Scottie Pippen Calls Michael Jordan Selfish, And ‘A Guy Who Believed He Can Do Anything On His Own’

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Scottie Pippen Calls Michael Jordan Selfish, And ‘A Guy Who Believed He Can Do Anything On His Own’

 

Batman and Robin. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Considered the greatest duo of all-time, Jordan and Pippen had extreme success winning three straight NBA championships from 1991-1993. A fourth title seemed conclusive heading into the 1993-94 season, but when Michael Jordan suddenly announced he was stepping down from basketball to play baseball at the age of 31, Pippen, his teammates and the world were stunned.

From that moment on it was Scottie Pippen’s time to shine.

And Robin did become Batman. As everyone knew, while on the team, Michael Jordan was the leader—he took all the big shots, dominated the court and media, and was at the forefront of all six championships—and Pippen accepted it.

But in that first season without MJ, Pippen was up against Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon and San Antonio Spurs big-man David Robinson in the MVP voting, but eventually fell short to Olajuwon for the award. Pippen ranked eighth in scoring (22.0), 23rd in rebounding (8.7), 19th in assists (5.6) second in steals (2.9), and averaged 0.8 blocks per game while shooting an impressive 49% from the field.

Pippen carried the team on his back during Jordan’s absence and gained newfound respect in the NBA world that he could win and be a superstar on his own.

As we all know, Jordan would eventually come back and the two would lead the Chicago Bulls to another three peat, but even though the two were perfect on court teammates, they weren’t friends off the court.

During his appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, Scottie Pippen, who’s been firing at everybody as of late, now looked back at his time in the spotlight and took a jab at Michael Jordan for his decision to play baseball, calling him selfish.

 

“Yeah It was a big decision, but It was a selfish decision, but it was kind of who Michael Jordan was. That was a guy who believed he can do anything on his own.”

 

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