Scottie Pippen blasts Michael Jordan again - "He was a horrible player"

Scottie Pippen had another brutal comment about the abilities of his former Chicago Bulls teammate and friend, Michael Jordan, calling His Airness a "horrible player." Speaking on the "Gimme the Hot Sauce" podcast of former teammate Stacey King, Pippen shared that he knew what kind of player Jordan was before joining the Bulls in 1987.

"I've seen Michael Jordan play before I came to the Bulls. You guys have seen him play. He was a horrible player," Pippen said.

Horrible to play with

Pippen, who was Robin while Jordan was Batman, doubled down on his statement, saying that Jordan was more concerned with scoring points than playing winning basketball before he got there.

"He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1, shooting bad shots," said Pippen.

In the three seasons that Jordan was on the Bulls before the team acquired Pippen during the 1987-1988 NBA Draft, His Airness quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with. He averaged 31.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. In the 1986-1987 season, MJ had his best season at that point of his career, with incredible numbers of 37.1 points, 5.2 boards, 4.6 dimes, 2.9 steals, and 1.5 blocks per outing.

Jordan's best teammates during that season were Charles Oakley and John Paxson, which goes to show how shallow the Bulls' roster was before Pippen and coach Phil Jackson arrived. Despite having no real star talent around him, the Bulls made the NBA Playoffs in each of the three seasons before Pippen arrived.

Disappointing development

Pippen's barrage didn't end there, as he said that once the team began winning more and established itself in the Eastern Conference, all the pundits just forgot the player that Jordan was.

"All of a sudden, we become a team and we start winning, everybody forgot who he was. He was a player that, really, winning wasn't at the top of his category. It was scoring. He was going after scoring titles. It wasn't until Phil Jackson showed up that kind of changed the menu a little bit. And that still took some time," Pippen added.

This latest development is a disappointing one, considering the bond that the two players shared all those years. It's often the strongest relationships that end up being broken in the business of sports, and it appears as though Pippen and Jordan are no exception.