After seeing Ron Artest’s Dennis Rodman-esque haircut yesterday, I decided I would write about one of my top 10 favorite NBA players off all-time,Dennis “The Worm” Rodman. I grew up in an era of greatness. Michael Jordan,Larry Bird,Magic Johnson, Shaq and many others i’ve been fortunate enough to see play. Michael Jordan was,is, and always will be my favorite player of all-time but a guy that creeps into my top 10 is Dennis Rodman. I first say Rodman play when I was a youngster, maybe 5 or 6, when he was playing for the Detroit Pistons. Rodman had the uncanny ability to rebound the ball over guys six inches+ taller than him and do it for 48 minutes every night. Sure he was a little over the top with some of his antics but you couldn’t turn a blind eye to his ability and I sure didn’t.
Known to many as “The Worm,” Rodman was a player who was wild,brash, and hard working. Michael Jordan once said, “Dennis is the greatest rbounder off all-time.” I agree with that statement 100%. Something that is little known is that Rodman was a prolific scorer in college at SE Oklahoma State, where he averaged 25.7 pts along with 15.7 rbs a game. But, when hitting the NBA, Dennis realized he needed alot of work on his pure scoring and seemed more determined to be great at one facet of the game and average at the rest. It worked to near perfection as Rodman posted amazing rebound totals in his career. Rodman grabbed 11,954 rebounds in 911 games for a career average of 13.1 a game, unheard of for a guy who played PF at 6’8 240 lbs.
One thing about Dennis, besides rebounding, was that Dennis knew how to win. A 5 time champion, (2 with Detroit,3 with Chicago), Rodman played big in the postseason and had a knack for helping his teams get the one thing that matters in sports, wins. He played in 169 playoff games, more than some guys get in regular season careers, and posted solid numbers in the playoffs as well. While part of Detroit’s “Bad Boys”, Rodman was part-time enforcer, part-time stopper. Rodman would shut down other teams’ forwards and open up space for his teammates to score points on the offensive end. Rodman kept that same mentality of “lockdown and rebound” his entire career and helped the Bulls win three titles with Michael Jordan,Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson.
A career in which he is the all-time rebounds per game leader as well as rebounds per game season leader, Rodman also had many other achievements in his career. The Worm was a 7 time rebounding champ, a 7 time All-NBA Defensive selection, a 2 time All-Star,a 2 time All-NBA third team selection as well as a 2 time NBA defensive player of the year. What’s amazing is people seem to stay stuck on his off the court antics. The crazy hairstyles were only Rodman’s way of showing that he wasn’t crazy, just colorful, no pun intended. If you’ve ever heard Dennis speak, you realize that he is a very intelligent individual and is down to Earth. Ron Artest is compared to Rodman often but there is only one Rodman and I don’t see anyone matching Rodman in his accolades.
After following Rodman’s career closely, I firmly believe Dennis Rodman should be placed in the Hall of Fame. No player in history was as dominant as him on the boards, and very few brought that defensive intensity the way he did night after night. Sure he didn’t post great offensive numbers,(career best 11.6 ppg with Detroit in 87-88), but what Rodman did changed the game forever. Hopefully one day he will get enshrined but for now we can only sit back and hope he makes it in.
Darren
Posted by DABsportstalk 
