Dennis Rodman: Scottie Pippen 'was the best player in the world' during Michael Jordan's hiatus

After Michael Jordan began his first basketball retirement ahead of the 1993-94 NBA season, "Scottie Pippen was the best player in the world," Rodman said. "He led the team in every category." 

The first year without MJ by his side, Pippen was Chicago's leader in scoring, assists, steals, and converted three-pointers. Pippen repeated that production the following campaign. 

Jordan returned to the Bulls in March 1995, and he guided the team to a second championship three-peat through the end of the 1997-98 season. 

One subject touched upon during "The Last Dance" was Pippen's acceptance of a seven-year contract worth $18 million that remains one of the best steals ever pulled off by any franchise. Early Sunday morning, Larsa Pippen, Scottie's ex-wife, had some fun regarding that situation via Twitter: 

As Ryan Young of Yahoo Sports wrote, Pippen said on an edition of the Thuzio Live & Unfiltered podcast that was recorded ahead of this year's NBA All-Star Game that the Bulls had released him from his role as a club ambassador. He is one of four players to have his number retired by the Bulls. 

This month, the Bulls have hired Arturas Karnisovas to be the team's executive vice president of basketball operations and parted ways with general manager Gar Forman. Chicago missed the postseason in four of the past five seasons.