Sidekick Shmidekick

Michael Jordan is still the greatest basketball who's ever lived. Few (if any) would dispute that. But I would also submit that anybody who tries to diminish the contributions of Scottie Pippen to those great Bulls championship teams would be highly misguided. I cite specifically the fact that Pippen was as highly rounded a small forward as any of his era and objectively one of the greatest ever. The dude could drive, shoot from long distance, rebound, pass better than any front-court player this side of Larry Bird/Rick Barry/Wilt Chamberlain, and was possibly the greatest perimeter defender (right up there with Walt "Clyde" Frazier) in the history of the NBA (his guarding of the opposition's best player allowed Jordan to roam and do his thing).............................................................................As for some harder evidence/data, this. Pippen missed the first 15 games of the 1997-98 season and without him the Bulls went 8-7. Compare that to the 54-13 record upon his return and, yeah, you kind of get the message. That, and I also refer you to the 1993-94 season. That was the year in which Jordan played baseball and the Bulls (in large measure due to Pippen's awesome play - the dude was also MVP in the All Star game) still finished 55-27 AND, if it wasn't for an atrocious call against the Knicks in the playoffs, that team might have also gone to the finals. Yes, Jordan indeed was great but, so, too, was Scottie Pippen.