Dennis Rodman Reebok Ad - 1989

 Who remembers this Reebok commercial featuring soon-to-be Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman? This is pre-tats, pre-piercing, pre-Madonna, Detroit Piston champion Defensive Player of the Year Dennis Rodman pumping Reeboks with subtle jabs at the Bulls, Michael Jordan and Nike.

Rodman Review - The Bulls' X-Factor

 Dennis Rodman was the intangible force propelling the Chicago Bulls to historic greatness from 1995-98. No Dennis Rodman, no 72 win season in Chicago and possibly no three-peat repeat for Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

 Rodman solidified his place among great rebounders in NBA history during his run with the Bulls. He averaged 14.9, 16.1 and 15 rpg in his three seasons with Chicago, leading the league each year from '96-'98. The only player to average 15 boards in a season since is Ben Wallace in 2003. No one has reached 16 rpg since Rodman.

 The Worm received First Team All Defense honors in the Bulls' record setting 72 win season. He'd already been a two time Defensive Player of the Year with the Detroit Pistons as well as a First Team All Defensive player for the San Antonio Spurs. 

 In Chicago, Rodman made an artform of hustle plays. He hit the floor for loose balls more readily than Jordan, Pippen or any other player on the Bulls' roster. 

 Check out this hustle play where Rodman somersaults and crash lands NBC's Bob Costas, leaving the announcer on the floor in a heap. 

 Dennis Rodman became a master of mind games in Chicago. He played wearing nail polish with the brightest hair colors in professional basketball history, mens' or womens'. He toyed with lesser players like Benoit Benjamin by calling him "Ben Wa Balls."

 Rodman's best mind games were saved for the playoffs. He used his Drag Queen style of martial arts to unnerve Alonzo Mourning on the young center's way to being swept out of the playoffs. Here's a clip of Rodman laying on Mourning under the basket like a honeymooner in orgasmic bliss. Mourning's inner homophobe was activated and he wound up benched and repeatedly yelling "You're a sick motherfucker!" at an amused Dennis Rodman.

 In the '96 Finals against Seattle, Dennis Rodman easily dismantled the Sonics' goon Frank Brickowski into technical & flagrant fouls. Seattle's coach, George Karl, sent Brickowski in to try to get a tech or even ejection on Rodman. The Brick was no mental or physical match for the Worm. 

 Bulls' coach Phil Jackson was a free spirit, not unlike Dennis Rodman, during his playing days with the Knicks. He took LSD and had wild hair with a mountain man beard. He even called his first book "Maverick" which meant "an unorthodox or independent-minded person" before John McCain turned it into a cracker war cry of conservatism.

 Jackson enjoyed having Rodman on the Bulls and saw him as a valuable teammate on and off the court. 

 "Dennis has been a real blessing for us because he's like a heyoka," Jackson said. He continued by explaining that for the Lakota people, a heyoka "was a cross-dresser, a unique person, respected because he brougt a reality change when you saw him."

 At the same time, then Knicks GM Dave Checketts said, "When I saw pictures of (Rodman) with the makeup job, I just couldn't believe this is what it has come to. I guarantee you that as long as I'm running the New York Knicks, he will not be on this club."

 Phil Jackson has thirteen total NBA championship rings to Checketts' zero. Checketts might have done better to judge talent based on basketball skills rather than makeup.

 After their 1998 championship, the Bulls GM Jerry Krauss broke up the dynasty and Dennis never played a full NBA season again. His contribution to the greatness of the Bulls can only partially be measured by his impressive stats. His intangibles as a hustler, energizer & free spirit elevated the Bulls into being arguably the greatest team in NBA history.

 In case you think Dennis was only about defense, check out this display of shooting accuracy as Rodman rains threes down the stretch on the Milwaukee Bucks to the delight of the Chicago crowd. 

    

Rodman Review: The Spurs' Rebounding Freak

 Dennis Rodman left his former self behind in Detroit in 1993 and joined the San Antonio Spurs as a man with changing hair colors and an increasingly free spirit. The Worm, who'd had already earned two defensive player of the year awards, teamed with center David Robinson to form a formidable paint duo.

