Michael Jordan is known as the greatest player of all time due to his intense drive and competitive nature.
no man is an island
In the entire history of the nba, there has not been a single individual who has won the nba championship on his own. Wilt Chamberlain needed Jerry West and Gail Goodrich. Magic Johnson had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Byron Scott. larry bird had robert parish, kevin mchale and dennis johnson.
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the same goes for michael jordan. It was seven seasons before Michael got a taste of his first championship because he didn’t have the supporting cast necessary to ascend to the top of the NBA throne.
It wasn’t until Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant emerged that Michael was finally able to capture the elusive championship crown. this shows the value of teammates in one’s success. Here are five of the most famous of Michael Jordan’s teammates. this list is just my opinion, but i trust any nba fan who has followed mj’s career will agree that these teammates are the first that come to mind.
five most famous nba stars who played with michael jordan
- scottie pippen
- steve kerr
- dennis rodman
- toni kukoc
- horace grant
- Position: Small forward
- University: University of Central Arkansas
- Preliminary selection: 1987 draft; selected by the seattle jetsons as the fifth overall pick in the first round
- years with jordan: 1987-1993, 1995-1998
- accolades: six-time nba champion, seven-time nba all-star, nba all-star game mvp
1. scottie pippen
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scottie pippen was the robin of michael jordan’s batman. it’s lucky that scottie never looked to replace michael. A lot of tandems in the NBA never work out because they both want to be the alpha dog. shaq and kobe failed because kobe always thought he was better than shaq. Durant and Westbrook broke down because Russ felt he was the superstar.
Scottie competed with a 7′ 3″ wingspan, which is the same as Kawhi Leonard’s. The two have very similar games, as they are both close-quarters defenders who usually guard the opposing team’s best player every night. both players use their massive wingspan to disrupt opposing teams’ offense, they also use it for occasional stealing and blocking.
It was a nightmare for opposing teams to get the ball across half court with the bull’s long trio of scottie pippen, michael jordan and ron harper. with each of them sporting an above-average wingspan, opposing teams’ passes were easily deflected and it was difficult to simply pass the ball.
pippen was a true two-way player. In addition to being an efficient offensive player, he was also a great defensive player. pippen took it upon himself to protect the best forwards and shooting guards every night. he was quick enough to fend off speedy guards and big enough to take on opposing strikers.
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one of scottie’s best defensive moments was when he was tasked with stopping magic johnson in the 1991 nba finals. magic had five championships by then. he was the engine that made the showtime lakers tick and he was a matchup nightmare. he was a point guard in a power forward’s body. He also had a tremendous supporting cast in James Worthy, Mychal Thompson, Byron Scott, Sam Perkins, A.C. Green, Vlade Divac, and Elden Campbell. The Showtime Lakers were the most dominant team of the ’80s with their five championships.
After successfully defeating “the old guard” Los Angeles Lakers, the Young Bulls would go on to win two more championships and successfully complete a three-time championship. Their second championship was won against Clyde Drexler and the Portland Pioneers. They won their third championship against Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns.
scottie was thought to be a mere beneficiary of michael’s greatness. Pippen, however, proved naysayers wrong in the 1993-94 season (when Jordan first retired) when he averaged 22 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 5.6 apg, 2.9 spg and 0.8 bpg. The Bulls weren’t the same without Jordan and were eliminated by the New York Knicks in seven games. they still won 55 games that season, which was better than expected.
the following year, michael jordan rejoined the team at the end of the season. The Bulls made a late surge with Jordan back in the fold, but ultimately fell to upstart Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals in six games.
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