The Last Dance – Episode 2
The Last Dance Episode 2
Today, we learn about Scottie Pippen and his relationship with management, and his upbringing. We learn about Jordan’s competitive drive and his 2nd season in the NBA.
In episode 1, we learned about Scottie Pippen’s bad relationship with GM Jerry Krause. But why was this? We learn that Pippen is 6th on the Bulls in salary. Michael Jordan’s reliable #2, who should have been 2nd highest, was the 6th highest. An even more jaw-dropping fact was that Pippen was 122nd in the NBA in salary, when he was a top 20 player in the NBA at that time.
Pippen was very underpaid for somebody who did so much for the Bulls.
Pippen was:
2nd in scoring in franchise history
2nd in minutes in franchise history
3rd in rebounds in franchise history
2nd in assists in franchise history
2nd in steals in franchise history
Michael even said, “Whenever they speak Michael Jordan, they should speak Scottie Pippen.” He then went on to say that Scottie was his greatest teammate ever.
We take a flashback to Scottie’s childhood in Hamburg, Arkansas. His father and one of his brothers were in wheelchairs while he was growing up, and his family was poor. Pippen idolized Julius Erving when he grew up. Scottie went to Central Arkansas for college and quickly become a star showing off his guard skills and athleticism. Pippen was selected 5th overall by the Supersonics but was traded to the Bulls. Pippen would become the Robin to Michael’s Batman and is the greatest #2 of all time. But, he was never treated like it.
Pippen decided to take a longer contract, $18 million dollars for 7 years in 1991. Pippen could have easily gotten more money over a shorter period of time. Pippen said he did not want to risk getting injured, and that we wanted to provide for the people in his corner. But, with the league growing and the salary cap growing with it, Pippen was suddenly left with a very small contract for a player of his caliber. And, Pippen could not renegotiate because owner Jerry Reinsdorf did not renegotiate contracts with players.
Going into the 1997-98 season, Pippen deserved to be paid, but there was nothing he could do about it. To make matters worse, the Bulls were throwing Pippen’s name around in certain trades. Pippen, who was arguably a top-10 player in the league, who had been a huge part of the Bulls success, was being looked into being traded? Pippen was fed up with management and decided to do something about it.
Pippen had a foot injury that was with him during last year’s playoff run. Pippen could have gotten surgery right after the season was done, and he would have been ready for the 97-98 season. Instead, Pippen delayed the surgery all summer, saying that he was not going to f*** his summer up. Pippen waited until the start of the new season to have surgery, making him unavailable January.
“Scottie was wrong in that scenario,” Jordan said. “What Scottie was trying to do was trying to force management to change his contract. And Jerry [Reinsdorf] wasn’t going to that.”
Without Pippen, Chicago started the season off rough with an 8-7 record. The media were grilling Jordan and the Bulls, and Jordan responded the only way that he could. With his drive to be great.
“Every time I step on that basketball court my focus is to win the game,” he said. “It drives me insane when I can’t.”
The competitive drive started when Jordan was a child. We flashback to Jordan’s childhood, trying to learn how Jordan got this competitive drive.
Growing up, Jordan was not always the best sibling in the house that played basketball. His brother Larry was. Larry said that whenever somebody beat him, they would fight. “It’s just the way that it was,” said Larry. Jordan said that is was ‘traumatic’ to come to blows with somebody that you loved, but it ignited every single fire in your body.
“If you want to bring out the best in Michael, tell him he can’t do something, or he can’t do it as good as somebody else,” his late father described.
From Jordan’s childhood, we go to Jordan’s 2nd year in the NBA. After a great rookie season, Jordan looked to improve on it. But, after just 3 games, he broke hit foot that sidelined him for the rest of the season. As he was recovering, Jordan could not stand not playing. He convinced the Bulls to let him go back to college. Without their knowledge, he started to play one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three and eventually going to five-on-five. When Jordan returned back to the Bulls, the team noticed his improved muscle strength in the calf of his injured leg.
Then, when Jordan was ready to get back to playing, the Bulls had a decision to make. Jordan was literally their franchise, and if we got injured again, than his career would be over. The doctors said that if Jordan played, there would be a 90% chance that he would be fine, and a 10% chance that he re-injures hit foot. Jordan wanted to play, of course, and help his team win. Jerry Reinsdorf asked what happens when the 10% comes in. The doctors said his career would be over. Jordan still wanted to play, even with that risk.
Reinsdorf have Jordan an example. If you had a headache, and you had 10 pills. 9 would cure you, and one would kill you. Would you take a pill?
Jordan responded: Depends on how f****** bad the headache is.
So, the Bulls made a compromise. Jordan would play 7 minutes in each half, for a total of 14 minutes in a game. The Bulls were very strict, and would take Michael out at any point during the game, no matter how important.
But, Jordan was starting to will the Bulls back into playoff contention. But, there was a pivotal game in Indiana that the Bulls had to win. Jordan was going off, but with 13 seconds remaining, the Bulls were trailing by 1 and needed a score for the win. The Bulls had Michael, so everything would be ok. But, Michael’s time was up, so he had to sit up. He begged coach Albeck to put him back in, but to no avail. John Paxson scored, and the Bulls won, but Michael was furious with management. Michael always wanted to win, and he felt like management was just trying to get a better draft pick. This incident soured Jordan’s relationship with management.
Jordan was able to get the Bulls back into the playoffs as an 8th seed, and their prize was to face the almighty Boston Celtics with Larry Bird, and 4 other Hall of Famers. Jordan had no minutes restrictions. Jordan had 49 points in Game 1, and the Bulls lost 123-104.
Game 2, Jordan scored 63 points, but the Bulls lost in double OT. “That wasn’t Michael Jordan, that was God disguised as Michael Jordan,” Larry Bird said after Game 2.
The Bulls would lose the series in 3 games, but it was apparent to all the Jordan was coming, and so were the Bulls. Going into 1987, Krause knew that he needed to make a team that fit around Michael Jordan. He got guys like Bill Cartwright from New York, and Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant in the draft. Things were looking up for the Bulls.
Flash forward back to 1997, with the Bulls looking into trading Scottie Pippen. Ownership eventually said no, because as long as they had Michael, they were trying to get the 6th championship.
The episode ends in a cliffhanger, with Pippen being fed up with Krause, starts berating him in front of the whole team. He publicly demands a trade and says “I’m never going to play for the Bulls again.”
What did you think about Episode 2? What was your favorite part? Leave all of your comments down below.
Follow my Instagram: @hoopnotions
