The Debate Over Scottie Pippen's LeBron Comments

Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen's comments last week about LeBron James being a better overall player than Michael Jordan had an extra sting to them, coming just as Bulls fans were still lifting their jaws off the ground after the team's Game 5 collapse against the Miami Heat. Even though Pippen later tried to back off those comments once the firestorm over them erupted, the debate had already begun as to Pippen's motivations behind them, and whether he was right.

Sun-Times sports columnist Joe Cowley suggested in his Saturday column that Pippen's remarks were motivated by an "MJ complex:" that Pippen wouldn't have the authority of six title rings if not for Jordan.

Here’s the underlying assumption of why Pippen said it: jealousy. It was Robin yanking on Batman’s cape years after the crime-fighting days were over.

Pippen tried to explain himself on his Twitter account shortly after the radio comments.

First he fired off this classic: “For all of you that don’t know, I played the game you keep watching and cheering.’’

OK, Scottie, we get it. You played, we didn’t. You’re somehow smarter than us. As if no athlete has pulled that card out before.

Of course, Cowley's history with Twitter isn't the most pristine. We also suspect that he carried water for "Team Guillen" in last year's Ozzie/Kenny feud. We've always read Cowley's work as though he has an agenda.

Then there's Cowley's Sun-Times colleague, Rick Morrissey, who wrote Sunday that Pippen may be right.

We’ve been waiting for the next Jordan to show up. He’s here. He arrived Thursday night. He doesn’t have Jordan’s six NBA titles. He doesn’t have any titles. But barring injury to Miami’s Big Three, those titles are going to issue forth in a gush. There are going to be flood warnings by the time James is done.

Cowley raised a point in that the individual games of James and Jordan are different. James's is more like Magic Johnson, in that he's required to facilitate the offense more than Jordan. James was the catalyst behind the Heat's roaring back from a 12-point deficit.

But Morrissey's contention that James had The Look Thursday night is also valid. We should also remember that Jordan didn't come out of North Carolina and start winning NBA titles immediately. It was a seven-year journey and required complementary players, like Pippen.