re: "The Last Dance" in game thread 8pm Central/9 ET on ESPN

Is it Stephen A. Free? I'm recording but if they find a way to maneuver SAS into this docu-series I may skip it.

Not that I'm a hater, he's just everywhere and on everything ESPN does and you can be he was chomping to be a part of this somehow, even though he was nowhere around at that time.

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I'm guessing the amount of people putting Pippen in their top 10-20 is few and far between. 

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I'm a BIG fan of Pippen's game, and I think it's a fascinating argument about whether he's top 20 all time.

The first thing is I regard him as the best wing defender ever. D will always be his calling card. He could defend 1-3, even some 4's if needed, and was incredibly good at it.

He was a strong rebounder, around 8-9 rpg and one of the guys who defined point forward with 6-7 apg.

His scoring is what holds him back a little, but he averaged 22 and 21 in the years without MJ. I think that's what may hold him out of the top 20. Still, I'd understand having him top 20. His D was so good and so key to the Bulls championships.

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I watched basketball in the 90s a ton, but didn't really watch individual defensive vs offensive matchups as I was a kid. Were there guys in that generation who gave Pippen problems? 

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One of my basic basketball theories is the really great ones aren't really capable of being stopped. The great defenders make people work harder and take tougher shots.

This is a great breakdown by Kobe Bryant of how Pippen did that:

Detail segment

That's one thing I think Pippen did to everyone. He made them work and took away the things they preferred to do.

I love Magic Johnson, and Pippen's first big statement was defending Magic better than anyone had in the 1991 Finals. Magic still got 19, 12.4 and 8 per game, but Pippen held him to 43% shooting and forced over 4 turnovers a game.

That's what Pippen did. He'd take a tough player and make him less efficient and break up the other team's game plan.

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WestCoastAg

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You suck in all aspects of talking sports.

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As long as MJ, Pippen, and Phil are willing to stay you keep on rolling

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Pippen and Phil Jackson weren't willing to stay.

Here is what I find nuts about the salaries of the players of yesteryear.

Michael Jordan only made $93M from basketball.

66M of that came over the last two years with the Bulls.

That’s just absolutely absurd.

Scottie still ended up making like 60M+ over his career.

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Michael Jordan only made $93M from basketball. 66M of that came over the last two years with the Bulls. That’s just absolutely absurd. Scottie still ended up making like 60M+ over his career.

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Scottie Pippen made more money in NBA salary than Micheal Jordan did over their careers. That’s crazy to me too.

Can’t wait for next week when they spotlight Jordan against the Bad Boys.

Some of my favorite basketball ever. I was #TeamPistons back then too. I’m excited for next week.

Just a friendly FYI if it hasn’t been mentioned...ep3-8 have been leaked. Spent last night binge watching and haven’t been to sleep yet. Can’t wait to see how they wrap it up in final 2 episodes. I’d watch all the raw footage from that year.