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How Dennis Rodman helped the Chicago Bulls in their second three-peat
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Dennis Rodman was an accomplished and entertaining player, and many consider him the best rebounder of all time.
Rodman won five NBA championships. The first two with the Detroit Pistons. He was a key piece of the “Bad Boys” teams with Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, and Rick Mahorn. Those teams had the Chicago Bulls’ number, but Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the company eventually got over the hump and started their dynasty.
Years later, Rodman played a massive role in the Bulls’ second three-peat, with Jordan, Pippen, and head coach Phil Jackson leading the way.
The Bulls were a perfect fit for Rodman
According to John Paxson, who played against Rodman and was an assistant coach for the Bulls during the 1995-96 season, Jackson played a big part in the decision to trade Will Perdue for Rodman on October 2, 1995.
“It wasn’t cut and dry,” Paxson explained. “It was really put in Phil’s hands and whether or not he could coach Dennis. Phil took a day or two and really let it sink in, as that’s often how he made decisions. He came in and said he thought he could coach him.”
Horace Grant shouldered a portion of the scoring load on the Bulls’ teams that won the first three-peat from 1991 to 1993. Finding offense at power forward wasn’t a priority in 1995, as the Bulls had Toni Kukoc, but the loss against Grant and the Magic in the second round of the 1995 NBA Playoffs evidenced that the Bulls needed more rebounding and defense.
Rodman was off leading the league in rebounding for four straight years, and he helped the Bulls round out their roster. In an interview with GQ, Rodman described what made those Bulls’ teams so special.
“You got the greatest basketball player on the planet,” Rodman said of Jordan, “the second greatest in Scottie Pippen, and then you got the devil.”
Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman complemented each other on and off the court, helping the Bulls win three consecutive NBA championships from 1996 to 1998.
Pippen was a big contributor at both ends of the court, and the perfect co-star for Jordan, while Rodman excelled as a rebounder and defender. He even averaged a career-high in assists (3.1) in 1997.
Rodman’s role as an enforcer, not afraid of doing the dirty work, allowed Jordan and Pippen to focus on making plays that helped the Bulls become one of the most cohesive squads in the history of the NBA. That was also one of the main reasons they were so dominant and pretty much unsto
