The Tape
Was Scottie Pippen better than Nikola Jokic?
Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004, against Nikola Jokic, 2015-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, Nikola Jokic is the bigger scorer: 26.4 a game in 2023-24 against 24.7 for Scottie Pippen in 1993-94. That is a real gap of 1.7 points, not an era illusion — Nikola Jokic's league averaged 114.2 and Scottie Pippen's averaged 101.5.
Nikola Jokic wins the glass by 3.7 rebounds a game (12.4 to 8.7), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Nikola Jokic is the passer: 9 assists a game to 5.6, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Scottie Pippen: The template for the modern do-everything forward, and the best perimeter defender of his decade. Nikola Jokic: Three MVPs for a passing center, which is the 1977 Portland idea with a 3-point line attached.
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