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Bulls Veteran, Who Was Called the First Michael Jordan By Dennis Rodman, Claimed ‘His Airness’ Wouldn’t Be Successful Without His Teammates

Published 05/26/2022, 11:00 PM EDT

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Irrespective of whether someone is a basketball fan or not, Michael Jordan is a name known to millions around the world. He is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player ever who led the Chicago Bulls to 6 championships.

Although Jordan might take most of the credit for those 6 championships, his teammates deserve no less. Players like Scottie Pippen have come out and bashed Jordan for the aforementioned reason.

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Interestingly enough, former teammate Ron Harper, who Dennis Rodman said was Jordan before Jordan, touched upon the same. During an interview, Harper stressed upon the important contribution of the role players such as him. Moreover, he talks about how Jordan would not have won so many titles if not for the role players.

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Harper said, “MJ is a great player, but without his role players, he wouldn’t win as many championships that he won. When he started with that first championship, he had a young Horace Grant, he had a young Scottie, he had a young BJ Armstrong, and he had a legend in Bill Cartwright. Without those role players, he wouldn’t have won one of those 6 champions.”

When talking about someone who did not receive his due credit, Scottie Pippen‘s name instantly comes to mind. He was MJ’s right hand during the Bulls’ years of domination in the NBA.

Pippen caused a lot of controversies when he came out and bashed Jordan in his book and his interviews for taking most of the credit in ‘The Last Dance’ documentary.

How good was Michael Jordan without Scottie Pippen?

Jordan and Pippen formed one of the best duos in the history of basketball. While Jordan handled the offensive unit of the team, Pippen played a huge role in defense. Moreover, he is widely considered one of the best defenders ever.

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Interestingly enough, Jordan played 3 seasons without Pippen and failed to win a championship in all of them! Eventually. Scottie joined the Bulls in 1987 and MJ won his first championship in 1991. This was the first of 6.

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Playing with Pippen, Jordan averaged 31.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in a whopping 691 games with Scottie Pippen. (Source: Statmuse)

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Written by:

Abhinava Ghosh

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Abhinava is an NBA writer for EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Bachelor's in Journalism and Mass Communication. Abhinava has been following NBA for the past 6 years and is a huge fan of the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry.
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Edited by:

Arunaditya Aima