 Rodman led the NBA in rebounding during both of his seasons with the Spurs. He was 2nd team all-defense in '93-'94 and 1st team all-defense the following year. He was 3rd team all-NBA in '95-'96 despite only playing in 49 games and starting in 26, largely on the strength of his defense and rebounding prowess. 

  

 In San Antonio, Rodman clashed with his coach, Bob Hill who the Worm called "Boner." Yet he played great with David Robinson who earned his only MVP award alongside Rodman in '94-'95. Check out this clip to see how much love Rodman showed for a rare display of intensity by the Admiral.

 Current Celtics coach Doc Rivers was a veteran backup point guard on Rodman's Spurs. He marveled at Rodman's subtle offensive greatness which often went unnoticed. "He's a great offensive player," Doc said. "He's so smart and he sees the floor like a guard. He'll set the key screen or make the great pass. His pass might not lead to the basket, but it's the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the basket."

 After two tumultuous years with the Spurs, Rodman's run in San Antonio was done. They'd had enough of a hair dying freak who wouldn't fall in line behind the conservative coaching style of Boner Bob Hill. And Rodman had had enough of a soft-spoken leader like David Robinson who shrunk under bright lights.  

 The Spurs traded Rodman to the Bulls for their starting center Will Perdue. Rodman was coming off a season with 7.1 points, 16.8 rebounds per game.  Perdue had just managed 8.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in Chicago. San Antonio must have really hated them some Dennis Rodman to make a trade that clearly favored the Bulls.

 In the Worm's last year with the Spurs, they lost in the conference Finals to the eventual repeat champion Houston Rockets and Hakeem Olajuwon. It took them four years to get that deep in the playoffs again, largely because of the arrival of another dominant power forward, Tim Duncan. 

 Meanwhile, Rodman began a wildly successful run with the Chicago Bulls. Part 3 of the Rodman Review will cover the greatness of Rodman's collaboration with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

    

Rodman Review: The Pistons Era.

 

 This August, while the NBA slows to a crawl, Mojo Hoops looks back at the peaks of Dennis Rodman's brilliant NBA career. If anyone epitomizes the hustle, defense & originality of a Mojo Hoops type player, Rodman is that baller. Each piece will focus on a different stage of Rodman's unusual NBA journey and beyond. First up, the Pistons years. 

 ESPN's Classic Sports channel recently aired a game from March 4, 1992 where 6'7" Dennis Rodman, the Worm, grabbed 34 rebounds against the Indiana Pacers. He set a team record for the Pistons and no NBA player has rebounded 34 or more in a game since. 

 Check out this edited version of the game featured on Gremlin's Youtube channel.

 When Rodman learned that he broke the Pistons' team record held by Bob Lanier, he cried and said, "I have just been in the right place at the right time. I got emotional because when you work so hard to accomplish something, it is a great feeling when it finally pays off."

 The Pacers only managed 38 rebounds as a team and lost 110-107 in OT. Their coach Bob Hill said, "Rebounding took its toll. We didn't keep them off the boards, but Rodman's a freak of nature. He keeps coming and coming, like Joe Frazier when he fought Ali."

 1992 was Rodman's breakout year as one of the greatest rebounders in NBA history. He grabbed a career high 18.7 rpg and led the league in rebounding for the first of 7 straight years. In the last 35 years, the closest any other player has come to that average is Ben Wallace's 15.4 in 2003, over three fewer fewer boards per game.

 Rodman was a two time champ with the Pistons. He had already won Defensive Player of the Year twice before taking over as the best rebounder of his era. A strong on-ball defender, the Worm mastered mind games early in his career, slithering into the psyche of opponents who were distracted by his menacing techniques.

 Watch this clip from November 30, 1990 where Rodman riles Barkley into an elbow and an ejection in crunch time. 

He even made the free throws.  

 Rodman was a freak in Detroit with his short-shorts and writings in his hair. He'd already developed high-kicking rebounding techniques and a rep for being dirty as one of the Bad Boys on the Pistons. But he still seemed like a pretty regular dude overall. 

 That version of Dennis Rodman died in 1993 while Rodman slept in his truck with a loaded shotgun on his lap after contemplating suicide. In his book Bad As I Wanna Be, Rodman wrote, "I decided that instead (of killing myself) I was gonna kill the impostor that was leading Dennis Rodman to a place he didn't want to go.... So I just said, 'I'm going to live my life the way I want to live it and be happy doing it. I killed the person I didn't want to be.'"

