Scottie Pippen went viral in the news once more when, in a recent interview with Marca, he opened up about his feelings on Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan during his time with the Bulls. While discussing his time on the Bulls, the interviewer also asked him to speak about their legendary 72-10 run in 1996 and compare that to the Warriors’ 73-9 season in 2016.
Upon talking about the two teams that set the records for the best seasons in NBA history, Pippen also indicated to Marca that he feels Stephen Curry may not have been as successful as he is today if he played in the 1990s.
“It depends on the rules. If you play by today’s rules, it would be one thing. But with the rules of the ’90s, Curry would not be the same. If we played in his era, it would be like playing in freedom: nobody grabs you, nobody stops you. I don’t know who would win.”
“We weren’t made to shoot 25-50 three-pointers a game. They would probably win in that sense, because they have two of the best shooters, like Steph and Klay. But we played physical, we defended hard. We made the teams score only 75-80 points. Today, that is almost impossible.”
Pippen went on to even claim that players like Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic may not have been as successful if they played in his era. While Pippen gives Curry his flowers for his shooting abilities in the modern generation, he believes he may have never developed this confidence if he played against the defensive rules that were allowed in the 90s.
He does not say that Curry would not be as good as he is, but he would find it much harder to score from anywhere on the floor. A career 42.3% shooter from three-point range, Curry has led the NBA in three-pointers made in eight of the 16 seasons he has played in the league.
Curry would definitely have the same skillset if he played in the 1990s; however, he may not have the same freedom that he does today. From being the one who would leave coaches scratching their heads to becoming pivotal to the offensive strategy of the Warriors, Curry has changed the way people perceive the game.
But the coaches back in the 90s may not have allowed him to play like he does today. Plus, offensive strategies were not designed to cater to high-volume shooting from beyond the arc. Therefore, Pippen may have some substance to what he is saying.
Nonetheless, Curry faced the same backlash from coaches in his initial years as he would have back in the 1990s. Yet he managed to convince Steve Kerr that his style of offense is effective, and it changed the way everyone saw the game.
Who knows, if Curry played in the ’90s and did the same thing, maybe another coach would figure out a system that gets him over 10-15 shots from the three-point range every game. The style of defense he faced would’ve been different, but one cannot certainly say that Curry would not thrive in a system like that.
