“The media are cheerleaders for Michael Jordan”: Scottie Pippen continues his tirade on the Bulls legend while promoting his new memoir, ‘Unguarded’

Scottie Pippen explains why Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time while talking about the press being infatuated with him. 

It’s no secret that the NBA was absolutely in love with the idea of pushing Michael Jordan to the forefront on any occasion they could during the 14 seasons that he played in the league. After all, the 6x champion was proving himself to be perhaps the greatest player who ever stepped onto NBA hardwood night in and night out. 

However, it should be noted that he would not have achieved as many team oriented accolades as he did if not for his right-hand man, Scottie Pippen. In his new memoir, ‘Unguarded’, this is exactly the point that he repeatedly harps upon.

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According to Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan cannot be the greatest player of all time because he believes team-oriented sports cannot have a singular player that is considered to be ‘the greatest’. Instead, he prefers that fans and analysts alike only talk about what the greatest team in league history was. 

Scottie Pippen believes that the press acted as cheerleaders for Michael Jordan. 

In an interview with GQ Sports, Scottie Pippen reveals that he believes the press and the media also tried to push a certain, overtly positive agenda regarding Michael Jordan. In his words, they acted as cheerleaders for the 6x NBA Finals MVP. 

“I think they’re (press and media) all having to face the music. I think reality has set in on them. When you look back and look back at how great our league is, it’s about great teams, not great individuals. You glorify teams, you don’t glorify individuals.” 

Also read: “We would crush Kobe Bryant and Shaq!”: Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls would beat the three-peat Lakers in a jiffy

Scottie would go on to state that the Milwaukee Bucks were lauded as a team for beating the Brooklyn Nets in the Playoffs last season while Kevin Durant was not. This of course, is simply not true as the media extensively covered just how great of a feat KD had achieved in pushing a healthy Buck team to 7 games as essentially, the lone superstar on his team. 

What Pippen is trying to say about Michael Jordan is also not all too factual as news outlets during his playing looked for any sort of negativity around him at the time as well; it wasn’t all positive. Everything from him faking friendships across the league to his gambling ‘addiction’ being somehow connected to the untimely passing of his father.