|
As we wrap up the schedule of the best NBA regular season I’ve seen in 10 years, not many people can predict this year’s champion with much certainty.
The Western Conference has fans confused. You could ask five different people who they think will reach the finals and you could easily get five different answers.
San Antonio, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Utah and New Orleans all seem capable contenders. It’s going to be exciting just to watch great games every night.
In the Eastern Conference, most fans are telling me it’s going to be either Boston or Detroit in the Finals. I agree completely.
LeBron James is amazing. He’s a basketball profit, but he’s yet to find a wingman which is why his Cleveland Cavaliers probably won’t contend with Boston or Detroit.
Everybody needs a wingman. One of my favorite all-time players, a baller that I feel never truly got his due — Scottie Pippen — was one such man.
When people discuss Pippen’s career and the legacy he left during his 17 NBA seasons, it’s impossible not to mention his running mate Michael Jordan.
Sure, Pippen played Robin to Jordan’s Batman. Who wouldn’t?
My beef is with people that feel Pippen’s hall of fame career was only due to the fact that he ran with Jordan. To me, it is ridiculous.
The fact is Pippen would have been a hall of famer for any team, any system, any coach, in any era. He is one of the league’s greatest treasures.
He invented the point-forward position and could defend point guards, shooting guards and small forwards.
He was silky smooth. To me, he’s been completely misjudged and totally underrated.
Sure, Jordan would still be the best player possibly of all time with or without Pippen. He’d still have championships. But would he have six? Honestly, I do not think Jordan would be wearing six rings without Scottie. My feeling is that Michael needed Scottie possibly more so than Scottie needed Michael.
When Jordan bolted from the NBA in 1993 to pursue a baseball career, Pippen became the Bulls’ unquestioned best player and should have won the league MVP award during that 1993-94 season. Without Jordan, the Pippen-led Bulls won 55 games, took the Knicks to seven games in the Eastern Conference semi-finals and Pippen was either first or second in every major team statistic (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) and also was named MVP of the All-Star Game.
He proved he could lead a team and still be one of the league’s best players.
He would have been Batman on just about any other team. Hell, Magic Johnson would have been Robin to Jordan’s Batman.
I’m not an expert, but I do watch the game with reckless abandon and read every book on the sport I can get my hands on. From my research, anyone that knows anything about basketball will tell you Pippen’s greatest impact on the game was from the defensive end of the floor.
You might not know this, but Pippen was quite possibly the greatest perimeter defender in basketball history. His 10 NBA all-defensive honors and 8 NBA All-Defensive First Team awards are each one shy of the all time record. He holds the NBA record for all- time assists and steals from the forward position.
Basically, when Jordan was dropping 50 points, Scottie was holding the opponents’ best player under 20.
Don’t think I’m saying that Pippen was better than Jordan. I’m just saying it’s closer than you might think. Jordan was the face of sports across the world, but as all the greats know, you can’t do it alone.
You can’t win six championships by yourself, even if you’re Michael Jordan.
Michael and the Bulls never started winning championships until Scottie Pippen figured it out and came into his own as a top 25 player.
I think Pippen’s legacy took a turn for the worse after one failed fourth quarter in the 2000 Western Conference Finals. Pippen was the leader of a talented Portland Trailblazers team against the young combination of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
His Blazers had a 17-point lead during the fourth quarter of game seven only to completely fall apart and let the Lakers come back and win the series to begin a dynasty of their own.
My feeling is that if Portland never lost that lead and won the series, they would have easily defeated the Indiana Pacers in the finals that season and Pippen would have earned his seventh ring, which would have given him one more than Jordan, as well as proving to basketball fans everywhere that he was an all-time great and could get it done without the icon Jordan was.
Hey, Jordan never won anything before or after Scottie. In fact, Pippen came closer to winning a title without Jordan than Jordan did without Pippen.
I hope Pippen will be remembered for what he was — one of the game’s all-time most versatile players, an amazing defender and bonafide star. An all-time great.
I have a feeling people won’t look at his career the way I do. Most will remember him as just a side-kick — Michael’s buddy.
I truly hope fans won’t feel that Jordan could have won six titles with just anybody.
He needed Scottie. I hope he gets his due.
 Add as favorites (46) | Views: 680
|
