Few years ago during Lebron’s first season with the Heat, Scottie Pippen went on record to say Lebron James was a better basketball player than Michael Jordan.
“Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to play the game. But I may go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game because he is so potent offensively that not only can he score at will but he keeps everybody involved.” – 2011 Scottie Pippen
Scottie loves to make bold statements, especially if they’re headlining news with his name attached to it. Pippen is beloved by Chicago fans, he was a key star in all six championships won by the Chicago Bulls. In an interview given by Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, Pippen went on to make yet another bold statement.
“I was LeBron James before LeBron James. It’s not even close.” – Scottie Pippen
“They want to compare him to the greatest whether it be Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, but he’s more closer to myself. It’s natural for folks to say that, but if you look at how he plays the game and how I played the game, you’ll see more similarities with us.” – Scottie Pippen
It’s true. Media and the fans automatically look at Lebron and start comparing Jordan. Their style of game is extremely different. Lebron has often been compared to Magic Johnson; but even that comparison doesn’t settle well. Magic was primarily a point guard, a pass first kind of player. Sure, similar size but the athleticism wasn’t nearly the same.
Scottie Pippen had a similar built to Lebron James; sure. Pippen was basically a point forward; sure. Pippen was able to score the ball at will or find the open player depending on what the defense was giving him; sure. However, they’re not the same player at all. While Pippen is a Top 50 player of all time, he was able to showcase his talent because defenses were hovered around Michael Jordan.
Lebron James physically might be the most gifted player in the history of the NBA. That’s debatable, but it’s not too outrageous to say. Lebron is faster than any guard, has vision than the best of point guards, can shoot as far as any shooter, he can play bully-ball in the post like any forward, he can rebound like any big man. This is what makes Lebron James so great. So while Scottie Pippen was gifted and showed flashes of similarities of Lebron James’ style of game, he’s clearly not the same player; nobody is.
Lebron James is Lebron James, Scottie Pippen is Scottie Pippen.
