Charles Oakley has made headlines in recent days with his stories. He was one of the most intense competitors in the NBA during his active days, becoming a key player wherever he went.
Oakley shared touches with legendary players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady. Of course, he has plenty of stories to tell and his opinion is always heard around the league. The former Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks player is promoting his book, “The Last Enforcer: Outrageous Stories From the Life and Times of One of the NBA’s Fiercest Competitors,” talking with many people around the league.
During a recent interview on SHOWTIME’s ‘All the Smoke,’ the retired player touched on the current relationship of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Oakley tried to explain why Pippen went off against Jordan in recent times (34:20).
“Scottie probably feel like he was more to Mike than these guys. He should have gotten more action than Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr. I think Dennis got too much play and Kerr. Scottie did a lot.”
When asked about why Pippen feels this way about Jordan, Oakley added:
“I think it’s something off the court.
Moreover, he talked about the comparisons between Scottie and MJ. The small forward claimed he was as great as Mike in November, which raised a lot of eyebrows around the league. Oakley disagrees with Scottie on that one, too.
“When everybody calling this guy the GOAT, and you ain’t in the Top 25 in scoring, it’s hard for you to say you better than someone. But you got opinion.
“Scottie ain’t better than LeBron (James). So, my thing is, Scottie got a lot of potential type of skill level with Bron. But I don’t think Scottie averaged over 20 points, maybe one time in his career.
“I like Scottie, but it’s hard to say you’re better than the GOAT.”
The relationship between Pippen and Jordan is deteriorated now. Scottie’s recent claims reportedly did a lot of damage and the Chicago Bulls duo is no longer on good terms. It’s really sad to see their fall out, but things hardly ever are as good as we think. This is another proof of that and we hope that Jordan and Pippen can make amends and recover their friendship.
Yet, knowing everything that has been said in the past couple of months, that possibility is highly unlikely. Oakley is still cool with both players, but even he doesn’t think things will get better eventually.
