The Tape
Was Larry Bird better than Scottie Pippen?
Larry Bird, 1979-1992, 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, Larry Bird is the bigger scorer: 31.5 a game in 1987-88 against 24.7 for Scottie Pippen in 1993-94. That is a real gap of 6.8 points, not an era illusion — Larry Bird's league averaged 108.2 and Scottie Pippen's averaged 101.5.
Away from scoring they are nearly the same player on paper: 9.3 and 8.7 rebounds, 6.1 and 5.6 assists. The separation is in what their teams asked of them, not what they could do.
Larry Bird: Three straight MVPs, a 50-40-90 season, and the best passing forward before Jokic. Scottie Pippen: The template for the modern do-everything forward, and the best perimeter defender of his decade.
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