Pippen's legacy

Scottie Pippen's career was best summed up in a span of one season: 1993-94, just after Michael Jordan stepped away from the Chicago Bulls and tried his hand at baseball.

That was the year Pippen was suddenly thrust into the lead role for Chicago after years of playing second fiddle to Michael, and the results were a direct reflection of his personality and game. His unselfish nature led to a wonderful season of distributing the ball, directing the Chicago offense and helping the Jordan-less squad to 55 wins. Tex Winter asserts that the 93-94 Bulls ran the triangle offense more efficiently than any of his other NBA teams, mainly because of Scottie's direction and ballhandling skills.

Pippen won the All-Star game MVP that season and was third in the balloting for the league's Most Valuable Player award. And he was one bad call away from leading Chicago to a playoff upset of the favored Knicks.

But while his game flourished that season, Scottie struggled with the idea of replacing MJ. Critics for years had claimed that Pippen was overrated – that he had ridden Jordan's coattails and didn't deserve the all-star status he had achieved. So when Michael "retired," Pippen was on center stage to take the leadership mantle from him. The naysayers all wanted to see if Scottie could "be like Mike."

The truth was, Pippen was nothing like Michael.

Unlike Jordan, Scottie was actually affected by what fans and the press said about him. He had a human vulnerability that made him a wonderful, caring teammate but also made him sensitive to criticism. And no matter how well he played that season, it was never good enough – for himself or his critics. Never mind that the beauty of Pippen's game was in his defense, rebounding, unselfishness and ballhandling skills. Fans only wanted to compare him to Jordan. They wanted to see him drop 55 on the Knicks, hit game-winning shots and mentally intimidate opponents.

But Scottie wasn't cut out to do those things, and at times he became frustrated with his perceived failure to emulate Michael.

In Game 3 of the playoff series against the Knicks in '94, Pippen refused to go back into a tie game for the final 1.8 seconds after Phil Jackson called a play for Toni Kukoc. Pippen was already upset with Kukoc for making a mistake on the previous possession, so when Jackson drew up the final shot for Toni, it infuriated Scottie.

All season long, Pippen's critics were asking him to replace Jordan, and now the final shot would go to a rookie from Croatia? He refused to enter the game, and after Kukoc nailed the game-winning shot, Pippen was embarrassingly left to explain his actions. He was vilified in the press as selfish and insubordinate. It was the biggest mistake of Pippen's career, and unfortunately it will be part of his legacy.

The truth is that Scottie Pippen was a fabulous basketball player and an even better teammate. And while his human vulnerability got the best of him from time to time, he was a totally unselfish basketball player who loved to share the ball with his teammates. Without Pippen, Jordan and the Bulls never would have won six rings in the 1990s.

Scottie complemented Michael perfectly. MJ wanted to score, and Pippen wanted to pass. MJ was relentlessly hard on his teammates; Scottie was nurturing and patient. Defensively, the two terrorized opposing teams with their speed, length and versatility. And in the end, their partnership was the foundation of an NBA dynasty.