Scottie Pippen sparked a plethora of conversations within the basketball community when he shared blunt thoughts on his former Chicago Bulls teammate, Michael Jordan. In his recently released memoir, Pippen asserted that Jordan “ruined” basketball and went on to say that he used ESPN’s The Last Dance to “glorify” himself. Since he shared these thoughts and more, other Bulls players have shared their own opinions on the matter. Now, yet another teammate is speaking out, and his comments paint a picture that’s quite different from Pippen’s.
Scottie Pippen really didn’t hold back with his thoughts in the book, Unguarded and, as a result, many seem to be finding the book to be quite the page-turner. Former Chicago Bulls center Bill Wennington is actually among those who’s currently in the middle of reading it. The NBA champion revealed this during a recent appearance on a radio show (via YouTube’s Gray Area). While speaking with the outlet, he also explained that he was taken aback by his old colleague’s sentiments and that he doesn’t exactly see what PIppen was seeing back then:
It’s tough, I didn’t see it back then and I don’t know if I had rose colored blinders on but I didn’t see it. Everyone was getting along, everyone was hanging out together and doing things. I don’t know if something happened with Scottie, I respect his opinion. He’s been one of my favorite Bulls teammates and was a lot of fun. … But If he really felt that way, he did a great job at hiding it because it didn’t affect us when we were playing because we all got along really well at the time.
Through old footage, The Last Dance showed off more than a few interactions between Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and their teammates. Jordan was shown to be strict when it came to team practices, a fact that some both within and outside the team took issue with at the time. However, they were also shown to be a relatively close unit during their downtime. However, while evoking Jordan’s baseball career, Pippen insulated that he and his on-court partner weren’t as close as the Emmy-winning show would have the public believe.
Ahead of Bill Wennington, former Bull Scott Williams spoke on the recent comments and referred to Michael Jordan as the better teammate. Williams cited Jordan’s tendency to text back and keep in general contact with his colleagues as a plus. Charles Oakley, who has his own thoughts on The Last Dance, respected Scottie Pippen’s right to his feelings. However, he also voiced his belief that there’s a deeper reason why his old teammate is now speaking out in this manner. Oakley seems to think that it all stems from a possible dispute that occurred while Jordan and Pippen were still players.
Other basketball alums like Kenny Smith have also chimed in on the matter. Smith was also respectful when referring to the former small forward’s comments but did state that he found the docuseries to be accurate. Fellow Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley was a bit more blunt, as he accused the former Bull of “big-game hunting” in order to sell his book. He later added more thoughts, saying that the comments were “really not cool at all.” Fellow hall of famer Grant Hill, a fan of both Chicago players, was also disappointed to see the situation play out.
As of this writing, Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan still have not spoken since the show aired back in the spring of 2020. Whether or not the two patch things up remains to be seen, but you can bet that fans and players alike will continue to chime in as time goes on.
The Last Dance is currently available to stream on Netflix and ESPN+.
