Dennis Rodman: Scottie Pippen Would Have Been Better Than LeBron James in '90s
While many have spent The Last Dance comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James, Dennis Rodman doesn't think LeBron would have even been the second-best player on those 1990s Bulls teams.
"He revolutionized the point-forward position. All these players today should thank Scottie Pippen," Rodman told Jackie MacMullan of ESPN. "Guys like Kevin Durant should say, 'Wow, look what you did for us.' Scottie could handle, he could shoot the ball, he could defend, he could rebound.
"If LeBron was playing during the '90s, I'd still say Scottie Pippen was the second-best player behind Michael."
While we could summarily dismiss this comment with a Bugs Bunny meme, let's assess it from a strictly objective perspective. LeBron is in his 17th NBA season. Pippen played 17 seasons before his retirement, so it's only fair to put their resumes side-by-side:
LeBron
- Points: 34,087
Rebounds: 9,353
Assists: 9,298
Steals: 2,011
Blocks: 951
Win Shares: 236.1
VORP: 133.2
Finals MVPs: 3
NBA MVPs: 4
All-Star Games: 16
All-NBA Selections: 15
All-Defensive Selections: 6
Pippen
- Points: 18,948
Rebounds: 7,494
Assists: 6,135
Steals: 2,307
Blocks: 947
Win Shares: 125.1
VORP: 63.2
Finals MVPs: 0
NBA MVPs: 0
All-Star Games: 7
All-NBA Selections: 7
All-Defensive Selections: 10
While we can give Pippen a slight edge in terms of defensive resume, he and LeBron are not in the same stratosphere. Even if we cherry-picked the five best seasons of Pippen's career against the five worst of LeBron's, James would come ahead in nearly every major statistical category.
Pippen's highest win share total for a single season is 13.1. LeBron has 12 different seasons with a higher number.
That's not to discount anything Pippen accomplished; he was an amazing player. Rodman was likely just backing up his longtime teammate, which is totally understandable.
As for the veracity of the claim, well, the proof is in the numbers.
