“Dennis Rodman Was The First Player Paid to Defend And Rebound”: Isiah Thomas Lavishes Praise on Former Teammate’s Athleticism

Dennis Rodman, a.k.a The Worm, is one of the most enigmatic players in NBA history. He captured the imagination of millions of basketball fans with skills other than scoring.

The story of Rodman’s rise to the top is among the best rags-to-riches stories in sports history. Dennis was 22 years old, working as a janitor before he first played college basketball. The most elite basketball prospects are usually already playing professionally by that age.

Rodman played 3 years of college basketball in an unheralded conference, with few scouts taking note. Drafted as a second-rounder by the Detroit Pistons, he was pretty much an unknown quantity at the time.

Isiah Thomas, however, saw things differently. The leader of the Bad Boy Pistons teams had unshakeable faith in his rookie forward despite his low profile.

Isiah Thomas describes the greatness of Dennis Rodman

Isiah Thomas was recently interviewed by Celtics rival and NBA colleague Cedric Maxwell. After talking about Ja Morant’s troubles, their attention shifted to a player with much wilder tendencies in Rodman.

Isiah spoke glowingly in terms of how he viewed Rodman from the start:

“The first time I met him, I had never seen an athlete like him. We had great athletes, but his athleticism was a little different. His speed was a little different.”

“The way he rebounded, the way he ran, the way he defended. And just his energy and passion and love for the game, it was just on another level.”

“They weren’t paying guys in the league for rebounding, and Rodman turned rebounding into a show. And he got paid for rebounding and defense.”

“Guys like him weren’t getting paid max contracts, they weren’t getting the dollars. The scorers were getting the dollars. Rodman was one of the first guys getting paid for rebounding and defense.”

What legacy did Rodman leave behind?

Despite regularly being a detriment to his teams’ offense, Rodman is undoubtedly a legend in his own right. A part of this relates to how his two primary skills – rebounding and defense were valued more in his heyday.

Rodman is the only player in league history who can claim to have successfully slowed down a GOAT guard in Michael Jordan, as well as the most dominant center ever in Shaquille O’Neal.

There’s no doubt that his legacy as perhaps the greatest rebounder and the greatest defender of all time will live on for a long time. Though basketball has changed at least 3 times since his retirement, he remains the only player capable of matching his feats.