Scottie Pippen opens up about Michael Jordan’s 1995 return to the Chicago Bulls after he stepped away in 1993. Jordan went to play baseball in Birmingham, and went he returned, things had changed. The team that was once on top was no longer there.
According to reports, the team had to learn how to adjust to him, and Scottie Pippen said that the adjustment was tough for a lot of the players. “I think a lot of players found it really difficult,” Pippen said in an interview. “Michael brings a little different type of pressure to the game. And I think a lot of players that had came there and gotten very comfortable, realized that they had to go back and restart.”
During the interview, Pippen said that other players began to “carve out space” and started to build close relationships with him, making him the “unquestioned leader” in the locker room. After Jordan returned to the Chicago Bulls, many were hopeful but didn’t believe that there would be magic like it was in 1993.
“We’re not just walking into Scottie’s house anymore,” Pippen said, talking about the adjustment period. “It’s Michael and Scottie’s house, and we have to sort of change how we do things around here as far as our comfort zone.”
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