RealGM

HomoSapien wrote:I don't think his reputation is tarnished. I think most people recognize him as an all-time great player but also recognize him as a guy who is harming his own reputation of late. That doesn't erase Pippen the basketball player, but it is erasing Pippen the ambassador of the game.

To add a bit of nuance to it, the vast majority of casual fans don't know any of this stuff or care about it and only think that Pippen is the Robin to Jordan's Batman and a legend. The more die hard fan are the ones where Pippen has tarnished legacy by doing dumb thing after dumb thing after dumb thing, and because they follow the news to see all the dumb things, there's now a lot of dumb things inbetween now and his last championship.

Pippen was a fantastic player and all time great, but he was definitely a number two option as well. In the 90s, having that prototype scorer was much more important, so your Karl Malones, Barkleys and even Drexlers were considered on a tier above your Stocktons and Pippens. There were quite a few examples where Pippen had subpar performance when the Bulls needed buckets, got injured or even disappeared on offense, but still functioning as a good team player (think Chris Paul struggles).

That said, to have a number two who plays defense, rebounds, and passes like Pippen is an ideal situation.

But you can't compare him with say Kobe, Wade, and other second options who really were first option players.
This is only because as great as he was, Pippen did struggle to create his own shot.