Steven Adams says that he just stands around for the rebound and is ‘too stupid’ to try to rebound like Dennis Rodman.
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Dennis Rodman was undoubtedly one of the most captivating players to have ever stepped foot on NBA hardwood. He certainly wasn’t flashy with his on-court activities but made up for it with his flare and eccentricity off the court, doing everything from partying it up in Las Vegas to marrying himself while wearing a bridal dress.
Despite what Rodman indulged in in his personal life, when it came to producing for a championship contender, ‘The Worm’ was straight as an arrow. At least, that’s the way Michael Jordan described him after Dennis Rodman had gotten himself ejected one game and realized his mistake.
Rodman was a ‘do it all’ guy with specializations in rebounding and on-ball defense. When it comes to the former, the 5x champ studied the intricacies of it to a ‘T’.
During the ‘Last Dance’ docuseries, Dennis Rodman broke down just how he learnt to rebound for his teammates. He would make his teammates purposefully miss shot sin practices to learn how the ball spun off the rim or the backboard, leading to him knowing where to place himself for the rebound before anybody else.
Steven Adams on not rebounding like Dennis Rodman.
Steven Adams has established himself as an elite rebounding and defensive presence in the paint. The decision to trade for him in exchange for the ‘20 and 15’ Jonas Valanciunas now makes more sense than ever. Adams actually leads the league in offensive rebounds per game at 4.7, creating second chance points better for the Grizzlies.
When asked about his rebounding tactics, Adams didn’t have much to say as he compared what he doesn’t do to what Dennis Rodman did when he was in the league. The New Zealand native called himself ‘too stupid’ to try to figure out rebounds the way Rodman did.
Steven Adams on rebounding:
“You could go into the Dennis Rodman stuff. He had it down to a science, talking about the rotations of the ball and stuff. He’s wild, mate.“I’m too stupid for that, mate. I don’t have enough brain cells for that one, brother. I just stand there.”
— Drew Hill (@DrewHill_DM) March 27, 2022
Despite not doing much to snag rebounds, according to him, he’s averaging the highest rebounding mark of his career with exactly 10 a game. Perhaps if he were to go a bit crazy like Dennis Rodman, he would reach the Hall-of-Famer’s 15 rebound pace.
