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Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls brought in a lot of characters to make the team work, including Cliff Levingston. The former Bulls forward won two championships in Chicago, in 1991 and 1992.
He saw around 13 minutes of action each night and recorded close to four points and three rebounds per game. Levingston’s numbers might not blow anyone away, but his impact on the team was profound.
During a conversation on the Thurl Talk Podcast in 2020, Levingston revealed the real reason why the Bulls had signed him:
“The Bulls brought me on board to beat up Scottie (Pippen) every day,”
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“To be physical with him so he can handle when he gets out on the court. As you know, as an athlete if you see something every day it becomes normal. It doesn’t bother you or faze you anymore, and that was the whole thing with Scottie,” said Levingston.
Levingston revealed that he and Pippen would often get into fistfights because of how physical they were in practice:
“We really got in fights every day in practice," Levington said. “I mean a lot of times we got in fistfights in practice. We were ready to go blows, but after practice, we hung out.”
The fact that Pippen and Levingston were ready to hang out with each other after their gruelling practice sessions shows that the two were always ready to leave things on the court. The two-time NBA champion spent two years with the Bulls before pursuing a career overseas.
When that didn’t pan out, Levingston returned to the NBA and signed with the Denver Nuggets in 1994. He hung up his boots the next year and has been a professional basketball coach for over two decades now.
Cliff Levingston’s arrival paved the way for the Chicago Bulls’ dominance
Cliff Levingston’s impact on the Bulls and Scottie Pippen was felt immediately. After his first season with the team, Scottie Pippen earned All-Defensive honours. Whatever Levingston beat into Pippen worked wonders, as he was named to eight All-Defensive First Teams after that.
Furthermore, the Chicago Bulls won their first championship with Michael Jordan in 1991. They won two more in 1992 and 1993. While Jordan was the clear leader, Pippen’s physicality and skill on defense played a key role in the Bulls’ championship runs.
The said physicality might not have existed if Cliff Levingston wasn't beating on Scottie Pippen in practice.
