out for his biased coverage of the team, even accusing him of hogging the spotlight on the documentary. While Jordan and Pippen might be beefing right now, cracks in the duo’s friendship had become visible during their playing days. Pippen was seen as Batman Jordan’s ‘Robin’, as MJ relegated him to being his best teammate, something Pippen later called “condescending”.
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The Bulls forward was clearly frustrated playing second fiddle to MJ, and it sometimes bled through when he addressed comparisons between Jordan and himself. He even shot down the idea of wanting to be like Mike during a 1995-96 interview,
“No. I want to be like Scottie. That’s all I can be and that’s all I ever want to be.”
At the time of this interview, Jordan was making headlines for his ‘Like Mike’ commercial with Gatorade. While the commercial was introduced as a yardstick for comparing one’s success to that of Jordan, Pippen wasn’t interested in being like everyone’s hero, avoiding comparisons with his famous teammate Michael Jordan.
Even though the duo continued to beef behind closed doors, their performance on the court remained as strong as ever. In fact, Jordan and Pippen railed the Bulls to an NBA record 72 regular season wins.
Scottie Pippen called Michael Jordan a “horrible player”
Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan have taken their beef to a whole new level after Pippen took major shots against No. 23 during an interview, calling Jordan a “horrible player”. Appearing on Stacey King’s podcast ‘Gimme the Hot Sauce’, Pippen had the following to say about his Bulls teammate,
“I’ve seen Michael Jordan play before I came to the Bulls. You guys have seen him play … He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1, shooting bad shots. All of a sudden, we become a team and we start winning. Everybody forgot who he was. He was a player who was really not at the top of his category. It was scoring. ”
Pippen’s harsh words seem to have fallen on deaf ears as Jordan has yet to make a remark about his former teammate, even declining to comment on Pippen’s recent allegations. Pippen has furthered his allegations against the Bulls legend in his new book ‘Unguarded’, even undertaking the “No Bull” tour to change the rhetoric surrounding the Bulls’ legacy.
