Dennis Rodman was one of the more brilliant minds to play in the NBA, and for all his off-court shenanigans, he was one of the best rebounders that any team in the league would kill to have. And Isiah Thomas gave valuable insight into the forward’s astute understanding of the game.
Speaking on ‘All The Smoke,’ Thomas relived Rodman’s hilarious response when he was asked about adjusting to the Chicago Bulls’ famed triangle offense. “Dennis Rodman was a flat-out genius when it came to basketball. I remember when he went to Chicago, we said, ‘you’re gonna have a hard time learning the triangle offense,’ and he replied: ‘It’s a triangle.”
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Rodman’s job in the triangle offense was to collect the ball no matter what, and he did so even if it meant getting elbowed or cut. It was a pure masterclass on Phil Jackson and Bulls’ assistant coach Tex Winter’s part to come up with an offensive strategy that made the Bulls a deadly scoring unit, but it was the forward who gave the shooters multiple opportunities to score.
“That’s basically what the triangle’s all about,” in an earlier interview (via Uproxx). “Even when a play is broken down, we still form a triangle and all of a sudden you’ve got a good shot.”
So when he did call it a triangle while explaining it to Thomas, it was just his mind breaking down a play to its simplest form.
Dennis Rodman Explained The Art Of Rebounding In ‘The Last Dance’
When it comes to rebounding, no better player than Rodman could dissect plays and the movement of the ball. And the best part was that he made it look effortless.
In ‘The Last Dance,’ he broke down rebounding. “I’d just sit there and react, react,” Rodman said.
Dennis Rodman is recalling exactly how each player’s ball would spin and let me again say RECALLING, which doesn’t even highlight the initial fact that he KNEW the angles and spins of the balls like this in the first place good lord #TheLastDance 👏 @dennisrodman #genius pic.twitter.com/4v2SVocSKc
— Lauren Zima (@laurenzima) April 27, 2020
“I just practiced a lot about the angle of the ball and the trajectory of it. You got a Larry Bird, it’s gonna spin. You got a Magic, it’ll maybe spin. When Michael shoots over here, I position myself right there. Now it hit the rim, it’s boom. Click, go back this way. Boom, here, here. Click, go that way. Boom, that way. Click here, this way. So basically I just start learning how to put myself in a position to get the ball.”
Rodman led the NBA in rebounding from 1991-92 to 1997-98. His presence under the rim was pivotal in complementing Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
He may have been quite the persona off the hardwood, but he was a pesky rebounder on it, in every game.
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