The Tape
Was Scottie Pippen better than Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004, against Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2013-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the bigger scorer: 30.1 a game in 2019-20 against 24.7 for Scottie Pippen in 1993-94. That is a real gap of 5.4 points, not an era illusion — Giannis Antetokounmpo's league averaged 111.8 and Scottie Pippen's averaged 101.5.
Giannis Antetokounmpo wins the glass by 4.9 rebounds a game (13.6 to 8.7), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Scottie Pippen: The template for the modern do-everything forward, and the best perimeter defender of his decade. Giannis Antetokounmpo: Two MVPs and a Defensive Player of the Year, on a first step no defensive scheme has solved.
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