Scottie Pippen — Hall of Famer, NBA 75th Anniversary Team member, six-time NBA champion, a legend — still dips into a deep well of bitterness about his career. “The Last Dance” didn’t help with that.
Pippen’s latest complaint: He never won Defensive Player of the Year. Why didn’t he win? The media was too focused on Michael Jordan, Pippen said during an interview with TrashTalkProduction (hat tip to Larry Brown Sports).
Pippen was a 10-time All-Defensive player, so he was getting noticed, but he seems bitter Jordan won DPOY (in 1988, Pippen’s rookie year) and he never got one. Of course, Pippen is bitter about a lot of things Jordan-related.
Pippen played in an era of great defenders. Here is the list of players named DPOY during Pippen’s peak in the 1990s: Dennis Rodman, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning. I’m in no position to re-litigate those DPOY races, but that is an insane class to try and beat out for the award.
At this point, the comment feels like Pippen being Pippen. There probably will be more of that in the coming years.