Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan are two of the greatest basketball players to ever play. The two Chicago Bulls legends have made a combined earning of around $120,000,000 in their NBA career. A noteworthy amount. However, Rodman later emphasized how younger players should focus on their game. This was instead of earning big cheques from NBA franchises.
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Rodman comes from a humble background, and his family struggled to make ends meet during childhood. His father, a Vietnam war veteran, left the family shortly after his birth and settled in Vietnam. His single mother raised him. She would take up various odd jobs as he grew up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas. Just after passing high school, Rodman became an overnight janitor at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. For him, NBA was a way to reach stability in income, and basketball was a reignited interest after high school.
Dennis Rodman’s advice to the younger generation reflected much about his career in the NBA
In his autobiography, ‘I Should Be Dead By Now,’ Rodman gave his fans a closer insight into his life and times as a player in the NBA. The book features excerpts from a series of interviews, which also contains his advice to the younger generation of the NBA.
He was asked for his personal advice for the new players in the league, and he responded by saying:
“Long term, it’s about the game. Ten years down the road, nobody will give a shit how much money Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, or you made playing basketball. They’ll care about what we did for the game. Aside from that, realize you’re blessed to be a part of it and that you’re not just here to make some fat cat a lot of money.”
Whatever he had said indeed holds in every form and essence. To this date, people remember Jordan and Rodman for the legacy they left with the Bulls dynasty. It has been over two decades since the Bulls completed their second three-peat, one of the most historic moments in the NBA. Jordan, Rodman, and Pippen are viewed for their contributions to the game and incredible player legacies. Although they earned a decent amount of money from their contracts and endorsements, fans hardly consider the money a coefficient to value these players.
Rodman admitted his three years in Chicago Bulls were the best of his career
Dennis Rodman joined the Bulls in 1995 after things started falling out with the San Antonio Spurs. This was surprising because Rodman was one of the fiercest opponents to the Bulls in the late 1980s. An imminent member of the Detroit Pistons ‘Bad Boys,’ Rodman’s legacy with the Bulls is nothing less than astounding.
In the same autobiography mentioned above, Rodman wrote about his experience:
“Not just my career. The three years I was in Chicago were probably the most incredible three years that I’ve had as a human being. I don’t ever think I was loved as much as I was loved all over the place in Chicago—the city, the team. The love of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and all those guys, I was like, “I can’t believe this shit.” I mean the city of Chicago embraced me, gave me the opportunity to be myself and do what I do—give a rock-star performance on the court, give a rock-star performance off the court. I did everything in the book while I was playing with Chicago. They let me be myself—an independent, free, black motherf**ker. It was just unreal.”
Rodman won a three-peat with the Bulls and was as free as ever. He would arrive late for practices, go out partying one day before a game, and would do anything to rile up the fans and media. However, his incredible chemistry on the court with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, and other players on the Bulls’ roster makes it count. Rodman has revolutionized NBA in several ways than one would notice. Because of his influence, almost every player now dons the flashiest of tattoos and hairstyles on the court. The Worm was surely one of the greatest players in all forms in the NBA, a rather underrated and underappreciated gem, to be precise.
