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NBA legend and Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen has been in the news over the last couple of weeks to promote his new book Unguarded and takes to task his ex-Chicago Bulls teammate Michael Jordan and "The Last Dance" documentary.
During an interview with GQ Magazine, Pippen was questioned about his legacy and where he would put himself among the NBA’s all-time greats. In his response, Pippen took the example of arguably the greatest player in NFL history. The former Chicago Bulls star acknowledged that he would not place Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady as the greatest player in the NFL due to how vital the team aspect is in football.
Scottie Pippen questions Tom Brady's GOAT status
The seven-time NBA All-Star went on to say that he would place himself with the greatest team that ever played in the NBA, the Chicago Bulls. Pippen also questioned the 'GOAT' status Brady holds in the NFL right now.
He said:
"In basketball, there’s no way to place yourself, you know? There’s hard to play Tom Brady at the top of the NFL even though he’s won a lot of championships, there are almost 70 players on each team."
Pippen added:
“Is he playing on every side of the football? Is he on kickoff? Is he on the punt return? Because if he ain’t plying all the roles, then he gotta give credit to his team."
The three-time NFL MVP won his seventh Super Bowl title in February this year when the Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Interestingly, Brady has more championships than any team in the NFL right now. Brady is also the leader in two of the more important individual statistical categories: passing yards and passing touchdowns. He has 82,074 passing yards and 608 passing touchdowns in his distinguished 22-year NFL career. At 44 years old, he is still seen as one of the best QBs in the NFL today.
Scottie Pippen on Michael Jordan
Brady was not the only all-time great athlete that Pippen had thoughts on. The 10-time All-Defensive player went after NBA icon Michael Jordan, saying that he "ruined the game of basketball" in an excerpt from his book. Pippen further said that he always believed Lakers power forward LeBron James was the greatest player this game has ever seen. The member of the NBA 75th anniversary teams said James does everything and personifies “what the game is truly about."
"I may go as far to say Mike ruined basketball. In the 80s on the playgrounds, you’d have everyone moving the ball around — passing to help the team. That stopped in the 90s. Kids wanted to be ‘Like Mike.’ Well, Mike didn’t want to pass — didn’t want to rebound, or defend the best player. He wanted everything done for him."
Pippen is in the top 10 all-time in steals with 2,307 (7th) and was the MVP in the All-Star game back in 1994. He averaged 16.1 points per game, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists in his 17-year NBA career. The former Bull, Portland Trail Blazer, and Houston Rocket had 17 career triple-doubles as well.
