NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman accuses Gregg Popovich of bad-mouthing him during the former’s time with the Spurs. The Worm had a controversial stint with the San Antonio team.
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Dennis Rodman signing with the Spurs resulted in a failed marriage between the two parties. The Worm showed us the first signs of his rebellious nature and unconventional behavior. Despite putting up mammoth numbers in the rebounding column, he had to bear the brunt for their losses.
In his two seasons with the Spurs, The Worm led the league in rebounds and had multiple All-NBA Defensive Team selections. However, he didn’t share good relations with the front office, especially Gregg Popovich. At the time, Pop was the GM, with Bob Hill being the head coach.
Rodman was suspended multiple times during his tenure with the Spurs for clashing with the management. The former Pistons player wasn’t on good terms with Popovich, with the latter blaming him for their ouster in the 1995 conference finals against Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets.
In his book Bad As I Wanna Be, Rodman addressed how Popovich wanted to make him a good little boy and when things went south, he started bad-mouthing him.
Dennis Rodman gives an in-depth account of his relations with Gregg Popovich.
Rodman’s two seasons in San Antonio can be best described as controversial. The All-Star forward averaged an incredible 17.1 RPG in the two years he played with the Spurs. However, he was more in the news for his off-court antics over his on-court performances.
The Worm had developed the image of an outcast, getting into trouble more than often. Rodman had soured his relations with GM Pop and head coach Hill. The Spurs forward had to bear a lot of the brunt for 95 conference loss against the Rockets. Rodman was accused of not double-teaming against Hakeem.
However, in his book Rodman gave a detailed account of what went wrong in San Antonio.
“The biggest problem in San Antonio was Gregg Popovich, the general manager. He wanted to be the coach and the general manager. He stood around and held Bob Hill’s (then the coach of the Spurs) hand every day, saying, “Okay, you’ve got to do this now. It’s time for you to listen to me.” If Hill didn’t do it, Popovich would jump his a**, and so Hill would turn around and jump somebody else’s a**. Sh*t flows downhill, and it seemed like I was always at the bottom.
Other than the playoffs I didn’t have much of a problem with Bob Hill. He was being used as much as I was. Popovich wanted to be the guy who tamed Dennis Rodman, and he tried to use Hill to do his dirty work. That was Popovich’s big challenge. Mr. Military was going to make me a good little boy, a good soldier. He lost sight of everything else, and then when he decided he couldn’t do anything with me, he badmouthed me and gave me away for next to nothing. Then he pretended it was good for the team”.
The Spurs would lose the series in six games, with Rodman blaming David Robinson for freezing during big moments of the game. The following season, Rodman was traded to the Chicago Bulls.
There is no denying that Rodman was a complex character to understand, and it took a Zen Master like Phil Jackson to capitalize on his strengths.
