Scottie Pippen was a vital part of the Chicago Bulls team that dominated the league in the ’90s. What he accomplished with the Bulls was something that most players can never achieve.
For Pippen, every championship the Bulls won holds a special place in his heart. However, he couldn’t help but pick a favorite sometimes.
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According to Pip, nothing could ever exceed the fulfillment and sense of pride he felt during the Bulls’ first three-peat in the early ’90s. To Pippen, the only achievement reminiscent of that run was when the Bulls won the championship again in 1996.
“1996 was a great year,” Pippen told Esquire in 2017. “It was one of the best in my career — we won the championship and I won my second Olympic gold medal in Atlanta. It was a year where I felt that as a team the Bulls regained that same winning feeling that we had back in the early ’90s.”
Jordan and Rodman disagreed with Pippen
Taking a quick trip down memory lane, Pippen was right. The Bulls really had a big year in the 1995-96 season. They came out guns blazing and finished the season with a historic 72-10 record.
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The Bulls’ undeniable dominance throughout the season made them favorites to win the championship once again, a feat that eluded them in two consecutive seasons.
While Pippen was convinced that the Bulls were back on the top of the food chain at the time, the team’s leader Michael Jordan and All-Star power forward Dennis Rodman didn’t echo their co-star’s sentiment.
For MJ and Rodman, the Bulls were dominating, but not because they were too much for other teams. Instead, they believed that the league had been “diluted” then.
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“Are we better than our three championship teams?” Jordan questioned at the time. “I don’t think so. Some people might say the league is diluted.”
“This league is so filtered and watered down, we can beat anybody with our eyes closed, pretty much,” Rodman also said.
Jordan and Rodman weren’t the only ones who accused the league of being watered down. Longtime Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan also felt the same way.
“You look at the overall picture, it is diluted to some extent,” said Sloan. “You can get by with three great players on a team and have a chance to win it all. Before, you had to have four or five great players, and some good players around them.”
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Both Bulls squads were dominant
Whether Pippen was right or wrong, people couldn’t deny that the Bulls were nearly unstoppable for almost the entire ’90s. Still, no other team has pulled off two three-peats in the same decade.
It’s also worth noting that the Bulls never played in a Game 7 in either of their three-peat runs. Stating the obvious, this speaks volumes about their dominance and chemistry as a unit.
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It’s totally understandable for Pippen and any of the ’90s Bulls players to have different reflections on their championship victories. However, both runs deserve recognition and praise from those who have witnessed their greatness.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.