Long Before Larry Johnson’s Statement, Pistons Legend Knew Only of Dennis Rodman’s Legendary Sister

Dennis Rodman established himself as one of the most dominant rebounders in the league by the third year of his NBA career. Rodman averaged 15.9 rebounds during the last 10 years of his career and won the rebounding title on seven straight occasions. With Rodman often dubbed as the NBA’s greatest rebounder, one would naturally assume that he was the best rebounder in his family, right? A few fellow Pistons legends shut this assumption down.

Larry Johnson recently appeared on Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes’ “All The Smoke” podcast. The panel members brought up The Worm’s name at one point in the live episode. But instead of talking about the five-time champ, Johnson diverted from the topic. He shed light on Dennis’ sister – Debra Rodman – and claimed that she was the best rebounder in the Rodman family.

“He have a sister named Debra Rodman, she’s the best rebounder in they family… She look like him, she built like him… She was a beast,” Larry heaped praises.

 

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Johnson isn’t the only one to make such bold claims. Joe Dumars, who played seven seasons alongside Dennis, also spoke about Debra’s greatness. By referring to Dennis as “Debra’s little brother”, Dumars implied that the elder sibling was better among the two.

“I knew her from way back in college and I knew that was her little brother. So that’s how I knew Dennis Rodman – Debra’s little brother,” Dumars said in a 2011 interview.

Debra did have a solid career, totaling 1,200 rebounds during her college career. But Johnson and Dumars are seemingly exaggerating her greatness, considering how dominant her younger brother was. The reason being that Dennis started his career late, with no fanfare.

Everyone knew Debra before Dennis because the latter began playing quite late—at age 22. By this time, his elder sister had already established herself as one of the greatest in the Louisiana Tech program.

“Dennis the Menace” took everyone by surprise and made a name for himself when he joined the league at age 25.

Rodman had an instant impact on the Pistons

It didn’t take long for Joe Dumars to realize that Dennis Rodman was equally or more special than Debra Rodman. During the 1985-1986 season, the 6-foot 7-inch forward wasted no time in showcasing his defensive prowess and rebounding abilities.

Hence, his teammates soon learned how impactful he could be for the Pistons. Dennis Rodman brought about this change in his teammate’s mentality by doing all the dirty work on the court. Dumars said,

“Dennis did stuff on the court that nobody else could do and wanted to do. Dennis was diving over chairs and sliding all over the floor and running balls down – the guy was truly just incredible.”

Dumars was spot-on when predicting that Rodman was going to help win ball games. His offensive game was restricted to putback dunks and layups. However, by recording defensive ratings of 101.6 and 101.4, Rodman played a huge role in helping the Pistons side win the NBA Championship in both 1989 and 1990.