Scottie Pippen Continues Michael Jordan Feud: ‘He Was A Horrible Player’

(CTN News) – In spite of how things were portrayed in the film “The Last Dance,” Scottie Pippen continues to fire back at what he considers false narratives about the Chicago Bulls of the ’90s and continues to take issue with the portrayal of these teams.

This trend continued on Friday, when Pippen called former teammate Michael Jordan the worst player in the history of the game.

It is difficult to find an English word that can describe a take with so much heat in the English language. Scottie Pippen made the comments while he was appearing on the “Gimme the hot sauce!” podcast.

The podcast is hosted by Pippen’s former teammate Stacey King, who broadcasts Bulls games for CBS.

Asked about the greatest player of all time, Scottie Pippen replied that basketball is more of a team sport for him. He views it as a team game rather than an individual one. As Pippen discussed a number of players, he eventually turned his attention to Jordan at the end of the discussion.

To begin with, let’s take a look at what is obvious. If you look at Jordan’s stat sheet, you’ll find that it’s extremely difficult to argue that at any point in his career, he was a “horrible player.”

During the three seasons prior to Scottie Pippen draft, Jordan averaged 31.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.0 assists. It is laughable that you would use the word “horrible” in a situation like that.

Pippen’s rest of his takedown, however, may have some truth to it as well. It is very different to be a “horrible player” versus being a “horrible person to play with”.

As a member of the team just before Scottie Pippen joined the team, Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game, a career-high. In order to make more baskets, Jordan probably had to pass up a few open teammates in order to score more points. Perhaps that rubbed teammates the wrong way as a result.

I think Pippen has a point when he says Jordan’s game changed significantly after Pippen arrived on the scene. As Jordan progressed through his career, he averaged 6.2 assists per season and had a higher shooting percentage.

It could be evidence that Jordan began to trust his teammates more and he stopped forcing bad shots and instead allowed them to fall.

All of this seems plausible if you take a closer look at the series “The Last Dance.” As much as that series praised Jordan’s achievements, it also revealed a few of his flaws.

Aside from belittling teammates, he was also petty and took everything personally, which was disgusting. When it comes to a team game, those aren’t the best qualities to possess.

Even though Scottie Pippen is aware of this,

he continues to act in an inappropriate manner. Some of Pippen’s words may contain some nuggets of truth that can be gleaned from them.

There is no doubt that Jordan is a terrible player, but if you lead with an outlandish characterization like that, people are going to just tune out whatever legitimate criticism you have to offer.

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