As teammates who were once close to the Bulls, Pippen and Jordan have indeed helped the team achieve a series of glorious honors, but the relationship between the two off the court is not so harmonious. In the previous documentary about Jordan, "The Last Dance", Pippen was unhappy that Jordan called himself "selfish" in the documentary, but instead attacked Jordan for being selfish before the start of the training camp, and said that he ruined the game. Back in 1993, after the Bulls completed their first triple crown, Jordan suddenly announced his retirement on October 6, 1993, less than a month before the Bulls' new season opener, without warning, although the two helped the Bulls to win a triple crown again, but this pair, which is regarded by the NBA as the most successful, is so tense in private that it is really unexpected.
Recently, NBA Eagles star Wilkins publicly attacked Pippen's selfish remarks about Jordan, and bluntly said: "You have worked with the greatest players and won together, but without Jordan, can you still win?" No way, I don't care what you really think. Wilkins is not wrong in this statement, without Jordan, Pippen would not have become a household star, and the Bulls would not have won the championship under his leadership.
After Jordan announced his retirement in '93 to play baseball, as the second head of the team, Pippen naturally had to shoulder the heavy responsibility, but after playing the first 11 games of the season, Pippen only led the team to 4 wins and 7 losses, which was not at all like a defending champion team, although with the subsequent adjustment, Pippen gradually found his form, leading the Bulls to achieve a record of 55 wins and 27 losses in the season (only 2 less than the previous season). And he himself also averaged 22 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.9 steals per game, and in 1994, the All-Star won the only All-Star MVP trophy of his career with 29 points and 11 rebounds, but in the playoffs, everyone finally realized how big the difference between All-Stars and superstars was.
In that year's playoffs, although the Bulls swept the Cavaliers in the first round, they met the old enemy Knicks in the semifinals, and Pippen completely showed his weakness, shooting only 35.3% of his shots after the first two games, the Bulls also fell behind by 2, and in the third game, although the team pulled back a city, but with the last 1.8 seconds left in the game, coach Phil Jackson did not let Pippen end the game, but let rookie Kukoc perform the kill.
After that, the Bulls and Knicks fought to grab seven, but Pippen's performance was not satisfactory, and after the whole series, he averaged only 21.7 points per game, shooting percentage and three-point shooting rate were as low as 40.5% and 31.4%, respectively, and it was his downturn that eventually caused the Bulls to stop in the semifinals and miss the four consecutive championships.
Although Pippen's performance in the regular season is indeed unquestionable, in terms of playing hard battles and leading the team, he is not a star and a half, of course, Jordan can lead the Bulls to win two triple crowns, Pippen is indeed indispensable, but as Wilkins said, without Jordan, Pippen really can't make the Bulls competitive, let alone the championship. Because of the broadcast of the Jordan documentary, the relationship between Jordan and Pippen is still very stiff, but I believe that time can still resolve everything, after all, even the original three giants of the Green Army can reconcile, not to mention Jordan Pippen, who has been living together day and night, fighting together for many years, and bringing 6 championships to the Bulls.