The Chicago Bulls’ dominance in the 1990s was undeniable, with six NBA championships in an eight-year span. However, the debate over what fueled their success has resurfaced.

Jordan himself has claimed that the Bulls wouldn’t have had much success if he was laid back in his cut-throat and intense leadership style.

Pippen’s rebuttal

Scottie Pippen, Jordan’s most trusted teammate during the Bulls’ dynasty years, recently dismissed the idea that his former running mate’s often-criticized leadership style was the driving force behind their championships.

“Michael was wrong,” Pippen said. “We didn’t win six championships because he got on guys. We won in spite of him getting on guys. We won because we played team basketball, which hadn’t been the case my first two seasons, when Doug Collins was our coach. That’s what was special about playing for the Bulls: the camaraderie we established with one another, not that we felt blessed to be on the same team with the immortal Michael Jordan.”

Mike entered the NBA in 1984, but despite his individual brilliance, Chicago struggled to get past Eastern Conference powerhouses like Boston and Detroit.

The Bulls’ reliance on MJ’s scoring didn’t translate to deep postseason success under head coach Doug Collins, whose system heavily revolved around isolating Jordan.

The turning point came in 1989 when the Bulls hired Phil Jackson as head coach. Jackson implemented the triangle offense, a system emphasizing ball movement, spacing, and equal-opportunity scoring.

This allowed Pippen and others to play larger roles, reducing the over-reliance on Mike. By the 1990-91 season, the Bulls had evolved into a complete team, winning their first championship against the LA Lakers.

Jordan’s leadership

Michaels’s leadership style has long been described as ruthless. Teammates have recalled incidents where he berated them in practice, pushed them to their physical and mental limits, and demanded perfection.

“The Last Dance” was a 10-part docuseries detailing several moments where Jordan’s intensity bordered on confrontational, including his well-documented clashes with Steve Kerr and Will Perdue.

While some teammates, like Kerr and B.J. Armstrong, later admitted they respected Jordan’s approach, others, including Horace Grant and Pippen, have been vocal about the downside of his tactics. Despite often being viewed as Mike’s second-in-command, Pip was a leader in his own right.

When Jordan briefly retired from basketball between 1993 and 1995, Pippen took the leadership role.

In the 1993-94 season, with the former MVP absent, the defensive-minded Pippen led the Bulls to 55 wins and an Eastern Conference semifinals appearance. However, they didn’t make the NBA Finals without their ex-superstar leader. They were competitive but not enough, and it proved that Jordan’s presence was invaluable.