65. Dennis Rodman
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The worm, one of the most entertaining and controversial figures in the history of the NBA. Dennis Rodman was never a guy who could score a lot of points, but he was one of the games greatest defenders and rebounders. He was a key cog in 5 NBA championship teams and a two-time all-star.
Rodman attended Southeastern Oklahoma University where he starred for three years. He was a scorer in college averaging over 25 points a game in all three seasons he played. In total he played 96 games at Southeastern Oklahoma owning averages of 26 points and 16 rebounds.
The Detroit Pistons select Rodman with the 27th pick in the 2nd round in 1986. Rodman joined a team ripe with stars but made an immediate impact. He played in 77 games and averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds. Rodman came on big time in his second year where he averaged a career high 12 points a game and 9 rebounds. |
Rodman became the sixth man for the Pistons and in 88-89 won his first NBA championship with the Pistons. The Pistons repeated as champions the next season and Rodman won his first of two consecutive defensive player of the year awards.
The 1990-91 season saw Rodman average double-digit rebounds for the first time in his career, the following season he lead the league in rebounding and would continue doing so for the next seven seasons.
The Pistons slowly began to break up after their title run and in 1993 he was traded to San Antonio for Sean Elliott. Rodman joined David Robinson in what the Spurs had hoped would allow them to make a title run, instead Rodman became a distraction with his colored hair and on and off the court antics. The most notably was nearly causing a riot in Salt Lake City when he and than girlfriend singer Madonna where seen in public.
Rodman lasted only two seasons with the Spurs before he was traded to the Chicago Bulls. Rodman would team with Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to help the Bulls complete a second three peat in the 1990s. Rodman’s first season with the Bulls the team went 72-10, the best record in the history of the NBA, they followed that up the next season with the second best record in NBA history at 70-12.
Rodman had some epic battles with Karl Malone in the 1997 and 1998 NBA finals and the two would wrestle against each other in the WWF that summer. Rodman would briefly retire after the Bulls third championship and break up but would in the middle of the 1999 season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Rodman’s antic with the Lakers would get him waived. He last played in 2000 when he played for the Dallas Mavericks but was waived by them as well. Rodman has continually tried to make comebacks as late as 2010 but no NBA team seems interested in him. He has played in several small leagues including the ABA.
Rodman appeared in 911 career games and averaged 7 points and 13 rebounds. He is not yet a member of the hall of fame but many consider him to be a likely member one day.
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