First Scottie Pippen said LeBron may be the greatest ever. Then Oscar Robertson said people shouldn’t get so upset with Scottie’s comments because who said Jordan was the greatest anyway? Somehow, Stan Van Gundy has found his way in this conversation and implied that Scottie may have been overrated. Scottie Pippen, Oscar Robertson and Stan Van Gundy. Which one of those names do not belong?
Van Gundy noted that some of the greatest teams in recent NBA history weren’t exactly loaded with superstars. He first listed the Detroit Pistons of a few years ago – a team that went to six straight Eastern Conference finals and won one championship.
“Was there even one Hall of Famer on that team?” Van Gundy asked rhetorically. “Debatable.”
Then he went to Michael Jordan’s dynastic Bulls and their six championships. Van Gundy speculated that perhaps Jordan was the only superstar on that team.
“I have always wondered, as good as Scottie Pippen was, would he have been considered a star if he hadn’t played with Jordan and had to carry a team on his own,” Van Gundy explained. “We’ll never know, but my point is that sometimes we make the determination after the fact. In other words, after Chicago won championships, we branded Pippen a star.”
Read more of Van Gundy’s comments at OrlandoSentinel.com.
