Hall of Fame former Chicago Bulls swingman Scottie Pippen has issued a hot take on three-time MVP Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
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While speaking with Jorge Quiroga of Marca, Pippen got candid about how tough the game was during his run in the NBA, from 1987-2003.
🚨 ENTREVISTA MARCA a Scottie Pippen
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💥 La leyenda de la NBA y del baloncesto mundial se sincera: "Mi relación con Michael Jordan nunca fue muy cercana"
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"Basketball in the late 1980s and early 1990s was as physical as it got," Pippen said. "It's not the same today; the hard fouls they used to be aren't allowed anymore. Teams played with a different mentality."
Pippen's Bulls won six championships in eight seasons, with only the seven-time All-Star small forward and 14-time All-Star shooting guard Michael Jordan as the club's two constants between their 1991-93 "three-peat" and their 1996-98 three-peat roster.
Jokic, a brilliant passer, doesn't face the kind of full court pressure opposing centers grappled with in the 1990s.
"Over the last 15 or 20 years, offense has been promoted more. They changed the rules to increase scoring," Pippen said. "But it's been good for the game. Big players now shoot three-pointers. There are no longer pure centers. The game is positionless now; it's more open, more shot-based."
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The Nuggets with Jokic won the 2023 title, and are angling to compete for glory again in 2025-26. This summer, Denver revamped its roster around Jokic and fellow championship holdovers Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun. Braun was promoted into the Nuggets' starting five last season.
Denver traded out starting small forward Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for Cameron Johnson and flipped unused backup big Dario Saric for reliable backup center Jonas Valanciunas. The Nuggets also re-signed former 2023 sixth man Bruce Brown and brought in shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., both on veteran agreements.
"In the '80s and '90s, we used to press all over the field. Could Jokic bring the ball up against that pressure? I don't know," Pippen added. "Sure, he can see the floor and pass very well. But I don't know if he'd be comfortable bringing the ball up from the backfield with that pressure."
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