On the 20th anniversary of Michael Jordan announcing his return to the Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippen took to Twitter to give a little insight and background on the moment that changed the NBA's future
Scottie Pippen From Twitter I see it's been 20 years since two of the most famous words in sports history: "I'm back" To be honest, after MJ retired the first time in 1993 I thought he was done. I think a comeback was the furthest thing on his mind. I'll always remember how shocked we were MJ walked away from the game like that. We were ready to go for a 4th straight. I kept tabs on him as he played baseball but we didn't talk all that often. I gave him some space as he needed a break from basketball. I really didn't know how much he loved baseball until that point. He was pretty passionate about the game and showed he could hold his own. When MJ started showing up at Berto spring of 1995 for practices, it didn't take long to see he was serious about getting back in the game. We had a great year in 1993-94, no thanks to Hue Hollins, but the following season was challenging without Horace Grant. Horace was a huge piece for us so to be without him and Michael felt like starting over to some degree. We all felt after several practices that MJ's return was inevitable but once he said "I'm back" it really gave us a lift. He wore 45 of course and we didn't think too much about it in the moment but it wasn't the 23 we were used to seeing. MJ had to shake a little rust off but he showed at the Garden his swagger was back in the double nickel game. I think the Knicks were tired of him killing them all night so they over compensated on that last play and MJ found @34billy42 for the win. Losing to Orlando was tough. It had been a long time since we had MJ and lost in the playoffs. But it fueled us. He took it hard. We added some pieces to the roster, including one of the great rebounders of all time in @dennisrodman, and came back ready to work.' So here's to 20 years ago and ultimately, three more championships.
