lol. The logic as in Magic had to set up Worthy. Don't understand that? Yes Worthy had the post up game and the quck 1st step. But on the fast break, it wasn't he who brought the ball up. It was Magic creating and finding him. It was Magic getting the ball in great position down low in the post, etc. My point is finding flaws in Pippen's game, you can do the same for Worthy's.
OK...well Wilt, Bill Russell, Kareem, Shaq, Hakeem the Dream, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Moses Malone, Pat Ewing and most big men have to post up and have the ball fed to them and I take nothing away from their games. Their numbers all blow Pippen's out of the water and no one refutes that each of them rank ahead of Pippen on any all-time list. Add Karl Malone, Dirk, Charles Barkley, KG, and most great power forwards to that list as well.
Your logic is flawed because you are using Worthy as an example as overrated because Magic had to set him up. Well Pippen always had the ball in his hands. He was the beginning version of a "point forward". No one had to set him up...he had the ball. He also got to be the number one option with the Bulls 2nd units when Jordan sat down. Yet...he still averaged
16.1 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 5.2 APG, 2.0 SPG. Pippen isn't even the best "Robin" of all-time as anyone would tell you that Kobe Bryant during his three-peat years with Shaq has that honor.
In the Championship years together Kobe's numbers were: '99-'00 22.5 pts/gm, 6.3 rebs/gm, 4.9 ast
'00-'01 28.5 pts/gm, 5.9 rebs/gm, 5.0 ast
'01-'02 25.2 pts/gm, 5.5 rebs/gm, 5.5 ast
He posted those numbers as the 2nd option on a Championship team. The same role that Pippen played to the star Jordan. Just for some idea of what the 1st option was doing on those Lakers teams at the time here are Shaq's numbers: '99-'00 29.7 pts/gm, 13.6 rebs/gm, 3.8 ast
'00-'01 28.7 pts/gm, 12.7 rebs/gm, 3.7 ast
'01-'02 27.2 pts/gm, 10.7 rebs/gm, 3.0 ast
Phil Jackson and Tex Winter coached both teams and ran the same offense. Meaning...there are ample opportunities for there to be multiple 20pt scorers in that offense and Pippen was not skilled enough offensively to make that happen. He was a solid player offensively but what really makes him a Hall of Famer is his defensive prowess. I have the utmost respect for him as a player but in the grand scheme of all-time players in the Association he'd be hard pressed to enter the Top 40-50. So any player that would be hard pressed to make that list isn't a bad player at all. The Association is filled with unbelievable players. However, there are levels to greatness and Pippen often gets thrown into the same mix as guys who are head and shoulders ahead of him and their numbers and hardware show it. Why couldn't he have better numbers since he didn't need to be setup? Couldn't create on his own? Not a gifted scorer? What was it that kept him from putting up bigger numbers in an offense I proved can have multiple 20pt scorers?
There are plenty of guys who were second fiddle on championship teams in the NBA that were able to put up better numbers than Pippen. In Magic's MVP seasons, Kareem was still leading the team in scoring as the second fiddle to Magic. When Shaq went to Miami and won a Championship, check out DWade's numbers as the second fiddle and Finals MVP. See Manu Ginobli's numbers in their wins as Duncan's second fiddle. I already pointed out that Worthy won a Finals MVP as the second fiddle to Magic. No disrespect to Pippen at all but he is Kevin McHale. Averaged around the same numbers, an unbelievable player, a champion, an All-Star, a Hall of Famer, one of the top 10 at his position and also second fiddle to a guy that was All-World. However, not many throw McHale's name around when speaking of the best of an era like Pippen's gets thrown around. No one would ever have McHale ranked in their top 30 players all-time. Pippen seems to get the benefit of nostalgia IMO PJ. Great player on great teams but he is several notches below in the hierarchy of great players in the Association. He is underrated as a defender and overrated as an overall player IMO.
