Scottie Pippen still remembers what NBA icon Michael Jordan said about him the first time they met at the Chicago Bulls practice facility.
The Seattle SuperSonics drafted Pippen with the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft and then traded him to the Bulls.
“I remember the first time Michael spoke to me. Okay, he didn’t actually speak to me. He spoke about me and he didn’t have much to say,” Pippen wrote in his book. “It was at the Multiplex, the facility in the suburb of Deerfield where the Bulls worked out for years. I had just walked into the gym with our coach, Doug Collins. Michael was working out with two teammates, Pete Myers and Sedale Threatt.
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“All of a sudden, I heard a voice I recognized, a voice I would hear for years to come. Probably even in my dreams. ‘Oh, sh*t, we got ourselves another one of those Arkansas boys,’ Michael said. He didn’t look at me when he said it. He kept shooting. I don’t recall what I said in response, if anything. Knowing how reserved I was in those days, it couldn’t have been clever. How I responded on the court would be the surest way to get Michael’s attention and that would be the case my whole time in Chicago.”
Pippen may have been shy off the court, but he was aggressive when playing basketball. The Hamburg native is one of the best small forwards in NBA history and helped the Bulls become one of the greatest dynasties of all time.
Chicago compiled a stellar record of 514-177 in the regular season when Pippen and Jordan were in the lineup. Jordan didn’t win his first playoff series until the Bulls got Pippen, which is why MJ considers Pip his best teammate of all time.
“I would never be able to find a tandem, another support system, another partner in the game of basketball like Scottie Pippen,” Jordan said in Episode 2 of The Last Dance doc. “He was a pleasure to play with. He helped me so much in the way that I approached the game, the way I played the game. Whenever they speak Michael Jordan, they should speak Scottie Pippen. Everybody says well I won all these championships, but I didn’t win without Scottie Pippen. And that’s why I consider him my best teammate of all time.”
The Bulls went 6-0 in the NBA Finals and three-peated twice during the Pippen-Jordan era. Chicago never played in a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
Pippen had two stints with the Bulls. He averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.9 blocks and won the 1994 All-Star Game MVP Award. Pippen made seven All-Star teams, seven All-NBA teams and 10 All-Defensive teams with Chicago.
Jordan also played for the Bulls twice. He averaged 31.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.9 blocks and won five MVPs, six Finals MVPs, three steals titles, 10 scoring titles and one Defensive Player of the Year Award. Jordan made 12 All-Star teams, 11 All-NBA teams and nine All-Defensive teams with Chicago.
Pippen and Jordan are universally recognized as the best duo in NBA history. Both players are in the Hall of Fame and on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.