In ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ premiere of the first two episodes, Scottie Pippen emerged as the star.
While most of the hype surrounding the premiere of the first two episodes of ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ documentary featuring the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls centered around Michael Jordan, there was another player that “stole the show” during Sunday night’s made-for-TV moment.
That was none other than arguably the best No. 2 to ever step foot on an NBA court. Scottie Pippen was reintroduced to the world-at-large.
From his rough childhood to playing at the University of Central Arkansas to being the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, Pippen took center stage as the star of episode 2. While episodes 1 did most of the foundational work for the remaining nine episodes of the documentary, episode 2 is where the story really picks up.
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And that was Pippen’s time to shine. That he did. For many watching the documentary, they didn’t grow up watching Jordan’s Bulls. In fact, there’s a whole generation that was watching ‘The Last Dance’ documentary that probably only remembers watching Jordan in a Washington Wizards jersey (myself included).
Personally, I think I only remember Pippen from his days in Portland. Even though many of us tuned in for the Michael Jordan stories and myth-growing details, it was a breath of fresh air to hear the Pippen story (even if it was condensed to just one episode).
Pippen deserves the spotlight. What he did for the Bulls was magical. Without Pippen, Jordan probably doesn’t win six titles. He probably still wins a few, but Pippen was the perfect No. 2 for Jordan. He even admits that in the documentary.
The documentary also touched on how unfair, at times, the Bulls treated Pippen – a big part of that revolved around the money he was paid in the peak of the team’s dynasty.
Scottie Pippen made 32.6 million dollars in 13 seasons with the Bulls and made 66.3 million dollars in 4 seasons with the Blazers. Crazy. pic.twitter.com/gKYBBAanAO
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) April 20, 2020
Pippen was a great player and might be one of the most undervalued and overlooked stars in league history. However, at least for one episode, we got to know Scottie a little more than just being “Jordan’s sidekick.”
Plus, ‘The Last Dance’ is just getting started. It has gotten off to a great start Scottie Pippen got his moment to shine in episode 2 and was the talk of the premiere of the first two episodes. Who will emerge as the star next week? You know, other than Michael Jordan?