It's easy to forget, amid the glare of those three straight NBA titles, how risky this move was at the time. Rodman was borderline radioactive in San Antonio, a combustible brew of grievance and insolence.
His talent was undeniable, and the fit in Chicago held tantalizing potential, but why would the Bulls take this chance? At a news conference, Spurs general manager Gregg Popovich said, "Big surprise, huh?
Asked if he considered it a big relief to be rid of Rodman, Popovich said, "A big relief? We were without him for quite a bit last season, so it's not any different in many respects.
The Bulls entered the season a mysterious bunch. The roster was strong, but roles would have to be altered. Jordan was coming off a game season after ending his fling with baseball. Power forward was manned by a collective shrug. Rodman the basketball player was uniquely engineered for the job -- how many Hall of Famers get there through an outright refusal to shoot? Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, loved for assembling the NBA's greatest team and loathed for dismantling it, harbored just enough non-mainstream views to make him the ideal candidate to welcome Rodman.
For instance: Krause once told me players should be measured only to the top of the shoulder; he believed the neck and the head were not functional inches and were thereby irrelevant -- hence his affection for Elton Brand, a man unencumbered by a superfluous neck and Krause's choice as the No. What would have happened had Rodman stayed in San Antonio or been relegated to another basketball outpost?
Despite his talent, he was inching closer and closer to becoming a permanent sideshow. It's not inconceivable that without Jackson's calm and Jordan's obsessive competitiveness, Rodman's career could have devolved into a series of signings and releases by teams willing to take a chance but not make a commitment. The Bulls refocused Rodman, brought him closer to the guy he was early in his career in Detroit, when he famously responded to a question about his background by saying, "I'm nobody from nowhere.
Jordan was strong enough on the court to channel Rodman's energies. He might have been the only one, at that moment in time, strong enough to do this. The Bulls brought out Rodman's genius and allowed him to hold it up for the world to see. They made him. Somewhere else, maybe anywhere else, might have unmade him. He was living in a Residence Inn adjacent to the Bulls' complex, sharing a "loft suite" with teammate Jack Haley. I would like to say Dennis and I were tidying up some of the book's ragged edges -- or fine-tuning , maybe -- but that book was intended to be ragged and loosely tuned, as a reflection of Rodman's uniquely random path to fame.
We were talking in a hallway of the Berto Center training facility when Rodman said he needed to go lift. The day's obligations were over, and the place felt empty except for a few muffled conversations down the hall. I stopped when we got to the weight room -- I'm sure I was already at least yards beyond the boundaries specified by my credential -- but Rodman waved me through with a look that said his imprimatur was an all-access passport. There was no one else around, so why not?
I wasn't there as a journalist, really, and the place seemed empty. Why couldn't I be the preferred non-member for a change?
Still, when your professional life is defined in many ways by the places you can and cannot go, an infraction like this one feels egregious. The room was L-shaped, as I remember, the flooring bloodred, and my attention was drawn to human movement coming from my left, the long leg of the L: a person on a bench. Great -- I'm busted. A head turned toward me. Our eyes met.
Be cool. Be calm. Me, Dennis, Michael. Nothing big, really. Just us three. Just us three dudes. Just us three dudes hanging out at the gym. I mumbled something to Dennis about how I should probably be going. Michael's eyes remained fixed on me, and I could feel the heat of a thousand suns bloom in my face. Dennis waved off my common-man concerns -- Michael's cool , the wave suggested -- and asked me to spot him.
When Dennis finished his set, I sensed a presence behind me. I turned. My mind registered his arrival with the brain-stem buzz reserved for the moment high school kids at a kegger see the cops. How did he know? Did my new friend Michael rat me out? Phil wasn't there to lift. He was there to expel. The look he gave me was mostly pity -- Who do you think you're kidding? I responded with a look I thought he might appreciate, one that said this was all Dennis' idea.
I might have even pointed a finger at Dennis, shielded by my body, like a hostage indicating his kidnapper. It definitely was. I said goodbye to Dennis, who was laughing by this point. I had to walk past Phil on my way out, and he stood his ground, looking through me to Dennis with a bemused look on his face. I knew that look, had actually employed it myself, and I knew there was more of that -- more of Dennis' quirkiness and volatility and, yes, charm -- awaiting Phil, and Michael, and the Bulls, and Chicago, and pretty much everyone else in the world.
I muttered an ineffective, and probably unnecessary, apology, and as Phil turned toward me I swear I detected something approaching kinship in his eyes.
Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Ferraris, nail salons, and armed guards: Two weeks with Dennis Rodman in the mids. NBA experts: Which early-season surprises are here to stay? With a cigar in-hand along with a red lighter, the Chicago Bulls star donned a collection of beaded-bracelets and a chunky silver watch on his wrist. A spectacular head of short neon orange hair made sure he stood out from the crowd, while his signature lip and nose piercings were in place.
Jaw-dropping: A spectacular head of short neon orange hair made sure he stood out from the crowd, while his signature lip and nose piercings were in place. Groovy: Dennis modelled a pair of funky leopard-print joggers, which he paired with green socks and sticker-enhanced black Crocs. The New Jersey-born star donned a full face of makeup, complete with shimmering gold eyeshadow, eyeliner and pencilled eyebrows.
Dennis completed his look by framing his face with a pair of transparent, oversized glasses featuring 12 orange dots. The defensive player flashed a bottle of ManTFup's tablets to the cameras as he posed on the red-carpet alongside Dynamism Labs CEO Leonard Novelli who looked worlds away from Dennis in a casual white shirt and jeans.
At another point, the friend of Kim Jong-un sat down at a dinner table and inspected a black T-shirt, while a reporter held a microphone to his face.
Dennis recently signed up to star in VH1's reboot of The Surreal Life, where he will live in a mansion and take part in challenges for the entertainment of home viewers.
The show is said to be, 'reimagined for new audiences 15 years later as the brand continues to harness its extensive library of IP.
The defensive player left flashed a bottle of ManTFup's tablets to the cameras as he posed on the red-carpet alongside a fan right who he had signed an autograph for.
The iconic series notorious for legendary 'celeb-reality,' will return with a new cast who come together, 'for a wild, over the top journey that pushes them to reveal different sides of themselves in surprising ways,' according to the description. Edgy: At another point, the friend of Kim Jong-un sat down at a dinner table and inspected a black T-shirt, while a reporter held a microphone to his face.
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