Scottie Pippen: 'I Was LeBron James Before LeBron James'
By: Evan Jankens
@kingofthekc
The Chicago Bulls of the 1990s might go down as having the best basketball teams of all time. Most people would say it was because of Michael Jordan. I say it's because of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Both were named to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players list. Pippen, in my opinion, was LeBron James before LeBron ever stepped onto an NBA court.
Think about it: Pippen could do it all at the small forward position. He would run the point, pass, rebound and score. Obviously, he couldn't put up the gigantic numbers LeBron does because he was playing with one of the top 5 players ever.
Pippen seems to have the same feeling about himself that I do.
While talking to Cleveland.com, Pippen spoke up about the issue.
"I'm no slouch, but when comparing LeBron's game, I'm usually left out," he said.
"I was LeBron James before LeBron James, it's not even close."
"They want to compare him to the greatest whether it be Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, but he's more closer to myself," Pippen said. "It's natural for folks to say that, but if you look at how he plays the game and how I played the game, you'll see more similarities with us."
These are pretty strong comments from Pippen, but it's kind of hard for me not to believe him.
In Pippen's 17-year career, he averaged 16.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 5.2 apg. Is Pippen right about this or do you think he is out of his mind?