photo courtesy of si.com
The Playground isn’t the problem. It’s the solution. That’s the Bounce motto.
Yet another concrete example that supports our mission is that of The Worm - The Greatest Defensive and Rebounding Forward Ever! The Worm could alter a game without ever taking a shot.
Dennis Rodman’s game was birthed and nourished by the project playgrounds in Dallas, Texas. Money didn’t play in high school, though his sisters were nice - college All-Americans to be exact. He wasn’t even 6-feet tall when he graduated.
He worked the graveyard shift at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport as a janitor. After an 8″ growth spurt, Rodman became a beast in the projects tearing up the playground scene. Word filtered out to the coach at Cook County Junior College (TX). After JUCO, he tore it out the frame at obscure Southeastern Oklahoma State, an NAIA school, to the tune of 26 points and 16 boards every night.
Forget the wedding dress, hair color, piercings and bizarro antics for the sake of this discussion.
His numbers and impact are impeccable - league rebounding champ 7 years in a row (Wilt, Bill Russell, Wes Unseld, Nate Thurmond, Barkley and all the other greats never did that!), 8-time NBA All-Defense, 2-time Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, and he was undersized at 6′7″, 220 pounds.
The Bulls league record of 72 wins in ‘96? Doesn’t happen w/out Rodman! The Bad Boys reign? Rodman was a crucial piston in the machinery! In ‘95 the Spurs had the league’s best record, 62-20. They were 20-13 without The Worm and 42-7 with him! Smell what I’m cookin’?
He guarded every position on the floor. Scottie Pippen, Jordan and KG are 3 of the league’s greatest defenders. MJ and Pip could never guard Shaq, Barkley, Oakley and Karl Malone like Rodman did. KG could never guard MJ, Pip, Kevin Johnson, Magic and other great guards like Rodman did.
The Worm guarded everybody!!!
Who else could guard Gary “The Glove” Payton on one possession and Shawn ‘Rain Man’ Kemp the next? (Check the ‘96 NBA finals.)
Many people, erroneously equate playground ball with an all flash, no substance label. Rodman is exemplary of the abundance of cats that play on the black top like every rebound, blocked shot and defensive stop is worth the price of rare gems.
See, the playground is all about heart. Don’t come to the park without it, or you’ll wind up like the Pips without Gladys Knight -irrelevant!
The Worm deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. And it was the playground game that made it all possible.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
this is hot! i never knew all that about rodman. wanna know who was the first nba player ever to be recruited directly out of the playground? hawthorne wingo. came from down south and started running in the rucker pro. scouts were so impressed, they gave him a free agent try-out and he wound up playing with the knicks a couple of seasons during the ’70s. he was a crowd favorite.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
ali says:
you’re good bob. the crowd at the garden loved “wingy.” the funny part of his story was that he came from a real small town where everybody knew everybody else. when he got off the bus at port authority, he thought it was the same way here. he had no concept of how big ny was. he was rollin’ up to people at the bus station asking them if they’d seen his Aunt Martha. He couldn’t understand why folks were looking at him like he had 7 heads.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Sean Couch says:
The challenge is what the playground is about. A kid can score on both ends of the court with a defensive strip, a blocked shot, or a rebound put back. Games like 21 really
bring out all those skills.
Now kids like Lance Stephenson and Kemba Walker play on the NYC playground. Kemba plays hard on both ends while Lance demonstrates finishing ability that is unparalleled for his age. It’s a new breed with the same desire to stand up to the challenge ON the court.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
ali says:
you’re right sean. i grew up playing utah to 200. that was our halfcourt game. (Utah works like this - every man for himself and every shot from the field as well as free throws after made baskets are worth 5. after 3 made ft’s in a row the ball gets checked, so each possession has the potential for a 20pt outburst for those who don’t know). not only did i have to learn to navigate tight spaces, but i had to have a handle, think on my feet when being double, triple and quadruple teamed. no re’s, no buckets, so i had to scrap, box out, steal the ball, whatever to gain possession. and, if you can’t hit free throws, you’ll never win.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
CasUno says:
Yo, ya man Rodamn should go marry hisself!!! Oh snit, he already did!!!
This actually casts one of the “bad boys” in a better capacity to me, now knowing his origin like that (good looks!)…just like the DJ story yesterday (RIP)….
But I hated the absolute snot outta this legion of the Pistons (especially ya man Laimbeer, who I see lookin sinister in the background of the pic) unlike how I dig on the Pistons of today….Musta been my 1985 - 1994 Chicago Bulls dedication….Either that or them dudes played dirty!!!!!!!
April 18th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Couliau Kevin says:
Rodman could guard anybody, but he’s now “mixtaping” , check out the video : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e4i9_dennis-rodman-mixtaping-like-and-1_sport
April 18th, 2008 at 8:52 am
illest says:
rodman should definitely be in the hall of fame. i laugh when guys say so and so is the next rodman. this cat used to average 15 plus rebounds a game for years at 6 foot 7. sometimes 18 plus rebounds. and he could score 20 if he wanted to.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Nhamz says:
People forget he used to be able to put the ball in the bucket too before he became the defensive/rebounding legend he is known for. Rodman was one of the best athletes of all time.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Teddy "Doowop" says:
interesting stuff..an 8 inch growth spurt is nuts!
April 21st, 2008 at 1:51 am
InsideHoops.com says:
If Isiah still ran the Knicks he’d probably offer Rodman a 6 year $30 million deal right now
April 21st, 2008 at 8:39 am
Jeremy Ripley says:
Ali-
Have you read Rodman’s autobiog.? CRAZY.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
ali says:
haven’t yet jeremy but it’s on my list of required reading this summer.