Last year the sports world was captivated by The Last Dance. The series showed the story of the Bulls during their two three-peats as NBA champions. The series heavily focused on Bulls and NBA legend Michael Jordan. This came as no surprise to anyone as Jordan is labeled the GOAT (greatest of all time) when it comes to basketball. So for a series to come out that covers his team and their success you would expect Jordan to be front and center. The series averaged 5.6 million viewers throughout 10 episodes. There were a lot of eyes on this series. If you watched it you noticed how another Bulls legend, Scottie Pippen, was portrayed as the clear #2. He was the Robin to Michael Jordan’s Batman. Well, Pippen had issues with this and he’s airing it all out.
Scottie Pippen is releasing a memoir.
Per @simonschuster:
—untold stories
—what it was like dealing with MJ
—cringing at being labeled his sidekick"The Last Dance was really more about Michael Jordan than the Bulls. It was his story. This book is mine.”
(h/t @ChiSportUpdates) pic.twitter.com/AsbXFQtLtD
— Boardroom (@boardroom) June 9, 2021
Yup, Scottie Pippen will be releasing a memoir that will cover untold stories of his time with the Bulls. Not only will we get untold stories but we will get what it was like dealing with Jordan and how much he disliked being labeled as Jordan’s sidekick. While Pippen won’t get a 10 part series he will have his chance to divulge anything he wants in his book. The book will be on sale on November 16th of this year and I’m sure there will be many people lined up to read this one. Let’s dive into what we know about the book a little bit more.
Without Pippen, there’s no Last Dance
The book’s description was released when the announcement for the book came out. Scottie doesn’t hold back in the description and lets you know exactly what the book is going to be about. Just take a look at the first paragraph in the book’s description.
Simply put, without Pippen, there are no championship banners—let alone six—hanging from the United Center rafters. There’s no Last Dance documentary. There’s no “Michael Jordan” as we know him. The 1990s Chicago Bulls teams would not exist as we know them.
That right there is enough to get people to read his book. Honestly, he has a point with this first statement. Without Pippen there likely wouldn’t have been six championship banners. I believe MJ would have still gotten a championship or two but certainly not six. Pippen was a crucial part of those six championships. This book is his way of him trying to get the respect he believes he deserves. It doesn’t stop there with the description of the book. It goes on to touch on his life and how he got to where he did. Then it gets very interesting again and throws shade at MJ.
Pippen was the “real” leader of the team
As you get to the end of the description of the book they touch on how it will be revealed what day-to-day life was like with Michael Jordan. But wait it gets even better.
He discusses what it was like dealing with Jordan on a day-to-day basis, while serving as the real leader within the Bulls locker room.
Pippen called it out in the description of his book that he was the real leader in the locker room. I mean Pippen had issues with how the Last Dance was all about MJ. He made that known after the series came out but when announcing his new book he doubled down on that.
Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen has announced that he is coming out with a book called Unguarded.
Pippen: "The Last Dance was really about Michael Jordan than the Chicago Bulls. It was his story. This book is mine."
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) June 9, 2021
This tells you everything you need to know about this book. It’s going to throw shade and Jordan and it’s going to paint Pippen in a good light. This will certainly be a book designed to take away some of Jordan’s greatness.
How will MJ react?
Thus far there hasn’t been any sort of reaction to this news. However, I’m sure MJ and Pippen have discussed this. After airing his issues with the last dance Pippen said he told MJ about them.
“I told him I wasn’t too pleased with it,” he said. “He accepted it. He said, ‘Hey, you’re right.’ That was pretty much it.”
Clearly, that didn’t seem to get him anywhere but Pippen has no issues telling Jordan what he thinks. This book likely won’t bother MJ. He may take it like he does most things and not care. I mean he’s known as the GOAT for a reason. A lot of people believe this will be Jordan’s reaction as he reads the book.
MJ reading Scottie Pippen's new book. pic.twitter.com/Tul1W1YGKY
— Basketball Forever (@Bballforeverfb) June 10, 2021
Who knows if he will even read the book once it’s out. One thing is for sure, this will certainly give us some amazing unheard stories. There will be a lot of shade thrown. There will be some great stories. But most importantly this will be a raw, unvarnished look at Pippen’s life and the Chicago Bulls of the 90s.
