上世纪90年代的芝加哥公牛王朝自从赢得六次总冠军以来，一直是职业体育成功的典范。去年夏天，一部由六部分组成的纪录片《最后的舞蹈》详细描述了他们的经历，这让我们想起了那次成功 在联盟中的统治地位以及迈克尔·乔丹作为全球和篮球明星的迅速崛起。这部纪录片展示了乔丹作为球员和队友的要求有多高，尽管他一起赢得了六个冠军，但他和斯科蒂·皮蓬并不是最好的朋友。
皮蓬最近在接受GQ采访时重申了这一点，他在采访中谈到了自己与约旦的关系。
“我们之间的关系是无可挑剔的，”皮蓬说我们互相推波助澜。我们一起训练成为最好的。所以，我们所做的每一件事，从篮球的角度来看，都是一种高度的尊重，我们知道我们可以成为最好的。我们可以占主导地位。我们差不多经历了越南战争才到达目的地。我们经受了战斗的考验。”
但当被问及他在篮球之外的关系时，情况完全不同。
“迈克尔比比赛更伟大，你知道的。即使是我第一次来到芝加哥，他也是NBA的标志性人物。所以，我们从来没有真正的场外关系，”皮蓬说。
皮蓬过去曾谈到他在整个职业生涯中与乔丹缺乏亲密关系，甚至在去年夏天说，他告诉乔丹，他“不太满意”这部纪录片未能充分概括公牛的王朝之旅，而是乔丹被“美化”的一种方式
并不是所有的队友都需要像热火队时代的勒布朗·詹姆斯和德怀恩·韦德那样成为场下最好的朋友，皮蓬和乔丹之间缺乏私人关系当然不会影响他们在场上的表现。但听起来皮蓬这么多年来对乔丹有些怨恨。尤其是他说这样的话：
“…当你把一个人分开，那你就是在剥夺这项运动。你说的是谁是最伟大的球员。你知道，篮球界真的没有什么好球员。篮球是建立在伟大的球队之上的。你有“好”球员。但当你谈论伟大的球员时，你只能给他们带来伟大，因为什么？团队。”
篮球是一项团队运动，但要说没有“伟大”的球员，只有伟大的团队，那是一种延伸。乔丹会成为他现在的样子，不管他身处什么境地。他是一个伟大的篮球运动员，皮蓬也是，但后者在有机会的情况下，忍不住不断地把前者打倒。
原标题：
Scottie Pippen on his relationship with Michael Jordan: 'We never really had that off-the-court relationship'
原文：
The 1990s Chicago Bulls dynasty has been the poster child for success in professional sports ever since they won six championships. We were reminded of that success last summer when "The Last Dance," a six-part documentary detailed their dominance in the league and the meteoric rise of Michael Jordan both as a global and basketball star. The documentary showed just how demanding Jordan was as a player and teammate, and how despite winning six championships together, he and Scottie Pippen weren't the best of friends.
Pippen reiterated that recently in an interview with GQ, where he talked about his relationship with Jordan.
"Our relationship between the lines was impeccable," Pippen said. "We pushed each other to be great. We trained with each other to be the best. So, everything we did, from a basketball standpoint, it was a high level of respect there that we knew we could be the best. We could be dominant. We had went through pretty much the Vietnam War to get where we got to. We were battle tested."
But when asked about his relationship outside of basketball, it was completely different.
"Michael was bigger than the game, you know. Even my initial arrival to Chicago he was a big, iconic figure for the NBA . So, we never really had that off the court relationship," Pippen said.
Pippen's talked in the past about his lack of closeness with Jordan throughout their playing careers, and even said last summer that he told Jordan he "wasn't too pleased" with how the documentary failed to adequately encapsulate that dynastic run for the Bulls, and rather a way for Jordan to be "glorified."
Not all teammates need to be best friends off the floor like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were during the Heatles era, and the lack of personal relationship between Pippen and Jordan certainly didn't impact how they were on the court. But it sounds like after all these years Pippen harbors some resentment toward Jordan. Especially when he says stuff like this:
"...When you separate one individual out, then you are taking away from the sport. You're talking about who's the greatest player and this and that. You know, there's really no great players in basketball. Basketball is built on great teams. You've got "good" players. But when you talk about great players, you can only give them greatness because what? The team."
Basketball is a team sport, but to say there's no "great" players, only great teams, that's a stretch. Jordan would've been who he was regardless of the situation he was in. He was a great basketball player, and so was Pippen, but the latter can't help but to continuously knock the former down a size when given the chance.
