The NBA sidekick Hall of Fame

Horace Grant and Toni Kukoc

Everyone knows the tale. Before Scottie Pippen arrived, Michael Jordan could not advance beyond the second round of the playoffs. He couldn’t compete with the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. Even if Pippen is underrated, he is remembered as the difference between flash and substance. He is the prototype for modern NBA running mates.

Whenever a star player emerges, the question to be answered is who will be his Pippen. Pippen is also a top-50 player all-time and nearly led the 2000 Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals. Calling him the most underrated player on Jordan’s support staff actually takes quite a bit of effort and is usually in regard to where he stands on all-time lists, not his teammates or any other non-alphas.

Steve Kerr and John Paxson also seem to get their dues as clutch shooters and for their legacy-making highlights, and Dennis Rodman is a cult of personality. Perhaps the real contenders for this spot are Horace Grant and Toni Kukoc. They are also the two players most likely to be lost in the galaxy-swirl of Dennis Rodman’s rainbow-dyed hair.

While B.J. Armstrong is sure to garner some votes, Grant was arguably the third-best player on the Chicago Bulls during their first three-peat, approximating double-doubles on a nightly basis. During his one year as the second-best player on the team, when Jordan was swinging baseball bats in Alabama, he had perhaps his best all-around season. When he left for Orlando and teamed with a very different dynamic duo, his numbers never slipped.

Whether playing with the league’s most skilled perimeter players or the league’s most dominant inside force, Grant played the same consistent game, and that’s worth noting. He might even lift his goggles and clinch two fists to the sky to shout about it.

Kukoc was arguably the third-best player on the Bulls during their second three-peat, which may be different than saying he was the third-most important. He averaged just above 13 points per game during those three seasons, and, at times, he carried the offense when either Pippen or Jordan sat. The year he arrived in Chicago was the team’s first without Jordan in the fold, and he finished third behind Pippen and Grant in Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) that season. Even when Jordan returned from retirement and Rodman was added to the roster, Kukoc would hold that position.

His production outside of Chicago was never quite as important or memorable. He was part of the trade that brought Dikembe Mutombo to Philadelphia. Kukoc’s game never quite fit with Allen Iverson’s. No one’s game ever quite fit with Iverson’s. Mutombo could change the game without touching the ball. Kukoc needed touches. He averaged a career-high 19.7 points per game in a lost season with Atlanta. His picture on Basketball-Reference looks like Hugh Jackman taking a mug shot. Think what might have been if Kukoc had been left to wander.