Scottie Pippen says he should have been voted Defensive Player of the Year but never was for one reason.
“I think they were too busy watching Michael [Jordan],” Pippen said when asked.
“I would always lean on the wall for three to five minutes, put myself in a defensive stance, I sort of adapted wanting to be in that stance when I’m out on that basketball court,” Pippen said. “When I was a young kid, my coach used to tell me that I stood up too much, so I had to learn to play lower.”
Jordan only won the award once during his own career.
Jordan took shots at Pippen in his recent book. Pippen replied at the time:
“Michael could be incredibly insensitive,” Pippen wrote about Jordan. “In one episode, he recalled how upset he was with Dennis Rodman for being kicked out of a game during the ’97-98 season. I was still recovering from foot surgery. Michael blamed Dennis for leaving ‘me out there by myself.’ By myself? That doesn’t say much for the other professionals who were on the court, does it? I could go on and on, listing the subtle and not-so-subtle slights toward myself and my teammates.”