“The Last Dance” has told plenty of stories of Michael Jordan's practice habits — the ribbing, the fights, and all of the trash talk that went on during the golden days of Chicago Bulls basketball.
Yet a part that often goes missing is how Scottie Pippen played the perfect balance to Jordan's incessant intensity, something Steve Kerr recently noted to ESPN's Zach Lowe:
“He was a perfect complement to Michael,” Kerr said last month on the Lowe Post podcast. “Michael was the hard-ass. You had to be ready every day for his criticism. Scottie would put his arm around you and make sure you were OK. He is a kind soul.”
Randy Brown and Jud Buechler love Pippen to this very day. Pippen tops the favorite Bulls teammate list for Bill Wennington and Stacey King. Will Perdue calls Pippen “a good family man” for accepting that lengthy contract extension in 1991 that ultimately turned into a source of drama at the tail end of it, though teammates didn't mind that he timed his foot surgery for the start of “The Last Dance” season.
Even Toni Kukoc grew to love Pippen after their early rift.
Brown, who signed with the Bulls in 1995, remembers Pippen telling him how important learning the triangle offense was to his future with the team:
“You're not gonna play if you don't get this,” Pippen told Brown. “I know what you bring, but Phil has to trust you.”
At the time, Pippen was trying to lead a post-Michael Jordan Bulls team, but he did it his way. Pippen was encouraging, not harsh like Michael. Pippen had seen how Jackson's offense could be tough to grasp, with Horace Grant even once admitting “it was like learning Mandarin.”
Grant acknowledged he had such trouble picking up the system at first that Johnny Bach, a Bulls assistant, nicknamed him “FUBAR” — a military acronym for “f***ed up beyond all recognition.”
Pippen was the easy-going but encouraging leader the Bulls needed to thrive. The stark difference between the two leadership styles was what allowed the Bulls to reach the playoffs during the time Jordan was away.
Pippen would also lead by example. During a game against the Indiana Pacers, he instructed Wennington to do away with Jackson's game plan and double center Rik Smits.
Later during a film session the next day, Jackson paused the tape and asked, “Billy, what the hell were you doing?”
Pippen didn't hesitate to speak up for his teammate: “Coach, I told him to go.”
Wennington acknowledged that many teammates would have left him hanging, but Pippen stuck up for him instead. B.J. Armstrong has similar stories about how Pippen would take the blame for things when Jackson would yell at Armstrong.
There are endless tales of why Pippen was so important to the Bulls, but his demeanor might be one of the most underrated aspects. He came into the league as a shy player willing to learn, and he absorbed Jordan's leadership and fine-tuned it into his own.
That gave the Bulls a perfect sweet-and-sour mix to keep them running, a recipe that netted them six titles in eight years.
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