The Tape
Was Moses Malone better than Scottie Pippen?
Moses Malone, 1974-1995, 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, Moses Malone is the bigger scorer: 32.6 a game in 1981-82 against 24.7 for Scottie Pippen in 1993-94. That is a real gap of 7.9 points, not an era illusion — Moses Malone's league averaged 108.6 and Scottie Pippen's averaged 101.5.
Moses Malone wins the glass by 6 rebounds a game (14.7 to 8.7), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Scottie Pippen is the passer: 5.6 assists a game to 1.8, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Moses Malone: Three MVPs built on offensive rebounds, and the man who said fo, fo, fo and nearly delivered it. Scottie Pippen: The template for the modern do-everything forward, and the best perimeter defender of his decade.
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