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Scottie Pippen: ‘That’s What Was Special About Playing for the Bulls: The Camaraderie We Established with One Another, Not That We Felt Blessed to Be on the Same Team with the Immortal Michael Jordan’
There isn’t anyone who is oblivious to Jordan’s relationship with his teammates, especially those who have watched ‘The Last Dance’. Michael Jordan believed that instead of coddling them, tough love worked far better. This attitude helped them achieve six NBA championships. However, his former Chicago Bulls teammate, Scottie Pippen disagrees, as he has to Jordan’s many other approaches in his memoir.
In ‘Unguarded’, Pippen’s candid stories about his time with the organization and relationship with Jordan has taken the sporting world by storm. This is just another excerpt from the book that continues to bash Jordan’s approach to the team.
Scottie Pippen believes it’s not the tough love that worked
Former NBA star Scottie Pippen talks with the media as NBA Golden State Warriors hold practice in downtown Oakland, Ca.on Fri. May 18, 2018. (Photo by Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
On Page XXI from the prologue, Pippen spoke about the way Jordan’s treatment of his teammates was glorified when it was hardly that way. He said, “In the doc, Michael attempted to justify the occasions in which he berated a teammate in front of the group. He felt these guys needed to develop the toughness to get past the NBA’s more physical teams.”
“Seeing again how poorly Michael treated his teammates, I cringed, as I did back then. Michael was wrong. We didn’t win six championships because he got on guys. We won in spite of his getting on guys. That’s what was special about playing for the Bulls: the camaraderie we established with one another, not that we felt blessed to be on the same team with the immortal Michael Jordan.”
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Did Michael Jordan really cross the line?
From left, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Ron Harper and Toni Kukoc were big parts of Bulls teams that won three straight NBA titles from 1996 to 1998. Jordan and Pippen were members of the first “three-peat” team, which won titles from 1991 to 1993. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Jordan’s trash-talking was not just limited to his opponents but extended to his teammates as well. The way he used it to motivate his Chicago Bulls‘ teammates is all elaborated on in Episode 7 of his docu-series.
Michael Jordan didn’t care about being an understanding and fun leader. His only motto was to win and he would do anything to get the best out of his candidates. However, many of his teammates have admitted that his method really worked. It really did, bring out the greatness in them.
However, in the assortment of interviews that Jordan gave for ‘The Last Dance’, he mentioned that this behavior didn’t define who he was. It was simply how he played the game and it was just his mentality.
Whose side of the story are you likely to believe? Let us know in the comments below.
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