Scottie Pippen was the 5th overall pick in 1987 by the Supersonics, who traded him to the Bulls in exchange for Olden Polynice. He was tall and extremely bony and did not have an eventful rookie year, appearing in 79 games off the bench averaging just over 20 minutes a game. He quickly became the full time starter in his second season and the Bulls were off. They made it to the Eastern Conference Finals falling to the Pistons and it would happen again in the 1990 playoffs as Pippen would have a migraine coming into Game 7 and the Bulls would lose the series. 1991 rolled around the Bulls ran off three championships in a row with Michael Jordan front and center anchored by Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant. A pretty good big three. Grant, Jordan, and Pippen were the leaders of the team in every statistical category with Pippen usually 2nd in scoring, 2nd in rebounding, and 1st in assists. Pippen was a dominant player in the league, but he was unfortunate in that he was playing next to the greatest player anyone had ever seen up to that point.
Then something crazy happened. Michael Jordan retired. He left the Bulls. They did not really add any pieces to the team. Toni Kukoc finally came over from Europe, but he came off the bench. The Bulls were without Jordan and they won 55 games. Scottie Pippen averaged a career high in points and rebounds as the de facto leader of the Bulls. He carried the load offensively and defensively for the team each night and he succeeded. Although they would not win the championship, they were a good team. Scottie Pippen was one of the best players in the league and it was not Jordan playing with him that made him so good. It was Jordan who allowed Pippen to focus on things other than scoring to help his team win. We all know what happened next, Jordan did come back and the Bulls won three more championships, but they replaced Horace Grant with Dennis Rodman. After the 1998 championship, where Pippen was severely limited due to a back issue, the Bulls disbanded. Phil Jackson was no longer the coach, Jordan retired and the Bulls traded Scottie Pippen.
The Bulls traded one of the best players of all time for Roy Rogers and a 2nd round draft pick. I want you to read that sentence again. Scottie Pippen played a very strange season in Houston and then had some great years with the Portland Trailblazers. In the 2000 playoffs, Scottie Pippen and the Blazers almost derailed the Shaq and Kobe teams. Watching those playoff games, it is amazing to watch Pippen playing point guard in a way as the facilitator on offense and trying his best to shut down Kobe Bryant on defense. That version of Scottie Pippen was also so intriguing to me. He was not scoring much in Portland, but he played the role that he did because it was what his team needed.
While Pippen in his prime could've scored 25 a night and been the best player on the majority of teams in the NBA, he chose to play alongside a player that he knew was better than he was. He knew though that he could have a huge impact on his team winning if he committed himself to doing the other things. Pippen goes down to me as one of the best 25 players ever. I truly believe that. He could've put up huge numbers on bad teams, but he wanted to win. He used the skills he had to do that. We will never really know how good he could have been, but I would argue that he got the most out of his time in the NBA, winning 6 championships. No one will ever consider him to be the best player ever, but that's kind of why I like him so much. A superstar that was okay to take a backseat for the success of the team.