Former NBA journeyman and number 1 pick of the 1996 draft, Joe Smith, recently spoke about his experience facing the likes of Dennis Rodman and the Chicago Bulls during his initial playing years. Talking about his first game in particular, Smith claimed that Rodman decided to try and get under his skin.
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While the then-21-year-old had heard stories about the Worm’s antics to get under the opposition’s skin, he was under the impression that Rodman would leave him alone, according to Smith’s interview with Vlad TV.
However, that did not happen, and Rodman decided to smack Joe Smith “on the b**t” each time he did anything during the game. Smith claimed that it was in his 2nd year that he faced the Bulls at their full strength for the first time in his career.
“I was having a good game, so I scored, make a move (to) score and as I’m going back down-court he comes back down and smacks me on the bu*t. He is like ’Good move, young fella’. I am like, ‘okay, I got props from Dennis Rodman, I am like, cool. So then I got a rebound, and he will do it again. He just started doing it for random occasions now,” Smith revealed, claiming that he was initially happy after he received what he thought was a genuine compliment.
However, Rodman decided to do the same thing throughout the game, each time Smith was involved in anything positive. “So I am like, ‘what is wrong with this guy, why he keeps smacking me on my b**t, I am not even on his team. So we are goiong up and down all game long, I score, he smack me on my b**t, I get a rebound, he smack me on my b**t, I was like, ‘so this is what they mean, when they say Dennis Rodman do things to get under your skin,” he said.
Still, Smith had a good game, and was not concerned with Rodman’s antics. He claimed that while he realized Rodman was simply trying to make him nervous, he did not say anything in response.
“It was the amount of times he did it. Dennis, we all know kind of the stories that you hear about Dennis Rodman and how he likes to kind of get under your skin and agitate you a little bit but I was just a young kid coming into this league, so I hear the stories but I didn’t think he would bother me with it. I think it was my second year in the league,” he said.
Smith’s nonchalant response meant that Rodman let go of the habit, and did not walk around smacking the youngster on his b**t the next time the two teams faced each other. “But I was young, I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t say anything, but I guess he realized it didn’t bother me much, so he he didn’t bother me with it the next time we played,” he said.
Of course, some might argue that ignoring Rodman’s actions and simply getting on with the game was the best response that he could have come up with, as well.
Dennis Rodman tried to get under James Worthy’s skin with similar antics
Joe Smith will be delighted to know that the young him was not the only played whose “b**t” was squeezed in a similar fashion by Dennis Rodman. LA Lakers legend James Worthy also talked about how the Worm would try and rattle him before games.
Referring to Rodman as a beast, Worthy claimed that the Bulls legend had a range of antics to intimidate opponents before matches. “He had the psychological games to get in your head. Before the game, you’d give him a dap. He squeezed my a** a little too… It wasn’t like, ‘Let’s go’… So now you’re thinking. You running down the court thinking about this motherf**ker, while he getting every f**king offensive rebound there is,” Worthy said.
The fact that the frankly crazy tactic worked on James Worthy is bound to have given Rodman the motivation to try it out on others. That list, unfortunately also included a young Joe Smith, when he faced the Bulls for the first time in his career.
