NBA champ: Pippen ‘better defender’ than Michael Jordan ‘by far’

Seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry spent his Friday morning angling for a cameo in a future episode of The Last Dance.

Horry, appearing on The Dan Patrick Show, was asked by Patrick who the better defender was, Scottie Pippen or Michael Jordan.

Without hesitation, Horry chose MJ’s Chicago Bulls running mate.

“Pippen, by far,” Horry responded. “By far. And this is one thing people don’t understand about Scottie Pippen. (He’s) the ultimate basketball player. He’s one of my top five of all-time.”

Ready yourselves for another close up of Jordan uttering “And I took that personally” to the cameras.

“ … when you think about a player who could guard every position on the floor, there’s only like three of those that’s ever existed.” Horry continued. “You think about it, (Scottie) could guard a point guard, he could guard a center, he could score.

“When Jordan left he took them to the Eastern Conference finals.”

Horry, who won two titles with the Rockets, three with the Lakers, and another pair with the Spurs then added that it’s unfair to say Pippen only won because of Jordan and that maybe people should say Jordan only won because of Pippen.

And no, this was not AI. This was a living, breathing, Robert Horry making a claim that Scottie Pippen was potentially more important to the Bulls’ six championships than MJ.

“I think Pippen is so underrated and so unappreciated,” Horry said. “ I think people need to really seat (sic) back and look at what he did throughout his career and marvel at what he did. He was great.”

The stats say Jordan was First-team All-Defense nine times and the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1988.

Pippen was First-team All-Defense eight times and made the Second-team twice.

There’s a strong case to be made for either player as being the better defender.

Should Jordan respond to the comments made Friday morning, it’s Horry who might feel the need to get defensive.