Faking Humility

Early this morning former Bulls player Scottie Pippen was being interviewed on ESPN radio when he said that while Michael Jordan was the best scorer NBA history (the implication of the word scorer being that Jordan wasn't an all-around player), given his size, athleticism and skill someday LeBron James could very well go on to be considered the greatest player ever. As you can imagine, basketball purists all over radio and TV went crazy.

At first listen I was outraged like everyone else because this statement is nuts. Jordan has six rings to James' zero and even if the Heat were to win the title this year, they are Dwayne Wade's team, not LeBron's (so, ironically, James would be playing the Pippen role). I mean, you can't be the best player ever when you openly admit in an interview that you weren't good enough to beat the Celtics without help. (I don't care how true it is, great players never admit weakness.) Either way, people couldn't figure out what Scottie's reasoning was behind saying something like this. Some thought maybe he and Jordan had a falling out. However, after thinking it through, I think I know what happened: Jordan told Pippen to do this.

In hearing this interview, I was reminded of a movie I once saw in which a fading TV actresses was in a mall with her personal assistant, feeling rather depressed because she was about to be replaced on her show by a younger actress. Her assistant, in an effort to cheer her up, pretended to just notice who she was standing next to and began flipping out like any other fan running into a celebrity would. The commotion she caused attracted the attention of several people nearby who were also very excited to see this famous actress and swarmed, looking for pictures and autographs. The once-depressed actress suddenly felt much better because she had gotten this attention and praise. Seeing the aftermath of Pippen's interview, I think he did this same move for Jordan.

The way I see it playing out, Jordan (who's ego is reportedly as massive as his skill on the court) has spent the past two seasons listening to everyone chirp how Kobe now has to be brought up in the discussions of the best players ever. (NBA fans are so fickle with this debate that whoever won most recently must be the greatest ever. Apparently to most of these idiots, the NBA didn't exist before 1994.) When the Lakers lost this season, MJ figured he was safe for another year. But over the past couple of weeks the Heat have become a beast of a team, with LeBron doing the majority of the heavy lifting. This has caused everyone to wonder just how good LeBron will be when all is said and done.

So my theory is that, not wanting his buddy's legacy to get swept under another tidal wave of over-praise should the Heat win the title, Pippen stepped out front and said something controversial about Jordan's place in history. And, because they are easily manipulated like sheep, all the NBA people came out in defense of Michael. All afternoon former player after former player was on TV saying that Pippen is crazy and no matter how good LeBron James may turn out to be, he'll never be as good as Michael Jeffery Jordan. I can only assume Jordan is sitting in a dark room thinking, "They still love me!" I think we should all be so lucky as to have a friend as loyal as Scottie Pippen.