Scottie Pippen: 'I was LeBron James before LeBron James'

Even in retirement, Michael Jordan's shadow leaves Scottie Pippen in the dark.

The Hall-of-Famer attended the annual Nike Basketball Academy in California with LeBron James last weekend. While James ran drills with a group of children, Pippen chimed in on a friendly debate between the kids' parents.

As told by Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

The elated parents on the sideline viewing James playfully schooling the young kids prompted a debate as to whom James' game compares to. The two Hall-of-Famers mentioned and disputed were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. That's it.

The debate went on for about 10 minutes. It's an ongoing quarrel many have argued about for years, but one Hall-of-Famer not mentioned above says people need to look beyond Jordan and Magic when breaking down James' skill-set.

"I was LeBron James before LeBron James," Bulls great Scottie Pippen told Northeast Ohio Media Group. "It's not even close."

Pippen's comments were meant as a comparative to James's style, not as a statement about their greatness.

"They want to compare him to the greatest, whether it be Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, but he's more closer to myself," Pippen said. "It's natural for folks to say that, but if you look at how he plays the game and how I played the game, you'll see more similarities with us."

To that end, Pippen makes a great point. Like James, Pippen was also a physically imposing 6-foot-8 wing who could shoot, pass, defend multiple positions, and score in a myriad of scenarios. James tops him in almost every category - especially scoring ability - but the similarities run deep.

However, Pippen was never as effective as James at being the leading man. For most of his career, he played second fiddle to Jordan, whereas James has been the undisputed alpha wherever he's played.