When Michael Jordan retired, Scottie Pippen took over as leader of the Bulls. But what would have happened if it was the wingman who had set sail instead? It turns out that the Hall of Famer has his own ideas on the matter…

For some observers, this is obvious: the Bulls could have won many more than six titles during the 90s. Remember that these were two three-peats separated by barely two seasons.

However, it turns out that a certain Michael Jordan no longer played for them during this same period, having thus retired from the courts for a time after the death of his father during the summer of 1993.

Not surprisingly, Chicago’s collective results suffered, even when MJ returned during the 1994-95 fiscal year. It should be noted, however, that during His Majesty’s absence, it was his long-time lieutenant Scottie Pippen who took on the role of first offensive option.

With 22 then 21.4 points on average, the winger had recorded his best years in scoring between 1993 and 1995.

Michael Jordan even more involved in scoring without Pippen?
By the 1995-96 campaign, however, everything was back to normal and the Bulls were once again racing through the league.

But the Jordan-Pippen association almost ended in 1997 because the No. 33 was not satisfied with his contract, while his teammate began to receive 30 million dollars per year.

As he explained to Esquire in 2011, Scottie had a very clear idea of ​​how the team would evolve without him:

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If I had left, Michael probably would have started taking more shots and scoring more points.

I didn’t try to become a thirty point per game scorer when Michael left.

My mentality was to improve on other things rather than trying to change who I was as a player.

I may have dropped a point or two from my usual average, but I probably dished out more assists, grabbed more rebounds and was more of a verbal leader than before.

If you watched the match videos you wouldn’t be able to see any difference in my game.

We will point out that No. 33 was not completely right since although his scoring increased during his years without His Airness, he proved to be a little less productive when passing.

Nothing too surprising, however… As for Jordan, who was known for his taste for scoring (despite his career average of 5.3 assists), it would not have been surprising to see him take on even more responsibilities in this sector.

Michael Jordan was already easily averaging 30 points per game or more with Scottie Pippen at his side… so imagine him on the court without the winger.

His shooting success would perhaps have suffered and the defenses would have focused even more on him, but these are not really factors that would have scared the rear.