Rodman even had to apologize to Pippen for a previous transgression before he was added to the roster. Adding Rodman was the ultimate risk vs. If things went well, Rodman could provide Chicago with some much-needed rebounding while it chased more championships. However, if the situation went south, the possibility of Rodman becoming a locker room cancer was one that the front office had to consider. In hindsight, it seems pretty safe to say that the gamble of signing Rodman paid off.
It didn't take long for Rodman's addition to start paying dividends on the court for Chicago. He finished the game with 10 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists and helped lead the Bulls to a double-digit win while showing just how valuable he could be in the process. Rodman's first major transgression as a member of the Bulls came on March 16, On this day, Rodman was ejected from a game against the then-New Jersey Nets in the first quarter after getting hit with two technical fouls.
Rodman was assessed his first technical for slamming the ball onto the floor. The second one came as Rodman protested a foul that was called against him while fighting for a rebound. Rodman clearly wasn't happy with the ejection, and while expressing his dissatisfaction to referee Ted Bernhardt, his head made contact with Bernhardt's.
Rodman then proceeded to rip off his jersey and shove over the sideline Gatorade cooler while continuing to berate the referees on his way to the locker room. It was quite the scene, which you can see below:. While he would eventually put the situation behind him, Rodman certainly didn't help his already-muddied reputation with the incident.
Sure, there were some bumps along the way, but on June 16, , Rodman did exactly what he was brought to Chicago for: to help the Bulls win their fourth NBA title. The championship was the Bulls' first since Jordan returned from his stint as a baseball player. It would turn out to be the first of three in a row. In the closeout game of the '96 Finals against the Seattle Supersonics, Rodman had 19 rebounds 11 offensive , nine points, five assists, three steals and one block, and his consistent energy helped propel the Bulls to victory.
But Game 2 and tonight, he was the reason they were successful. At the time, Rodman said that the series against Seattle was an opportunity for him to prove his doubters wrong -- an opportunity that he capitalized on. It's been a transition. People have said I'm disruptive, I'm this, I'm that. I came back and proved everybody wrong. After winning his first title with the Bulls, Rodman didn't wait for the following season to make more headlines. He landed in a summer league and was eventually discovered by Southeast Oklahoma, where he became a three-time All-American despite persistent racial slurs in a community that was hesitant to embrace an African-American supernova.
He was an improbable success story, but it was complicated, always complicated, because those emotions were so close to the surface. By the time he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the 27th pick of the draft, he was estranged from his mother. His father was forgotten, an apparition, until one night in , when Rodman was playing for the Chicago Bulls. Rodman says Philander appeared at the practice facility before a shootaround on game day.
I need to talk to you. Rodman assumed the man was an imposter; he was growing accustomed to people hustling him for money.
He didn't think any more about it until midway through the game, in the middle of a timeout, when he noticed a commotion in the stands. He's signing autographs, doing interviews. And I was his first one. Somebody told me that.
I'm like, 'Whatever. It's a little late. The 30 for 30 documentary, which includes interviews with many of his family members, runs a clip of Rodman at his Hall of Fame induction speech in which, halting to maintain his composure, Rodman apologizes to his children for not being there for them. I love my kids. I've had plenty. Alcohol being one of them -- everyone knows that. But I think the only major demon I have right now is trying to convince myself that I am a good dad.
That's the worst one for me. And it's so hard for me for some reason. It's very hard for me to break out of that cycle, you know. You feel like it's too late. It's one of those things where I never had anyone ever want [to love me]. His two younger children have no recollection of his mercurial career, which began when Rodman landed with that veteran Pistons team coached by the venerable Chuck Daly, who identified Rodman's vulnerability and immaturity and served as his protector and surrogate father.
Soon, Rodman became a regular at the Daly Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations, dutifully adhering to house rules: Shoes off when you come in the door so as not to soil the pristine white carpet. It was, 'How you doing? What's going on? You need anything? It was very comfortable for me to be there. When I was alone in my apartment and there was nobody there to be with me, I'd always call Chuck Daly or Isiah Thomas.
Thomas, the Pistons' perennial All-Star point guard, fielded calls at all hours from the jittery rookie, whose social anxiety was palpable. Yet, when Rodman was on the court, he proved to be an indefatigable competitor, a voracious rebounder and a relentless defender.
This is not a joke. We want to win a championship. You've got to get your act together, get your ass together and get your head focused. You can't keep going out with [Pistons big man] John Salley. You gotta do your job.
Back in those days, I was pretty much lost, but I was lost in happiness. The Pistons won back-to-back championships in and , but their moniker was the Bad Boys, a conflicting concept for a young player who was thirsting for acceptance -- and affection.
In , while standing in the bowels of the Orlando Magic 's arena on All-Star Saturday, the announcer listed the game's participants for Sunday. When he bellowed Dennis Rodman's name, the crowd booed lustily. Rodman, his eyes pooling, turned to a reporter and asked, "Why do they hate me? Change in the NBA is inevitable.
Eventually, Salley was traded, Daly resigned and Rodman fell into a funk, his emotions running amok both on and off the floor. He was embroiled in a painful divorce with his first wife, Annie Bakes, Alexis' mother.
His lowest moment came in February , when police discovered him asleep in his truck in the Pistons' Auburn Hills parking lot with a loaded gun in his lap. As Salley chillingly notes in the 30 for 30 film, "Did I believe he was going to shoot himself at the Palace of Auburn Hills? As the championship era for the Bulls came to an end , many members of the iconic squad left the team, including Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen , as well as head coach Phil Jackson.
The basketball season was shortened by a lockout while NBA players renegotiated with the league, and Rodman was released by the Bulls in Jan. Rodman then moved on to the Dallas Mavericks for the season, but his short time there was marked by clashes with the team and with NBA officials.
The Dallas News described several of Rodman's more controversial moments in Dallas: he received technical fouls, argued with referees, made comments in the press calling himself "a marked man" and accusing the NBA of bias, and publicly criticized his teammates and owner Mark Cuban.
But for whatever reason, we're not getting that whole team effort," Rodman said at one point, later adding, "We're like that movie Lost in Space. We have no sense of direction. We're lost. There's not much else to say. He did return to basketball for a few years, playing in the "minor league" American Basketball Association from to He also played in a few exhibition games for international teams, and attempted an ill-fated acting career around the same time.
During his NBA career, Rodman was known for his physical style of play, as well as his outsize personality and controversial, colorful remarks — and that part of his reputation only grew after he left the sport.
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