The Bulls are retiring Pippen's #33 tonight.

6 championships.
3 All-NBA First Team Selections
7 All-Star Games
1 All-Star Game MVP
8 Consecutive All-Defensive First Team Selections
Career averages of 16.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 5.2 apg
40th all-time in socring (18,940)
4th all-time in steals (2307)
Only the third player ever to amass 18000 points, 7000 rebounds and 6000 assists (Oscar and Havlicek also managed this)
Named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996
Member of two gold-medal winning Olympic teams (1992, 1996)

So what does all this add up to? Do you think that, as with the rest of the Bulls roster, he was an interchangeable piece and that MJ was the real reason Chicago won six times? Or do you think he was the unsung hero of those Bulls teams, and that without him, MJ would be remembered as a spectacular player, but not necessarily as a winner?

Or is it something in between?

My opinion: they needed eachother and were lucky to end up on the same team. I think it's entirely possible that they might each have gone their entire careers without a championship if they hadn't had the good fortune to end up playing together.

Your thoughts?

Versatility and clutch ...on both ends of the court. The greatest asset was the chemistry between the two. It was greater than the sum of their parts and each individual was tremendous in his own right.

Pippen was good. Jordan was great.

IMO, Jordan wins without Pippen...he just needed another player who required a bit of attention from opposing D's.

Pippen on the other hand just takes lots of Tylenol for his migraines without the benefit of Jordan or several other good players on his team.

I just watched part of the halftime thing they did for pippen and rodman was there for pippens number being retired. now dont get me wrong i hated the bulls but wow to have rodman there for pippens number being retired is a slap in the face to the pistons. they showed a clips during and 1 is pippen elbowing rodman and pushing him down when he was a piston then the next clip is them hugging while he was a bull. I guess my point is the bulls can get over the fact that rodman was a piston because he helped them win 72 games why cant the pistons get over the fact that rodman went a little nuts if rodman ends up in the bulls rafters even if it is something about 72 wins season the pistons should be ashamed he helped them win 2 titles

I think that's what I was getting at in my comments too. As good as they were individually, they were even better playing together.

I don't think it was Pippen's offensive skills that enabled him to complement MJ so well. More than anything it was his defense that was special, and I think MJ needed someone to take pressure off him on their own end of the court.

I know MJ was First Team All-Defense nine times, but honestly, I've never quite understood why. When he really wanted to, he could be a lockdown defender -- just like Kobe can nowadays -- but he needed to pick his spots, since he spent so much energy on offense -- again, like Kobe.

Pippen was all-world on defense; he could guard anyone from PGs to PFs, and typically took on the most potent perimeter-player on the other team. He certainly scored his share of points, but it was on defense that he expended most of his energy.

Pippen was possibly the best defender I've seen in the NBA in the last twenty years, and that's why I think he was so valuable to MJ. It's also why I think MJ would have had trouble winning titles with anyone else in Pippen's place.

As for Rodman, I will always think of him as a Piston first and foremost.

Has all of the credentials, as the consumate second banana. What leaves me uncomfortable with claiming him HOF ready is that little of it happened outside of those magical 6 seasons. As a matter of fact the non-Ship years are tainted with negative stuff rather than, "good try, close but no banana" type kudos. I would promote Rodman for HOF before Pippen.