Scottie Pippen was perhaps the best sidekick the game of basketball has ever seen. Pippen played Robin to Michael Jordan when the Chicago Bulls were a dynasty during the 1990s.

Pip was known as the consummate team player. While Jordan wanted to score points, Scottie did everything else better. He was considered one of the best all-around players the game has ever seen, and looking back at his career, Arkansas native says credit has to be given to former Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter.

"He wanted me to be different than Michael," said Pippen. "He wanted me to follow his path instead of playing the type of basketball Michael played, and looking back, I was in between those styles. I wasn't a great one-on-one player and fit better as a team player."

Tex didn't like showboats

According to Pippen, Winter wasn't fond of players dribble-penetrating and beating opponents off the dribble because that was showboating. He preached teamwork and always reminded his players to allow their teammates to be part of winning by sharing the basketball with them.

That principle was the reason Winter always clashed with Jordan. Michael felt that Tex's triangle system would diminish his touches and, hence, his ability to put up points on the scoreboard, which was the only thing he was good at during his early years.

"If Tex ever caught Michael reverting back to what he would call his showboating habits," added Pippen. "Tex would tell him, 'You need to pass the ball! There's no 'I' in team!' Michael would always say, 'But there is in win.' Tex never held back."

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Jordan once questioned Winter's competence

Mike didn't hold back either. He opposed Winter's triangle system right from the start. Even before Phil Jackson coached his first game with the Bulls, Jordan questioned Tex's ability by mocking his coaching resume.

"What has Tex ever won, anyway?" Jordan said via the book Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan. "The players today can do things they couldn't twenty years ago. The game isn't played anymore like Tex Winter taught it. His concepts don't work against bigger, faster players who jump higher."

Fortunately for the Bulls, the triangle worked, and Jordan eventually bought in. When he did, it made him the greatest player of all time. While that did not happen for Pippen, Scottie ended up on the NBA's 75th Anniversary team, something he may not have accomplished if he had tried to be like Mike.

Related: "That's an arrogant a** beyond belief" - Dirk Nowitzki was disappointed after facing his idol Scottie Pippen