NBA Update: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rebukes Scottie Pippen over LeBron-Michael Jordan comments
Scottie Pippen must be wondering just what took over him when he labelled LeBron James as the most complete player to ever play the game. His comments drew a severe backlash from critics all over the NBA and a rebuke from the very
man he put ahead of Michael Jordan.
Scottie might have been thinking by now that the worst was almost over. But boy was he wrong. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a name everyone knows in the basketball world. He is one of the all time greats of the game and how can he not
be, when he is the all time leading scorer in the history of the league.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar taught Scottie Pippen quite a lesson on the history of basketball recently. Abdul-Jabbar posted an open letter to Scottie Pippen regarding his now infamous MJ and LeBron comments. Whilst most people have been
spitting vitriol towards Scottie for what he said, Kareem just doesn’t agree with anything, even Michael Jordan being the greatest scorer part.
“You obviously never saw Wilt Chamberlain play who undoubtedly was the greatest scorer this game has ever known. When did MJ ever average 50.4 points per game plus 25.7 rebounds?”
This is an excerpt from the letter. For those who don’t know, those numbers are not made up. Wilt Chamberlain actually achieved that feat, as inhuman as it may seem. Wilt Chamberlain also scored 100 points in a game, something
that simply won’t be done again. Chamberlain played at a time when the league only had 8 teams, it was a different era, but there is no arguing the facts. And the facts point towards Kareem’s assessment that,
“MJ has to be appraised in perspective. His incredible athletic ability, charisma and leadership on the court helped to make basketball popular around the world -- no question about that. But in terms of greatness, MJ has to take
a backseat to The Stilt.”
The other man that Kareem puts ahead of modern basketball players is the legendary Bill Russell – the player who won 8 championships in a row. Jordan in comparison won only 6. Russell also averaged 22.5 rebounds overall in his
career, again a seemingly inhuman feat. Arguments can be made regarding ability, era, quality of opponents and so on, but the feats of these legends will always be the part of the NBA history.
And the history books state that Bill Russell won 11 NBA World Championships with the Boston Celtics. And as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar so eloquently put it,” Scottie, the ring is the thing, and everything else is just statistics. “
LeBron James has 0 of those and Pippen must be wondering again, what took over him?
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