The Detroit Pistons’ “Bad Boys” teams were known for dishing out punishment on the court, but judging from the latest exchange between Scottie Pippen and John Salley, the Bad Boys can hand out verbal smackdowns as well.
It began a few weeks back during a 20th anniversary celebration of the Chicago Bulls’ 1991 championship team when Pippen told the Sun-Times that the Pistons were a “nasty team” and that the Bulls were “faster, quicker, more competitive and smarter.”
In an interview with MLive.com, Salley begged to differ with that last part.
“They were more athletic – and they were younger,” Salley said. “But obviously not smarter because we’re not talking about him 22 years later. He’s talking about us.”
Then Salley laughed.
Ouch. Although Salley does have a point. Y0u could even argue that he didn’t go far enough. Sure, the Bulls won in ’91 – beginning their decade of dominance – but that younger, more athletic and (allegedly) smarter team was dropped by the Pistons for three years in a row leading up to their breakthrough.
I guess winning wasn’t good enough. Then again, Pippen was always trying to step out of the shadows and be his own man so it shouldn’t be surprising that he still carries a chip on his shoulder.