“Jordan could have won his six rings without Scottie Pippen”
The Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen duo reigned terror in the NBA, amassing an impressive number of titles. However, one of their ex-teammates says that MJ would also have succeeded without the winger at his side… Needless to say, the latter is not likely to appreciate the comment.
If Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen can no longer feel each other today, the fact remains that they have formed one of the greatest tandems in the history of the orange ball, if not the strongest of all. . During the 1990s, they were the ones who led Chicago to two resounding three-peats, making their team a veritable dynasty on the NBA courts. Jordan as pack leader, Pippen as his loyal lieutenant: the perfect representation of a working duo, in short.
However, if Pippen claims since the documentary The Last Dance that His Airness could never have won so many rings if he hadn’t been there, some of their former teammates don’t exactly agree. Guest of the show Club Shay Shay, Charles Oakley responded in a resounding way to the words of n°33. According to the old interior, not only could the back have dominated without him, but the result would have even been the same without him:
Charles Oakley thinks Jordan would have been fine without Scottie Pippen
On Pippen, they didn’t give him a lot of media attention like they did Dennis Rodman or Curry, but I think Mike could have won without Scottie. He said many times that Jordan wouldn’t have made it without him, but I think Scottie, whatever you say, you have to live with some things you’ve said and done…
For the trouble, we are rather tempted to side with Pip’ in this debate. Indeed, if MJ quickly proved his talents as a soloist on the grounds of the big league, it was necessary for his partner to arrive in Windy City so that he could take off on the collective level. With such talent by his side, everything became easier for Jordan. We remember in particular the 1991 Finals, during which Pippen took over from n°23 in defense on Magic Johnson, because Jojo was not doing well.
Nevertheless, The Oak persists and signs on the subject, being a very close friend of the tenfold top scorer. He also takes the opportunity to deliver a final tackle to his former teammate, concerning an opinion of the winger which is much more controversial:
I think Scottie can’t win the debate of whether he’s better than Michael or not. He’s said a lot of times that he’s better than Michael, but he’s not.
Could Jordan have won so many rings without Scottie Pippen as his lieutenant? We will never have a concrete answer to this question, but it seems unlikely. After all, the latter was fundamental to the success of Chicago!
