Sport
Behind NBA icons Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the Chicago Bulls dominated the ’90s
They won six championships during an eight-year span, becoming one of the top dynasties in sports history.
Jordan and Pippen are two of the best players in NBA history. They are widely recognized as the best duo of all time since they went undefeated in the Finals.
However, despite being a dominant one-two punch, their leadership styles were completely different.
Steve Kerr, who won three championships with Jordan and Pippen, told Sam Smith for Smith’s 2014 oral history of Jordan, “There Is No Next,” that Jordan and Pippen had different ways of leading the Bulls, as Chicago sports historian Jack M Silverstein reports.
“With Michael, there’s no forgiveness when you miss,” Kerr said. “That was the intimidating part. Scottie was the exact opposite. If he passed to you and you missed, he would pat you on the head and say, ‘That’s alright. I’m gonna pass it to you again next time.’ Whereas Michael would look at you like, ‘You gotta make the f—ing shot.’”
Jordan was on his teammates all the time and demanded perfection, so much so that one of his former teammates described him as a “screaming devil” in ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries.
In Episode 4 of “The Last Dance,” Horace Grant said Jordan didn’t tolerate any mistakes from his teammates. Grant also talked about how Jordan worked tremendously hard in practice.
“Man, I see a screaming devil. You make a mistake, he’s gonna scream at you, he’s gonna belittle you. He demands almost perfection,” Grant said about Jordan. “Man, when you see your leader working extremely hard in practice, you feel like, ‘Oh, man, if I don’t give it my all, I shouldn’t be here.’”
Jordan, Pippen and Grant won three straight NBA titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Pippen always had the talent to be a superstar, but he learned from Jordan how to stay in the gym and develop the mental toughness needed to thrive under pressure.
Pippen became Jordan’s focal point in 1990 since Jordan knew he required his partner in crime to flourish for the Bulls to become champions. According to B.J. Armstrong, Pippen benefited the most from playing with Jordan.
“More than any other player, Scottie benefited from playing with Michael Jordan,” Armstrong said in The Last Dance. “Because Scottie had this raw athletic ability. What he didn’t have was what Michael brought every day, which was the drive to be the very best every single day. The mental focus of the game.”
Jordan and Pippen had different leadership methods, but they bonded on the court since they wanted to win so badly. The Hall of Famers went 514-177 together during the regular season and only lost four playoff series.
Pippen never punched Kerr or refused to pass the ball to teammates as Jordan did. He was the softer touch.
However, the Bulls needed Jordan to be a harsh leader if they wanted to become champions and his leadership style worked.
Jordan won five MVPs, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, six championships, six Finals MVPs, 10 scoring titles and three steals titles with the Bulls.
