Scottie Pippen on Kobe Bryant: “Reminded Me a Lot of Playing Against Michael Jordan. But I Was Older and He Was Younger”

Scottie Pippen has been making plenty of appearances in the media because of his new memoir ‘Unguarded’. Unfortunately, so far, it has received a lot of backlash for all the mud that he is throwing on Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls, and many other people from the NBA fraternity. But it looks like Kobe Bryant is safe from it all, and Pippen only had the most amazing things to say about him.

Scottie Pippen is all praises for Kobe Bryant

Never was and never will be anyone like Kobe Bryant. After he passed away last year in a terrible helicopter crash, it was as if fans, teammates, friends, and family were determined to keep his legacy alive one way or the other. And what’s the best way to do that than share their memories of him? So, when Pippen spoke about his admiration for Bryant, it did exactly that.

On SiriusXM NBA Radio, Scottie Pippen reminisced about the days when he watched Kobe in his early years. When Scott was playing in the West Coast, Kobe was in his fifth or sixth season at the time. “He was definitely prime Kobe, a very tough player to guard,” stated Pippen. “Reminded me a lot about competing against Michael, day in and day out. But I was older and he was younger, so it was a lot different.”

“He was definitely one of the toughest that I’ve ever played against. Especially once Phil got a hold of him and Shaq, and got that team really playing together, and playing with some chemistry. They were a very special team.”

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Was the Kobe-Shaq era better than the GSW era?

The Golden State Warriors had a one-of-a-kind dominance through 2015-2018. Winning three championships in four seasons made them one of the biggest threats to all teams in the league.

However, Pippen confessed, “The Shaq and Kobe era, to me, was a lot more scarier of what they could have done, had they stayed together than the Golden State era.”

But when posed with a question about who would win if they pitted the best Shaq/Kobe team and the best Pippen and MJ team against each other, Pippen was blunt. “The Bulls win in that,” he concluded.

So, it seems like Kobe and Shaq as a duo were obviously one of the best the NBA and Pippen have seen. But having agreed to that, even today, Scottie considers his pairing with Jordan better than all the others out there. Looks like he doesn’t have only bad things to say about his former teammate.

READ MORE: Charles Barkley on Michael Jordan Saga: “Scottie Pippen Is Just Trying To sell Books. I don’t Think He’s Worried About Relationships”