The Tape
Was Isiah Thomas better than Scottie Pippen?
Isiah Thomas, 1981-1994, against Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004. 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, Scottie Pippen is the bigger scorer: 24.7 a game in 1993-94 against 21.8 for Isiah Thomas in 1984-85. That is a real gap of 2.9 points, not an era illusion — Scottie Pippen's league averaged 101.5 and Isiah Thomas's averaged 110.8.
Scottie Pippen wins the glass by 4.2 rebounds a game (8.7 to 4.5), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Isiah Thomas is the passer: 13.9 assists a game to 5.6, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Isiah Thomas: Two titles and a 13.9-assist season at 6 foot 1, in the most physical decade the league has had. Scottie Pippen: The template for the modern do-everything forward, and the best perimeter defender of his decade.
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