 On October 1, 1993, the Pistons traded the new Dennis to the Spurs. The next Rodman Review will feature the Worm's adventures with the Admiral and the Deacon in San Antonio.

    

Michael Jordan Forgot About Rodman

 Michael Jordan said he wouldn't have tried to pull a LeBron and unite with Bird or Magic because he'd rather beat them than play with them. Yet when Michael was at his peak, Bird was a bad-back shell of his dominant self. Michael only beat Magic once in the Finals before the Laker great's first retirement. 

 The Bulls' greatest nemesis and contemporary challengers were the Bad Boys of the Detroit Pistons. Isiah Thomas, who Michael banished from the Dream Team. Bill Laimbeer, the king of dirty. And 2 time Defensive Player of the Year Dennis Rodman. 

 The Bulls struggled mightily to get past the Pistons in the playoffs during the '80s. The Pistons used physical and sometimes dirty tactics to knock the Bulls off balance and keep them out of rhythm. Dennis Rodman once launched Scottie Pippen into the stands giving him 6 stitches in his chin. When Chicago finally beat the Pistons, the Bad Boys left the court without congratulating them. No love. Isiah, Laimbeer & Rodman were all unliked undesirables to the Chicago Bulls.

 

 While the Bulls were winning their first 3 championships with Jordan, Pippen and Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman became the most dominant rebounder in basketball. He'd led the league in boards for 4 straight seasons, including 2 years with the Spurs while Jordan bailed on the Bulls and basketball to take his talents to the Birmingham Barons of baseball.

 When Jordan finally returned to the Bulls, they were sorely lacking paint presence due to Horace Grant's departure for Orlando. With MJ's approval, coach Phil Jackson and general manager Jerry Krauss arranged a trade for Rodman. The key was getting Pippen's approval since Scottie still wore a scar on his chin from Rodman's dirty work. Scottie went right along with the plan, trying to get another ring. 

 One of the main guys that Michael & Scottie had poured sweat and blood to beat was welcomed as a member of the Bulls. The Big 3 of the mid 90s. 

 Admittedly, the circumstances with LeBron, Wade & Bosh are different from Michael, Scottie and Dennis. Yet it still rings hollow to have past greats claiming that they'd never have done what today's players are doing when in some ways, they made or encouraged similar moves to unite with other dominant rivals in order to facilitate getting rings.

 Michael Jordan never won a ring without a dominant power forward. He never even won a playoff series without a strong paint beast like Charles Oakley, Grant or Rodman. MJ was most definitely one of the all-time greats, but he needed help as much as LeBron does. 

 LeBron's move to Miami is cheesy and calculated. But it's really just a player putting himself in a front office mentality to help make a better team. If Jordan wouldn't have had the hated Crumbs Krauss doing  front office dirty work to get the likes of former foe Rodman in Chicago, he may have been forced to do the same.

    

Agent Hero & The Animal Friends

  What do Gilbert Arenas, Ron Artest & Dennis Rodman have in common? OK, besides the fact that they are among the most heavily suspended players in NBA history?

  All have dedicated time & money to the cause of animal rights. Gilbert is currently in PETA's "Ink, Not Mink" campaign with Rodman & vegetarian Amar'e Stoudamire. The 3 players appear shirtless & covered in tattoos, encouraging people to adorn themselves with body art instead of animal parts.

Dog lover Ron Artest appears with his pit bull named John Henry in ads motivating people to have their dogs spayed or neutered to help control animal population and keep shelters from overflowing with animals. "I got most of my animals from the Humane Society," he said. Ron Ron walks it like he talks it. 

Candace Parker represents women of basketball in her anti-fur ads with her dog Fendi. She said, "I really feel like it's very cruel what they do to animals, and I love my dog and couldn't imagine anybody harming her."

 These athletes are taking time to speak out for those who can't speak for themselves. It's not about the shoe or the soft drink. And in the cases of Rodman, Artest & Arenas, these ads show that there is much more to them than isolated basketball related incidents.