The Man in the Shadow

Scottie Pippen - Through out the years Scottie Pippen has been the man at Michael Jordan’s side. Often times, he is under rated and goes unappreciated for the amazing feats he achieved through out his illustrious career with the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. Scottie Pippen was named one of the top 50 greatest NBA players of all time. Scottie Pippen was an intricate part of all the championship teams he played for. He was named part of the NBA All Defensive team from 1991 till 2000 (including being named to the NBA All Defensive first team 7 times), seven time NBA All Star (90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97), 94 All Star game MVP, two time Olympic gold medal winner and recorded 20 career triple-doubles, including four in the playoffs.

There’s no doubt that Scottie Pippen is a star in his own right, but the fact is that when you share the court with the greatest player of all time you live your life in a bit of shadow. Scottie Pippen knew this and he was the perfect compliment to Michael Jordan’s game. At anytime when Jordan couldn’t carry the team Scottie Pippen stepped up to be the leader of the team. Night in and night out Scottie Pippen would constantly shut down the opposing team’s offensive threats allowing Michael Jordan to save energy for offense and covering lesser opponents. The above picture is Scottie Pippen holding Michael Jordan and helping him off the court during the NBA finals when Michael Jordan caught the flu virus. I wanted to share this picture because I believe it is very symbolic of the relationship between Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen. When Michael was down and out, he could always count on Scottie Pippen to carry the load. A lot of players in today’s game (such as Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady) have the potential and physical ability to grow into a great player like Michael Jordan, the one overbearing barrier preventing this is they don’t have the team mates Michael Jordan had. Namely, they don’t have a Scottie Pippen.