Pippen's line the years before and after MJ's absence:
PPG REB AST STL FG%
18.6 7.7 6.3 2.1 .473
19.4 6.5 5.9 1.7 .463
When MJ was gone:
PPG REB AST STL FG%
22.0 8.7 5.6 2.9 .491
21.4 8.1 5.2 2.9 .480
When MJ was gone Pippen had markedly better years, All-NBA career-type years as a matter of fact, and got the Bulls deep in the playoffs with no sort of sidekick. So how do you justify with any sort of factual basis, heck even anything more than pure conjecture, that he was only above average talent?
I love Scottie Pippen. But people just don't realize how much effect Michael Jordan had on the performance of his teammates. Pippen was never a star without Jordan, and he even has admitted that.
Pippen scored more after Jordan left because his shots per game went up and his free throws per game went way up. He had the ball a lot more, and shot more. His assists went down for those 2 seasons.
I also justify it by comparing other things-
like in the 3 seasons between 1995-1996 and 1997-98, the last 3 seasons he teamed with Michael Jordan- he averaged:
1995-96- 19.4 ppg
1996-97- 20.2 ppg
1997-98- 19.1 ppg
and the 5 seasons after he left the Bulls his scoring averages were-
1998-99- 14.5 ppg
1999-00- 12.5 ppg
2000-01- 11.3 ppg
2001-02- 10.6 ppg
2002-03- 10.8 ppg
2003-04- 5.9 ppg
That's a huge difference, and he started nearly every game for Houston and Portland, and played major minutes after he left the Bulls, but was never a star player again, and was only a bit above average. He never was an All-Star after 1997.
His NBA average for the seasons he played with MJ on the Bulls is about 18 ppg. For the years he played without MJ is under 14 ppg.
His career shooting percentage of 47% and 3-point percentage of 32.6% is below average for players similar to him who are in the HOF. He was an average rebounder (6.4 rpg) for his career.