Stephen A.: 'It's over' between MJ & and Scottie Pippen | First Take

and by the way, the last dance just to educate everyone because the last dance was on espn, I spoke to the former espn executive insider, a great man, a great friend, great for the network, we miss him, an insider who had everything to do with the production of the last dance, the last one. The dance was recorded in 1998 Andy Thompson, Michael Thompson's brother, Klay Thompson's uncle, worked for the NBA for years and obviously followed Michael Jordan for a year which was with the consent of the Bulls, the consent of Michael and the consent of the players, and then they were interviewed.

Two or three years ago, before the last dance, everyone approved of it and suddenly that's Jordan's fault too, so looking at all this stuff, the most egregious part of this is what was written in the New York Post on last year. comment when pippin said the quote okay, pippa said the quote I'm sorry I didn't give my deepest condolences to michael jordan on the passing of his father his father passed away after the

first

replay so you had the

first

year without michael jordan the second year you had the three years you were with him for the second time repeat to express your condolences you never did it michael jordan he didn't even think about it until he saw it yes and then he realized wait a minute that was intense you didn't give me your condolences on purpose nor I didn't even think about this, he crossed the line, him and Jordan, it's over, believe me, it's over, there's a lot of stuff there Wendy, I want to give you a chance to respond.

The first thing I'm going to say is that it is really very difficult to win in the NBA. We're reminded all the time that these two men are considered the gold standard of championship teammates and we just heard what Stephen A said and it's not the first time they haven't talked to each other in a while or aren't in disagreement. Between us this may be the worst, but this is not the first time that I was not Michael Jordan's teammate. I didn't know Michael Jordan in the '90s. I didn't know Scottie Pip in the '90s, but I do know Scottie Pippen. a little bit now he was my teammate here at espn and we talked about things about his time with the Bulls and how they see him and this is what you have to understand, there are nuances here for this Stephen A Scotty Pippen may be wrong in not I got into that game in 1994 and, in my opinion, I may be very wrong.

You know, having the opportunity 25 years later to apologize for it and double down. That may be wrong. He may be delusional about certain things, but you know what I can? I understand why he's upset when he sees the last dance and sees the migraine and sees you know he didn't get into the game, sees Jordan kicking him even though he wasn't on that team, sees the problems with him, no. having the delayed knee surgery in 1997 basically as what Jordan said was a protest for not renewing his contract, he sees those things highlighted and in his opinion he doesn't feel like his greatness has been highlighted and this is what you know when you listen to

scottie

pippen

it's not that he doesn't have the utmost respect for michael and appreciate everything, he just feels that there were times in his career where he received little attention, he feels that he received little attention at the last dance, he feels that he wasn't given much importance to his contract and Stephen, you're right, Rinsdorf absolutely told him that, but it still hurts Scotty to this day that when they were winning the titles he was the sixth highest paid Chicago bull, he still feels that and so on.

You're telling him on a visceral level, so I don't think everything he's done is right. I don't think all of his opinions make sense to me, but I understand why the last dance hurt me and that explains why. lashed out in this book, Wendy, let me be very clear, I'm not saying you don't have reason to complain when you point out those things, but you do have an obligation to look at yourself as if, for example, you were someone you felt should have received more money, but it's important to remember that Jordan wasn't getting the money for Ron's stuff either.

It wasn't like he had reinstalled it easily. I could have easily gone to Jordan and broken the deal with him. Did Ryan Stuff ever do that for Michael Jordan? Did that ever happen despite all the money Jordan was bringing into the Bulls organization despite all the money he was generating for the NBA and especially the Bulls? WGN wouldn't exist, we wouldn't give a damn if it wasn't for michael jordan, okay, ryan smith didn't break his deal, jordan had to wait until his contract expired now we overlook it because jordan made a lot of money off the court, but the bottom line is that it was his marketability that could he deserves to be the highest paid every year reinstall he never blinked at the thought of breaking the contract to renegotiate with michael jordan so if you don't renegotiate with michael jordan why would you integrate renegotiate with

scottie

pippen

and tell that to pippin? your face don't sign it who gets it I went to negotiate the contract you have been in the contract to go chase when someone tells us look don't sign it's a bad deal you'll get more money next year if not Don't sign this, don't sign it do it, don't do it, okay, but that's what Ryan Stark did for this man, the migraine, why I'm sorry, not the migraine, the foot surgery you delayed, why was it so relevant because it was about from the last dance, last season, when jerry krause, the general manager, may he rest in peace, said to phil jackson, i don't care if you go 82-0, everyone understands that they won't be back next year and they say this is everything for us and you delayed your foot surgery on purpose listen, it's the last dance, what's wrong with Jordan pointing that out, especially when it was all filmed 20 years ago and you knew it when you did the interview three years ago or two years ago ? wait a minute scottie pippen, I understand this is this brother, he is one of the greatest that we or anyone who knows anything about basketball, not only do we respect and revere his greatness, but we do this almost 30 years later when you are writing a book is like damn man, it's damn, that's all you can say Steven, both things can be true, his actions and his opinion on the documentary can be wrong and he can be hurt too, and I can tell you that sitting down in the rooms and talking to Scotty. about his career sitting in rooms and talking to Scotty about in today's NBA there were moments where I felt incredible depth and empathy for him and moments I thought I don't even know what you're talking about, but what you're seeing here in this book is a wounded man thanks for watching espn on youtube to watch live sports and premium content subscribe to espn plus