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Known as one of the best duos ever to touch the hardwood, the two haven’t had the best relationship as they’ve grown older. One of Pippen’s biggest gripes is that he was considered Jordan’s sidekick during their two 3-peat wins instead of an equally yolked member of the Championship caliber Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and his portrayal in
The Last Dance.
Now, Pippen’s even taking shots at Jordan’s play in the mid-80s before he arrived while on a recent episode of Stacey King’s
Gimme the Hot Sauce podcast.
“I’ve seen Michael Jordan play before I came to play with the Bulls. You guys have seen him play. He was a horrible player. He was horrible to play with. He was all one-on-one, shooting bad shots,” Pippen said before explaining that him being added to the team drastically improved their standings. “All of a sudden, we become a team, and we start winning; everybody forgot who he was. He was a player that, really, winning wasn’t at the top of his category. It was scoring. He was going after scoring titles. It wasn’t until Phil Jackson showed up that kind of changed the menu a little bit. And that still took some time.”
Jordan was drafted by the Bulls in 1984 but didn’t start to hit his stride until 1987, once Pippen had been drafted and had an improving young core with players like Horace Grant. Plus, with legendary coach
Phil Jackson at the helm, the team’s potential began to flourish.
So while a better team around him helped Jordan’s quest to win championships, Pippen calling him outright “horrible” is eye-opening.
See how
Twitter‘s reacting to Pippen’s candid interview below.
