Greenhornet
A God Among Kings
bynum still played every game of the finals even on limited minutes Ariza was in all those games too and severely underrated... just 23 and still young at the time
trevor was your 2nd best dude on the boards and playing lockdown D
not saying you are wrong totally, and I was rooting for Kobe and the Lakers for most championships
Lakers were dysfunctional but still had the pieces they needed and chemistry, obviously Kobe puts them way over the top in anything
and you're right that alot of stacked teams didnt even sniff the finals, I've seen it and can name alot
but that doesnt take away the fact that all these nikkas had patchwork ass teams at one point or another. Pippen is my guy and Chicago was my team, I have Scottie Pippen books on my shelf... I was also a Blazers fan when Kobe and Shaq cooked Sabonis and Wallace.... but Pippen is somehow underrated and overrated at the same time. He benefited from being around Jordan, the same way Pau benefited from being around Kobe.
This will completely cook my points but whatever, thats what I do on this website... I think Pippen is akin to the level Lillard is at now. Not playstyle obviously, but he is very good and we all know it... but going nowhere too. So most people rate him high for his performances but they dont mean anything and people also shyt on him for the same reason. He's kind of at that tier for me, like you can say "yeah he's close to the top" but at the same time you can also say "well these other dudes are clear cut way more complete and better" Pippen was actually alot better than people remember but not enough to really be some break out dude.
This is absolutely no disrespect to him, pau, jordan or kobe...even lillard. All those dudes are top notch in the right spot. The 2nd best thing Pippen brought to the Bulls was actually showing up...I think alot of really good players could have fit too as long as they showed up and didnt get hurt. Like the T-mac trade, I can see it working... but only if T-mac had the durability as Pippen, and he didnt. Bulls were dynamic because Pippen was a co-captain who bought in and established a culture. But to your point, that shows how great Kobe was because even if he trained Pau hard to be a co-captain. Nobody was signing with the Lakers looking at Pau as some cornerstone of culture for the franchise, Kobe had to carry that burden on his own. Fisher was more the silent co-captain in that sense, and I wonder how close him and Kobe actually were... because Kobe seemed to trust him more than anyone for the longest period. Things never went completely sideways with those two ever.
