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I thought you were talking about playoff games where Pippen was injured until I looked it up.
Now let's break it down:
1985 -- Jordan's rookie year. Bulls lost 3-1 to the Bucks. Jordan went for 30ppg and 9 apg.
1986 -- Jordan only played 22 regular season games. Bulls lost 3-0 to the Celtics. Bird's Celtics went on the win the 'chip and are possibly the best team EVER. No shame in being swept by them. Jordan put up about 44 ppg.
1987 -- Bulls lost 3-0 to the Celtics. But again, the Celtics were one of the best teams ever. Jordan averaged 37 ppg.
This is one of those stats that sound shocking until you look into it. Jordan was young, he was injured one year and the Bulls played played one of the best dynasties in basketball history. So the results aren't shocking at all.
It should be noted the Washington Wizards failed to make the playoffs the two seasons Jordan played with them.
To be fair to Jordan, as was noted above he was a young player his first few seasons with the Bulls and he was playing against better teams. Having said that, Scottie Pippen IMO significantly helped Michael Jordan win and in many ways was a perfect fit for Jordan; Pippen did everything well and almost everything really well, but his weakest attribute was scoring (which is what Jordan did best and wanted to do most). If Pippen doesn't become a star and then superstar-caliber player (and he did so in about 1991, not coincidentally the year the Bulls won their first NBA title), I'm not sure Jordan wins any NBA titles.
It should be noted the Washington Wizards failed to make the playoffs the two seasons Jordan played with them.
To be fair to Jordan, as was noted above he was a young player his first few seasons with the Bulls and he was playing against better teams. Having said that, Scottie Pippen IMO significantly helped Michael Jordan win and in many ways was a perfect fit for Jordan; Pippen did everything well and almost everything really well, but his weakest attribute was scoring (which is what Jordan did best and wanted to do most). If Pippen doesn't become a star and then superstar-caliber player (and he did so in about 1991, not coincidentally the year the Bulls won their first NBA title), I'm not sure Jordan wins any NBA titles.
Come on now, Jordan on the Wizards isn't even worth mentioning. But yes, Scottie was required. Without him, the Bull's 2nd best player would've been Horace Grant...a fantastic role player, but 1-time all star.
It should be noted the Washington Wizards failed to make the playoffs the two seasons Jordan played with them.
To be fair to Jordan, as was noted above he was a young player his first few seasons with the Bulls and he was playing against better teams. Having said that, Scottie Pippen IMO significantly helped Michael Jordan win and in many ways was a perfect fit for Jordan; Pippen did everything well and almost everything really well, but his weakest attribute was scoring (which is what Jordan did best and wanted to do most). If Pippen doesn't become a star and then superstar-caliber player (and he did so in about 1991, not coincidentally the year the Bulls won their first NBA title), I'm not sure Jordan wins any NBA titles.
Bulls would have filled his void.
Would the team be 72-10 with 2 separate 3-peats. Probably not.
Would the team be 72-10 with 2 separate 3-peats. Probably not.
But Pippen was a distinctly better player, probably at his peak as a player, during the Bulls' second 3-peat compared to the Bulls' first 3-peat. Part of the difference in the teams' records was due to Pippen's improvement as a player during that time.
Jordan and Pippen, with an assist from Horace Grant (first 3-peat) and Dennis Rodman (second 3-peat), carried an unusually heavy amount of the load IMO for the Bulls relative to the load many of the other superstar players of the same era carried on their own teams. You take Pippen (or obviously Jordan) away, you still have a very good team but one that probably isn't a favorite to win NBA titles in any season.
I thought you were talking about playoff games where Pippen was injured until I looked it up.
Now let's break it down:
1985 -- Jordan's rookie year. Bulls lost 3-1 to the Bucks. Jordan went for 30ppg and 9 apg.
1986 -- Jordan only played 22 regular season games. Bulls lost 3-0 to the Celtics. Bird's Celtics went on the win the 'chip and are possibly the best team EVER. No shame in being swept by them. Jordan put up about 44 ppg.
1987 -- Bulls lost 3-0 to the Celtics. But again, the Celtics were one of the best teams ever. Jordan averaged 37 ppg.
This is one of those stats that sound shocking until you look into it. Jordan was young, he was injured one year and the Bulls played played one of the best dynasties in basketball history. So the results aren't shocking at all.
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