Scottie Pippen
(Born 1965)
Hall of Fame Induction: 2010
Card Shown:
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NBA Pride
Position: SF
Height: 6’8″
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Scottie Pippen was one of the greatest players in NBA history. He may not get the credit he deserves because he happened to play with Michael Jordan, who many believe is the single greatest player of all time. Still, basketball is a team game and the Chicago Bulls would have had a hard time achieving what they did without Scottie.
Pippen was a multi-faceted player. He finished his NBA career with averages of 16.1 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, and 5.2 assists per game. Scottie could shoot, handle the ball, and he was a top defender. He was also great in the open floor and at attacking the basket. Pippen was the perfect complement to Michael Jordan and the Bulls and a major factor in their great success.
Awards and Honors
- Scottie won six NBA Championships with Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the 1990s including two three-peats (1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996, 1997, 1998). Dennis Rodman joined the Bulls before the second three-peat.
- He was All-NBA First Team three times from 1994 through 1996 and a seven-time NBA All-Star and won the All-Star game MVP Award in 1994.
- Pippen was also an outstanding defensive player. He was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight times (1992-1999). In 1994-95 Scottie led the league in steals with an average of 2.9 steals per game.
- Scottie won gold medals at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 as a part of the Dream Team and in Atlanta in 1996.
- Pippen was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.
Points of Interest
- Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause wanted to select Pippen with the Bulls eighth pick in the 1987 NBA Draft. Unfortunately for Krause, the Seattle SuperSonics selected him with the fifth pick. However, a few weeks later Krause was able to trade Olden Polynice (whom they had selected with the number eight pick) and future draft considerations to the Sonics for Pippen.
- Pippen played seventeen seasons in the NBA: eleven for the Chicago Bulls, one for the Houston Rockets, and four with the Portland Trailblazers.
- Scottie’s teams made the playoffs in sixteen of the seventeen years that he played in the NBA. This allowed him to retire with the second most playoff games (208), trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (237).
- In the 1991 NBA Finals against the Lakers Pippen was charged with guarding Magic Johnson for much of the series. This came after a Game 1 loss to the Lakers and two quick fouls that Jordan had picked up while guarding Magic in Game 2. During the rest of the series, he effectively disrupted the Lakers offense and helped the Bulls to their first NBA championship in the Jordan/Pippen era. The Bulls won the series four games to one.
Statistics
Scottie Pippen Statistics
provided by Basketball-Reference.com