Topics: NBA, Steph Curry , Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, Basketball
Scottie Pippen has made his stance clear on whether Steph Curry could have played in the Michael Jordan era.
Pippen was part of the iconic Chicago Bulls team alongside Jordan, Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr, who currently coaches Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
The quartet delivered a threepeat in 1997/98 under Phil Jackson, with the story captured for 'The Last Dance', which aired in 2020.
The Bulls pulled off quite the feat in the 1995/96 season in the first of their three-peat exploits, completing a legendary 72-10 run to clinch the NBA Championship.
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The Warriors’ run of 73-9 in 2015/16 has drawn comparisons to the Bulls’ showings in 1995/96, with the two separate campaigns setting records and being widely considered among the best in NBA history.
However, Pippen indicated that Curry wouldn’t be as successful as he is today if he played the game in the 1990s.
“It depends on the rules. If you play by today's rules, it would be one thing. But with the rules of the '90s, Curry would not be the same,” Pippen is quoted as saying by Fadeaway World.
“If we played in his era, it would be like playing in freedom: nobody grabs you, nobody stops you. I don't know who would win.
“We weren't made to shoot 25-50 three-pointers a game. They would probably win in that sense, because they have two of the best shooters, like Steph and Klay.
“But we played physical, we defended hard. We made the teams score only 75-80 points. Today, that is almost impossible.”
Pippen also said that the likes of Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic would have struggled to play the game in the '80s and '90s due to the physicality of the game.
“I don't know if they could dominate. In the '80s and '90s, we used to press all over the field,” Pippen added.
“Could Jokic bring the ball up against such pressure? I don't know. Sure, he can see the court and pass very well. But I don't know if he would be comfortable bringing the ball up from the back with that pressure.”
Pippen, now 60, claimed six NBA Championships during his time as a player and was a seven-time NBA All-Star.
Such were his exploits for the Bulls that the Chicago franchise honoured Pippen with a bronze statue inside the United Center back in 2011.
“Words really can't express my feelings. It's something you dream of as a kid growing up, but you can never foresee those childhood fantasies becoming reality,” Pippen said of the statue.
“You see statues of individuals who have done great things and made their mark on history, but as a basketball player, you never really think about arriving at this point. It's an amazing honor for the Chicago Bulls to do this for me.”
