Example of teammate elevation

[3ba11]

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Here's the cast playing at three-peat caliber (1993):



https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-28-2021/v_prsr.gif



2nd Round-caliber (1994):



https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-27-2021/_p33FZ.gif
https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-27-2021/W44XtX.gif



^^^ Jordan elevated his cast to a three-peat level because his focus and fearlessness was contagious, while also having an on-ball/off-ball game that allowed the best strategy (ball movement) and fit with all player types (teammate maximization)..

Specifically, Jordan's on-ball/off-ball skillset allowed single-digit rookies like Pippen, BJ and Grant to grow significantly into valued veterans, which coupled with the development of good strategy over many years (ball movement) yielded 6 organic titles.. MJ also shifted entire defenses in his direction and away from teammates (1-man spacer for teammates).

[AirBonner]

You used to use stats to back up your claims. Now you are just a babbling brook

[coastalmarker99]

Jordan won 6 rings because he had an all-time great supporting cast around him in one of the weakest eras ever.


As expansion weakened his competition.


From 1991-1998, the league had 10 teams with a (overall) winning percentage under 40.0.

Including 4 teams under a .31.6 winning percentage, overall.

From 2004-2021, the league had 2 teams with an overall winning percentage under .40.0, with the worst team having an overall .37.9 winning percentage (Minnesota).

1996 Dennis Rodman:

"This league is so filtered and watered down, we can beat anybody with our eyes closed, pretty much"

Charles Barkley and Larry Bird have expressed comparable sentiments about the way the league has thinned out.

Bird even used the Jazz as an example, and people in the Jazz camp have a hard time disagreeing.

"You look at the overall picture, it is diluted to some extent," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, whose team is in Los Angeles preparing to meet the Lakers on Friday night.

"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."



The four oldest MVPs in league history were awarded four years in a row

They all belong to just two players and were given in consecutive seasons:

1999 MVP:
Karl Malone (35)

1998 MVP
Michael Jordan (34)

1997 MVP
Karl Malone (33)

1996 MVP
Michael Jordan (32)

The next oldest MVP is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was also 32 in the 1979-1980 season

[coastalmarker99]

In the 1990s the Bulls had two top 30 players of all time on their team + an all-star candidate and all-defence team member in Grant, and then a DPOY candidate in Rodman for the second three-peat.


Which team exactly in the 1990s had the same level of talent and depth plus coaching as the Bulls had.

Cartwright and Ron Harper were 20+ point scorers before they joined the Bulls.

Toni Kokoc is a Hall of Famer.

Dennis Rodman had two rings and is a HOF.




Also the 1994 Bulls were a quarter away from beating the Eastern Conference champs.


Give them an all-star instead of some dude from Europe and they win the championship.


They win 60-65 games instead of 55 games.


I don't think you realize 3ball that team lost the best player in the league and replaced his starting position with a player that wasn't even in the league the season prior.. and still contended for a championship.

[coastalmarker99]

My first season with the Bulls was the 1993-94 season, the first one Michael did not play because of his initial retirement.

In that season I saw Scottie as No. 1...I played with a lot of players--Chris Webber, Mark Aguirre, Sam Perkins--Scottie was head and shoulders above all of those players in terms of leadership and what he stood for as a team basketball player...

But what Scottie represented to me is a player whom I would pick 1st for my team every time. Even if Michael was available, I would pick Scottie Pippen...

Scottie led that team 93-'94 Bulls to 55 wins...Maybe it's apples to oranges, but that season was an indication of what Scottie was capable of doing as a team leader."




“He was phenomenal. He really did carry that team,” Wennington said of Pippen during the 1993-94 season.


“He pretty much put that team on his shoulders. No one was expecting a whole lot to happen, but we ended up winning 55 games.

Scottie was the heart and soul of that team. He took a lot of the big shots and was the reason we won some big games.

I can’t say enough for how he stepped in so quickly and going from one of two guys to ‘the guy.’”

As for Pippen’s leadership, he became a team captain for the first time in his career and regularly worked with all players, most notably during practice. Wennington said those kinds of actions went a long way, especially with the team’s reserves.


“He was very helpful and never derogatory,” recalled Wennington. “I was a new guy. I wasn’t even supposed to be on the team. But he was willing to help me out in practice when we were learning plays or working on the best way to cover a guy.


He was able to talk to me without giving the impression like I was below him. He really wanted me to succeed and do well because that made him better.”


Pippen put his team first, something that was evident by his actions on the court.

