Lets look at the most prominent accolades that Scottie Pippen has received:
1990: Scottie Pippen chosen to "Dream Team 1".
SI reported: Scottie Pippen had played one All-Star Calibur season when he was chosen to be on the first U.S. Olympic Men's basketball team that included NBA players. He was chosen ahead of Isiah Thomas who at the time had just led the Detroit Pistons to two NBA Championships and was beginning to wind down his Hall of Fame career. Some mentioned that Pippen may have benefited from the Jordan revenge on Thomas for the alleged "Freeze out" in the 1985 NBA All-Star Game. The real Freeze out in that game was when "Iceman" George Gervin torched Jordan and the East for 23 points. Pippen belonged on Dream Team 2, not the original Dream Team, his stardom was not fully established when he was selected for Dream Team 1.
1991 Scottie "Shut Down" Magic Johnson in the 1991 NBA Finals.
First: Lets disspell a myth. Scottie Pippen did not "shut down" Magic Johnson in the 1991 NBA Finals:
Johnson's numbers in the 1991 NBA Finals:
| Game | Pts | Rebs | Ast | 1 | 19 | 10 | 11 | 2* | 14 | 7 | 10 | 3* | 22 | 6 | 10 | 4* | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5* | 16 | 11 | 20 |
| Johnsons's 1991 NBA Finals Stats: | 18.6ppg | 8.0rpg | 12.4apg |
| Johnson's 1991 NBA Finals stats while guarded by Pippen: | 18.5ppg | 7.5rpg | 12.8apg |
| Johnson's 1990-91 Regular season stats | 19.4ppg | 7.0apg | 12.5apg |
When you consider that an assist causes your team to score 2 points, Johnson was actually more productive for his team (by a tiny fraction) while guarded by Pippen than he was in Game 1 of the 1991 NBA Finals or the 1990-91 regular season.
While Scottie deserves credit for keeping Magic from completely "going off" in the series, Pippen only slowed Johnson down in Game 2. In games 3-5 Johnson averaged 20ppg, 7.7rpg 13.7apg, all better than his regular season numbers. Pippen was a great defender but, Johnson, -like all of the game's All Time Greats do in big games- still "got his" while he was guarded by Scottie Pippen. Johnson even had 20 assists in game 5 when his two long time trusted options: James Worthy and Byron Scott, were out with injuries.
1996 "All Around Best Player"
The media likes to make up labels for their favorite people to make them look better than they really are. Remember the 2000 Presidential Election when Democrats in the media made up the term "gravitas" to make their guy Al Gore look more presidential than his opponents? There is no NBA award for "All-Around best player" It was just a special label that was made up for one guy: Scottie Pippen. The pro-Pippen media was not happy saying "1995 All-Star game MVP Scottie Pippen" they wanted something to make him look better than he really was. If other point-forwards like Connie Hawkins and Paul Pressey were also acknowledged for their "All-Around Best Play" then this label would have some merit. On the day Pippen left Chicago the media immediately stopped using the phrase "All Around Best Player" to describe him.
1996: Pippen on the "50 Greatest Players" List
Pippen made the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History" list. Oscar Robertson said this: "Beyond the first 10 or 12 guys the 50 greatest players list was about who had the best P.R.. Bob McAdoo, a former league MVP did not make the list." If Scottie Pippen had played in a small market like Portland or Denver for his entire career it is highly unlikely that he would have been on the 50 greateast players list. Just ask Sidney Moncrief.
I would like to acknowledge that I thought Pippen was one of the best forwards in the game when he was at his peak. The simple fact remains that his accomplishments were magnified by his playing in Chicago. Pippen would have been an All-Star no matter where he played, but there would have been far less attention and good P.R. in a small market. Pippen's first year in Portland showed on a national stage another huge weakness his game: He can't take his team on his back in the clutch and win. That is why Scottie was MIA when his Blazers went to L.A. and pulled off the most collosal Game 7 fourth quarter choke in NBA playoff history. Pippen spent that fourth quarter watching Rasheed Wallace and Brian Grant lay bricks instead of taking over when it was obvious his team was in trouble. All the Blazers needed was a few baskets to stave off the Laker rally. That is why it is absurd to think that Pippen is of the same calibur as Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor and Julius Erving, those guys would not have let their team choke so badly if they were Blazers in Pippen's place.