Between 1990 and 1998, the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships, in arguably the greatest run in North American sports history.
In fact, the only two years the Bulls didn’t win the title was when Michael Jordan tried his hand at baseball.
The run was spearheaded by Jordan – arguably the greatest basketball player of all time – but that level of success wouldn’t have been possible without a complimentary No.2; the Robin to his Batman – in this instance, that was Scottie Pippen.
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The key roles played by ‘His Airness’ and Pippen in Chicago’s success featured prominently in “The Last Dance” on Netflix – the acclaimed documentary series detailing Jordan’s time with the franchise, in particular, his final year with the team in the 1997-98 season.
However, speaking on his former Bulls teammate Stacey King’s podcast ‘Gimme the Hot Sauce’, Pippen described Jordan as a “horrible player”.
“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.”
CNN has reached out to both Jordan’s representatives and the Charlotte Hornets, the team which Jordan owns, for comment.
Jordan played three seasons with the Bulls before Pippen was drafted to Chicago. In the 1986/87 season, Jordan averaged 37.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.9 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.
Pippen appeared to double down on his comments and his own impact in the league a day after his podcast appearance in an Instagram post with a picture of himself during his younger days accompanied with the caption:
“From humble beginnings to six championships, two gold medals, Hall of Fame, and leading the Bulls franchise with the most playoff wins. Here’s to the unsung heroes… Cheers!”
In the interview with King’s podcast, Pippen also dished out high praise to Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James – the player whom many debate is Jordan’s equal, if not his superior.
“LeBron will be the greatest statistical guy to ever play the game of basketball,” Pippen said. “And there’s no comparison to him. None. So does that make him the greatest player to ever play the game?”
Jordan hasn’t commented before on Pippen’s angst towards him, but according to sports journalist Jackie MacMullan on the ‘Hoop Collective’ podcast after a chat the two had had for MacMullan’s own podcast, Jordan appeared surprised by recent remarks.
“I don’t think he was particularly thrilled with the blowback from ‘The Last Dance’ and some of the things that came back at him,” MacMullan said. “I think some of it flummoxed him a little bit to be honest.”
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