Scottie Pippen: The Rise to Awesomeness
Scottie Pippen was perhaps one of most celebrated defenders in the National Basketball Association’s history. He is mostly known for his run with the Chicago Bulls, playing alongside legends Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. Such was his contribution that
Pippen played a crucial part in moulding the Chicago Bulls into what they are today.
Pippen was born on September 25th, 1965 in Hamburg, Arkansas to Preston and Ethel Pippen. Scottie Pippen was one of twelve children. Pippen won many titles throughout his career, including the honour of making it to the NBA-All Defensive Team
eight times, the All-NBA First Team three times and the NBA All-Star seven times. Such was his contribution that his name was just recently included in the Basketball Hall of Fame in August, 2010.
Ironically, Pippen was not that good at basketball during his youth, especially in his college years. This was probably due to the fact that he was only 6 feet 1 inches tall. With so many other siblings, and a disabled father, he needed a scholarship to
be able to join a college. Even though most of the colleges were overlooking Pippen, he managed to land a spot in the University of Central Arkansas on a “work-study” agreement. Pippen experienced a growth spurt and reached a height of 6 feet 5 inches. This
change in height coupled with his playing skills, made Pippen realise that basketball was his game.
Even though Scottie Pippen had amazing statistics, he was widely ignored by the NBA. It wasn’t until 1987 when he was drafted by the Seattle Super Sonics. He was eventually traded to the Chicago Bulls. During his rookie years, Pippen was mostly on the bench,
occasionally playing as the backup for Brad Sellers. Michael Jordan took Pippen under his wing, and became his mentor along with a competitive teammate. Both the players were known to practice alone in order to work on each other’s skills and abilities. As
time went on, Pippen worked on improving his skills. This practice paid off in 1988 when Pippen was chosen to play small forward position in the playoffs. He used this opportunity to display his stellar abilities and propelled the Bulls into the semi-finals
of their conference for the first time in 10 years. He had an average of 16.5 points per game, 6.7 rebounds, and a field goal percentage of 48.9%. These amazing statistics allowed Pippen to easily get selected in the NBA All-Star games in 1990. He also aided
the Bulls get to the conference finals in 1989 and 1990 and helped the Bulls win their first three championships. In 1992, he had his name in the very first “Dream Team” and competed in the Olympics in Spain. His popularity increased drastically when he and
Jordan brought back the gold medal coupled with the NBA championship in the same season.
Scottie Pippen got his true break when basketball legend Michael Jordan retired in 1993. He earned the All-Star Game MVP and his first All-NBA First Team. In game 6 of the 1994 playoffs, Pippen made what is by far the best point he has ever scored in his
career against the Knicks. The Knicks were in possession of the ball. They used to opportunity and tried to score but were rejected by Horace Grant. The Bulls made a dash for the other basket. Pete Myers passed the ball to Pippen, who jumped up with his palm
in the face of Patrick Ewing (who was defending) and dunked the ball, scoring the point. This dunk is one of history’s most famous moves ever. In 1994, rumours started floating around, that Pippen would be traded to the Seattle Super Sonics for Shawn Kemp.
But these rumours were cut down by the news that the retired Michael Jordan would be coming back to the Bulls for the next season. The team did not do well that season due to their lack of proper defence and rebounding. With Jordan making a comeback to the
game and the addition of Dennis Rodman, Pippen led the Bulls through their best season ever. Pippen was with the Bulls for about eleven seasons. In the 1998-1999 season, he was traded to the Houston Rockets. Pippen didn’t mix with his new team and there were
many clashes in particularly with Charles Barkley. Pippen was then traded again in the off seasons to the Portland Trail Blazers. In 1999, Pippen was accused of drunk driving, but the charges were dropped because there was not enough evidence. Pippen eventually
retired from professional basketball in 2004.
We can remember Pippen as one of the most all-rounded basketball players and as one of the best defenders in the league so far. By providing unparalleled defence and interior defence, Pippen took the Chicago Bulls to an entire new level. To say Pippen had
the God gifted ability to play the game would be an understatement to the talent that this man possessed.
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