The Chicago Bulls of the 1990s are among the greatest teams ever assembled and excelled at nearly every aspect of the game. That, combined with Michael Jordan being a menace on both ends of the ball, made them almost unbeatable. However, according to one seven-time NBA champion, it’s not Jordan who deserves credit as the team’s best defender; it’s Scottie Pippen.

“Pippen by far,” NBA legend Robert Horry said on the Dan Patrick Show when asked about the better defender between the two Bulls greats. “Scottie Pippen is the ultimate basketball player. Me, he’s one of my top five of all time because when you think about a player who can guard every position on the floor, there’s only like three of those that’s ever existed.”

For Horry, Pippen‘s defensive versatility easily differentiated him from almost anyone in NBA history. At 6’8″ with elite length and quickness, Pippen’s reputation as a defender is well known, and he took on the other team’s best scorer nearly every single time, regardless of their status as quick-footed guards or bigger forwards.

Horry also pushed back against the long-standing narrative that Pippen’s success was tied to Jordan leading the Bulls. When Jordan stepped away from basketball in 1993, Pippen led the Bulls into the playoffs with a 55-27 record, making it the second round before losing to the Finals-bound New York Knicks.

“Maybe Jordan only won because of Pippen,” Horry said. “And I think Pippen is so underrated and so underappreciated. And I think people need to really take a seat back and look at what he did throughout his career and really marvel at what he did. He was great.”

However, the former Houston Rockets forward didn’t stop there.

Robert Horry Claims Rockets Would Have Defeated Michael Jordan’s Bulls

Horry’s bold takes about the Chicago Bulls didn’t end with defending Scottie Pippen’s legacy against Michael Jordan. During the same interview with Dan Patrick, Big Shot Rob weighed in on a potential matchup between his Rockets and Jordan’s Bulls.

“We would have beat him,” he said. “I think it comes to matchups, and I think Vernon [Maxwell] matching up MJ was a pretty good matchup. Myself against Scottie was a good matchup. But now who was going to match up with Dream? Nobody.”

Horry’s explanation makes some sense. Vernon Maxwell was one of the peskiest defenders of the 90s, and Horry was no slouch either. The real matchup issue was Hakeem Olajuwon, the backbone of the Rockets’ offense. The Bulls never had a dominant inside-the-arc presence even close to Olajuwon’s level, and regardless of how good their interior defense was, the Dream was known to expose even the best post-lockdown threats.

Horry also pointed to the 1995 playoffs as an example that Jordan and the Bulls weren’t beatable. That season, after returning from his baseball hiatus, Chicago was eliminated in the second round by the Shaquille O’Neal-led Orlando Magic.

For Horry, that moment reinforced a simple truth about the NBA’s greatest legends: even icons like MJ need the right roster around them.