PIPPEN

Portland Trail Blazers' Scottie Pippen sits in dejection on the bench after receiving a technical foul for fouling Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant during the fourth quarter of the Western Conference quarterfinals Thursday, April 26, 2001, in Los Angeles. The Lakers beat the Trail Blazers, 106-88. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

(KEVORK DJANSEZIAN)

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - At the annual Nike Basketball Academy over the weekend, some of Nike's brightest stars were in attendance to observe some of the top high school and college prospects in the country.

It was a three-day program that pulled in LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings and DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors, to name a few. NBA players ran drills with the Academy participants, engaged in film sessions and served as mentors.

The interaction with professional athletes was invaluable to the students, and during the scrimmage game, the NBA players looked on rooting and yelling out words of encouragement.

In one particular college scrimmage, on the opposite court from the action, James was playing 1-on-6 with a group of 10-year-olds. They tried trapping him in the corner with their smothering defense. James dribbled around them all as if they were stationary cones, and pulled up for fadeaway jumpshots while sporting a backpack.

The kids enjoyed it, even though they couldn't get their hands on the ball. It was an experience they'll remember forever.

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

The debate went on for about 10 minutes. It's an ongoing, years-old argument, 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 will turn 50 in September, but he could easily pass for 35. It doesn't seem like that long ago when he was a dominating force on both ends of the floor. At 6-7, he played some point-forward and would take the opposing team's best perimeter player out of the game.

Playing alongside Jordan, arguably the greatest player to ever play the game, in many ways took away from Pippen's greatness and often excludes him from the James discussion - even though Pippen and Jordan led the Bulls to six NBA titles.

"I'm no slouch, but when comparing LeBron's game, I'm usually left out," he said.

James has stated over the years how much he watched Pippen's game when growing up and how he incorporated facets into his own repertoire. Still, Pippen is a forgotten man when the conversations ramp up.

"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."