Scottie Pippen on Media Glorifying Michael Jordan: “The Media Don’t Know Basketball. They Don’t Understand Team Sport”

Michael Jordan remains one of the NBA’s greatest ever players after almost two decades post his retirement. The commanding presence of the shooting guard helped guide the Chicago Bulls to most of their NBA successes. Jordan played on a Bulls roster that included other NBA legends like Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. He helped popularize the NBA worldwide, heralding the dawn of a global basketball fanbase.

Recently, one of Michael Jordan’s former teammates, Scottie Pippen, commented about Jordan’s influence on the media. Pippen was speaking to GQ Sports about his new book, ‘Unguarded’. Pippen revealed how he felt the media glorified or overhyped Jordan’s achievements and abilities. His overarching theme was that the media disregarded the team spirit and team collaboration aspects of basketball.

Pippen said, “Well, I did it for several reasons. One I did to let the media know that because most of the media don’t know basketball. Because most of the media don’t know basketball. So I did it to let them know they were overwhelmed with the life of Michael Jordan. Great. But Michael Jordan couldn’t win without himself, without his team, excuse me.”

He added saying, “But, on the other hand, I wanted people to really understand that basketball is a team game and it’s always gonna be run, what I call, a standout. The NBA use more of the MVP word, but I consider it as a standout. There’s always gonna be a standout in the crowd. And, a lot of those occasions, Michael Jordan was a standout. And, a lot of those occasions, he wasn’t the standout. But, he was chosen to be the standout.”

Jordan started his NBA career with the Bulls in 1984. He won six NBA championships that included the two historic three-peats. The NBA named him as the ‘MVP’ five times in his career.

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The Boston Celtics fail to fend off Michael Jordan and the Bulls in 1986

Chicago Bulls fans remain in awe and still worship their former talisman in Michael Jordan. In a Game 2 performance, Jordan absolutely dominated the Celtics and put on a dazzling show. The Boston Garden game witnessed Jordan a record 63 points in a playoff game.

1990: Larry Bird #33 of the Boston Celtics and Michael Jordan #23 of the Chicago Bulls sit on a bench circa 1990 during an NBA All-Star game. (Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images)

Jordan achieved this feat at the mere age of 23. He attempted 41 field goals against the Celtics. A clueless Celtics defense ran out of ideas as they beheld Jordan’s MVP worthy performance. Larry Bird famously described Jordan’s performance that day saying, “I think he’s God disguised as Michael Jordan.”

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