Legit thread: who was better Scottie Pippen vs. James Worthy

[Overdrive]

Pippen. He was a higher caliber player. Worthy was never a top 5 player, never a MVP-caliber player, was never the best perimeter player in the league or the best SF. Worthy was great but he was comparable in terms of player caliber to Paul Pierce. Pippen was comparable to someone in terms of caliber of player, not playing style, to Chris Paul in today's game. Worthy also is hurt all-time by poor longevity. Worthy was out the league at age 32. Pippen also is the GOAT perimeter defender. The only thing Worthy is superior to Pippen in is scoring, and the gap there is not enough to offset Pippen's superiority on defense and as a playmaker.

Pippen: 7x all-NBA (3x first team, 2x second, 2x third), 10x all-Defensive (8x first team), top 5 in MVP voting twice (high of 3rd), top 10 in MVP voting 5x.

Worthy: 2x all-NBA (third team), 1x FMVP

Pippen and Worthy's primes both ended at a similar point due to injuries, Pippen at 32 and Worthy at 30, but Pippen did manage to keep playing as an effective team leader, playmaker and defender until age 37. Only when he was 38 did he totally break down.

Put Pippen's prime in the 80s and he doesn't get those first teams either..in the end he's still the better player, though.

[JtotheIzzo]

Scotte Pippen.

Just brings much more to the table than Worthy did

Worthy is underrated, but this

[Roundball_Rock]

Put Pippen's prime in the 80s and he doesn't get those first teams either..in the end he's still the better player, though.

Who would keep him permanently off, though? Pippen made it to the first team over Malone (they were both on the 1st team together from 1994-1996 but Pippen got more votes in 2 of those 3 years), Barkley, Mullin, Wilkins and Grant Hill. Kevin McHale and Wilkins both made the first team in the 80's so I think Pippen would have at some point. It is true Bird had a lock on one spot for most of the decade--but so did Karl Malone in the 90's.

[GimmeThat]

I feel like this is a Pau Gasol versus Lamar Odom type of question ya know

[97 bulls]

Put Pippen's prime in the 80s and he doesn't get those first teams either..in the end he's still the better player, though.

Im not too sure about that. If you put Pippen in the 80s his stats would increase. Now you're talking about a 24-25/9/8 guy on good efficiency as well as being the best or top two perimeter defenders in the league.