“Scottie made everyone better because he was unselfish,” said Wennington. “He’d move the ball to the right spot. He had such a great basketball mind and really understood what was happening on the floor. He was always willing to help out his teammates and make them better.”

Off the court, Pippen looked out for his teammates as well. Wennington recalled a film room session in which the team was discussing a defensive scheme.


In one scenario, Wennington wasn’t supposed to double team in the post, so he followed his man towards the top of the key.

Pippen was isolated on his man and offered to help cover Wennington’s assignment as well, so he sent him back down low to assist. Jackson took note of Wennington’s double team and began to lay into the center.

“Before I could even answer, Scottie said, ‘Phil, I told him to do it.’ That to me spoke volumes about what type of guy he was,” said Wennington.

“With your teammates, when something happens on the floor, you work together. Coaches don’t always know why you do something; they may think you broke a play. Scottie stood up for me and that speaks volumes about him as a person.”

A teammate of Pippen’s for five seasons, Wennington cited an infamous moment from Pippen’s career to tell the story of what made him such an extraordinary teammate.

“He was very accountable,” Wennington explained. “A lot of people want to talk about the 1.8 seconds and how Scottie didn’t play. But Scottie came into the locker room immediately after the game and understood what he did. He apologized to his teammates.”

The incident Wennington was referring to, of course, was during the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals, when the Bulls faced the New York Knicks.

With Game 3 tied and 1.8 seconds remaining, the final play was designed so that Pippen would inbound the ball to rookie Toni Kukoc, who would then take the potential game-winning shot.
Pippen was upset by the call and watched from the team bench as Kukoc connected at the buzzer to secure the win.

“The media will never know what he said, but the way he handled it resolved the situation instantly,” said Wennington. “Scottie knew he made a mistake and that’s what people don’t understand.

That was only my second year in Chicago, but I had all the respect in the world for Scottie after that.”

[coastalmarker99]

This thread epitomizes the problem with Jordan mythologists.

The mythology has reached such a ridiculous level that MJ stans such as 3ball can't handle any other player besides Jordan on those 1990's Bulls squads getting credit.

Pippen ran the offence, ran the defence and served a valuable leadership role with his teammates on and off the court--and we are supposed to pretend that Jordan carried him and won all of his six titles by himself.


Here is a fact

Pippen made the playoffs every single year of his career, aside from his last in which he missed most of the season.

16 straight playoffs. 9 conference finals. 14 50+ win seasons. Never won less than 47 games.

6 of those playoff runs and 5 of these 50+ win seasons were without Jordan.

Correct me if I'm wrong but a Jordan led team never won more than 40 games without Pippen.

Pippen was one of the GOAT winners and he helped elevate Jordan.

“I didn't win without Scottie Pippen, and that's why I consider him my best teammate of all time.

He helped me so much in the way I approached the game, in the way I played the game.

Whenever they speak Michael Jordan, they should speak Scottie Pippen.”

[ShawkFactory]

So Jordan was better than Pippen? That's the 3 AM thought?

Interesting...

[3ba11]

So Jordan was better than Pippen? That's the 3 AM thought?

Interesting...


MJ elevated a talent that was inferior to Brandon Ingram into a HOF, while Lebron's inferior skillset turns them into spot-up shooters and nobodies

Anyone that knows basketball will run into this unfortunate fact when analyzing who is better.. Ball-dominance is a real thing, and it's an inferior skillset to have and an inferior way to play that results in lesser teammate maximization, lesser strategy/ball movement and ultimately lower team ceiling/Finals record

carry on

[8Ball]

During 2013 ECF, 3ball said Bron's better.

Teammate elevation :applause:

https://i.ibb.co/XCD6m9n/3-Ball-Le-Bron-is-the-GOAT.png

[8Ball]

So Jordan was better than Pippen? That's the 3 AM thought?

Interesting...

:roll:

Woke up at 3am on a weekday to post about Bron.

[ShawkFactory]

Anyone that knows basketball will run into this unfortunate fact when analyzing who is better..

Again...who the fvck are you actually talking to

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?497028-Top-50-All-Time-List-Shot-Clock-Era-1/page8

:lol

[Phoenix]

This is what you think about at 3am? Find a woman with a nice ass to either f**k or lay your head on for a good nights sleep and stop thinking about MJ and Lebron.

[Gohan]

This is what you think about at 3am? Find a woman with a nice ass to either f**k or lay your head on for a good nights sleep and stop thinking about MJ and Lebron.

Black booty is a thang of beauty