Former NBA star Shawn Kemp got to play against and alongside Scottie Pippen during his time in the league. Kemp recently appeared on the All The Smoke podcast where he was asked what Pippen was like and he spoke glowingly of him.
“Scottie Pippen’s great, man,” Kemp said. “I played with Pippen in Portland. I’ll just say this. Sometimes, people don’t give Pippen his props. But Scottie Pippen was gonna be (a) good ball player without Michael Jordan. He would have been a quality ball player without Michael Jordan.
“Michael Jordan definitely made him a little bit better, but my man Scottie Pippen was still ballin’ when we was in Portland,” Kemp continued. “He wasn’t no match for Kobe (Bryant) when we were playing back then… But Scottie was still balling. He could play the passing lanes, he never been a great shooter, but he’s just been athletic to do a lot of different thing, you know pass, scoring, and rebounding; that’s his game.”
(starts at 43:22 mark):
Pippen was past his prime when he arrived in Portland in 1999 but was still effective on the court. He averaged 11.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in his four seasons with the Trail Blazers.
I don’t think that’s the best example to show that Pippen would have been great without Michael Jordan, though. The best for me was his play in the 1993-94 season. Jordan had retired for the first time before that campaign and his sidekick suddenly had to take center stage and boy, did he deliver.
Pippen averaged 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game for the Chicago Bulls in that season. He led the Bulls to a 55-27 record and finished third in voting for MVP and fourth for DPOY.
It was a glimpse at what might have been, had Pippen not had to play second fiddle to Jordan for much of his career. Would he have come close to winning six championships if they never played together? Almost certainly not, but I think Pippen would have been remembered as a greater player than he is today.
Nowadays, Pippen has almost been relegated to just being Jordan’s bitter sidekick. He wants more credit for all their success but just isn’t getting it. There is no denying that Jordan was the far better player between them, but I do think Pippen should get a bit more credit, as the Bulls wouldn’t have dominated the NBA in the 1990s without him.
Shawn Kemp Hilariously Revealed How Dennis Rodman Was More Impactful In The 1996 NBA Finals Than Michael Jordan
Kemp and his Seattle SuperSonics got to face that Bulls team in the 1996 NBA Finals. The SuperSonics battled hard but ultimately lost in six games and during this episode, Kemp revealed how Dennis Rodman had a bigger impact than Jordan in the Finals.
“But Michael wasn’t the reason. He didn’t beat us in the championship. He did not beat us, man. We was on his a**. He didn’t beat us. Dennis Rodman is the one who beat us. We had no answer for his a**, man. We had no answer for Dennis Rodman.”
“I mean, every time that they needed a second shot at something special or extra rebound or tip in, this motherf***er was flying and winking and, I mean, kissing and winking and kissing and s**t. Frustrating everybody on the team, man.”
“Dennis not even like that, he just do that s**t the other day, man. He just doing that s**t, and he had everybody on my team just flustered, man. I’m gonna tell you, with Frank Brickowski, man.”
“When Dennis started wearing color contacts during the championship. He started wearing color contacts during the championship with some lip s**t on, man. He would be like, he was trying to kiss Frank’s arm and s**t, and then Frank just couldn’t take it, man. It was just, the man in him just couldn’t allow it.”
Rodman’s rebounding was vital for the Bulls and his antics would have bothered the opposition. Still, Jordan was the biggest reason why they won. He averaged 27.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in that series to win Finals MVP.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
