Getty Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz (R) shoots over Dennis Rodman (L) of the Chicago Bulls during 1997 NBA Finals.
Dennis Rodman was one of a kind.
More specifically: Rodman was of the best rebounders to ever play in the NBA.
Colorful hair, rockstar lifestyle, painted nails and more, Rodman headlined the Chicago Bulls’ big 3 that included Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan and was coached by Phil Jackson.
While scoring a shade over 7 points during his career, Rodman averaged 13.1 rebounds per game for his career and lived his best life on those late 90s Chicago Bulls teams.
He picked his prey by getting into the heads of Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone. He even got into verbal spars with former Houston Rockets big man, turned TNT analyst, Charles Barkley and the New Jersey Nets’ Jayson Williams who were all league leaders in rebounding.
SPRINGFIELD, MA – AUGUST 12: Dennis Rodman (L) reacts as Phil Jackson looks on during the Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Symphony Hall on August 12, 2011 in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Rodman began his career in the NBA at the small forward position. He’d later shift to the power forward when he played for the San Antonio Spurs and was famously traded by the Spurs to the Chicago Bulls by current Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
Rodman’s small forward physique helped him maneuver for position for rebounds on the basketball court with bigger opponents. But his intelligence allowed him to savvily get into their heads.
Rodman always used his brain. In a recent conversation with the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Rodman’s former Chicago Bulls teammate, Jason Caffey tells me that The Worm was ahead of his time in marketing and more.
For those keeping score at home: Caffey, the Chicago Bulls’ 20th pick in the 1995 NBA Draft averaged 7.3 points per game during the Bulls’ second consecutive championship run in 1996–97.
He detailed what Dennis Rodman was like.
Check out a brief snippet from our chat on the Scoop B Radio Podcast below:
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What could you tell us about Dennis that a normal person wouldn’t know?
Jason Caffey: He was just different. I can’t go into analyzing him psychologically because I’m not a doctor but what you and I spoke on yesterday. I told you some things that could be possibly true because I suffer from some of it. Speaking for myself you know back then in the league [NBA] if you had a mental illness nobody really cared or had enough knowledge to know what was going on. Nobody cared you were straight or crazy. Dennis was always considered crazy by so many people just because of the image he gives. He’s a very smart man. In no way shape or form was he crazy but he has his own ways to do things.
Jason Caffey is not the only Bulls player to have fond memories of playing with Rodman.
Retired NBA legend John Salley played in the NBA for 11 years suiting up for the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.
During that time, the Brooklyn, NY native who became the first player in NBA history to play on three different championship-winning franchises has graced the court with talented folks including Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal and future HOF’er Kobe Bryant.
Salley, who holds the distinction of being the first player in NBA history to win a championship in three different decades actually won a championship with Rodman in with the ‘89 Detroit Pistons. He won another with The Worm in ‘96 as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
Salley thinks the world of Rodman.
“In Detroit even though he was older than me, Dennis was the youngest guy on the squad because he didn’t have more life experiences than me,” John Salley told me on Scoop B Radio.
“But in Chicago, he was open.”
To Salley, Rodman’s transformation was like night and day.“It was like he had eaten an apple that made him see what life was like,” he said.
“Our work preparation in Detroit was always, we were coming from behind because we were the underdogs. But in Chicago, he had come into his own and realized that no one can do what he can do. Nobody was as strong, nobody was built like him, nobody was as determined, nobody could do the things that he could and he realized that and he played along with it and decided to become Jimi Hendrix and Jim Larsen, at the same time while playing basketball. So he was just a different cat.”
Salley like Caffey thinks Rodman was a genius.
“Dennis thought all the way through,” said Salley.
“And he’d figure out that if he studied everything that a guy did on offense and figured out what to not let them do before you get to a certain point, Dennis would stop you at the first point and not let you get to your flow.”
Salley believes that by Phil Jackson giving Rodman the freedom to be himself in the Bulls locker room, it translated onto the basketball court where it allowed the eccentric player to give it his all. “In Chicago, while Phil [Jackson] was talking, he would take a shower and go get dressed,” said Salley.
“Next thing you know, he was on the court; ready to go and at the end of the game, he [Dennis Rodman] would be on his bike doing cardio.”
“Phil wouldn’t say anything. He would just let him flow. With anybody else, it would be like: ‘you get in here with everybody else.’ But Phil knew that he was in his world and when he is in his world he turns out to be this unbelievable thing. And believe it or not, running the triangle offense for some people is hard. When Dennis picked it up, he was unstoppable because he was still able to get his rebounds one-on-one because when he’s in the triangle, if he’s in the lane with just one or two other people in there with him, they weren’t going to beat him for the rebound.”