Scottie Pippen best defender

Scottie Pippen was often considered to be Michael Jordan's sidekick, but a good argument could be made that Pippen was actually more valuable on defense. Pippen often had to draw the other team’s best forward and scoring leader on any given night. He managed to lead the NBA in steals once and get selected to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team 8 times. He finished his career with 2,307 steals and 947 blocked shots while also averaging 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Pippen was equally effective at guarding the post or challenging a player driving to the basket. He was strong enough to keep players from backing him down and quick enough to knock the ball away or slide over to cut off drives through the lane. Pippen was a great athlete and his ability to play on ball defense as a forward was second to none. Players would routinely get frustrated and settle for undesirable outside shots. Scottie Pippen should go down as the best defender to ever play in the NBA.