Dennis Rodman was a member of the ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons, who devised the infamous “Jordan Rules.” During a recent appearance on Undeniable with Joe Buck, Rodman spoke about what it was like to play against Michael Jordan.
Dennis Rodman: “It was actually cool, man because it gave us the opportunity to work harder. Harder because we knew these guys were coming. Once we started playing them and once we got in the playoffs with these guys, but it’s like, it’s hard to keep that guy (Jordan) under 30 points. It was hard, man. He was that good, man.”
Buck then brought up the “Jordan Rules” and Rodman explained what their plan was when guarding Jordan.
Dennis Rodman: “This is what Chuck (Daly) would say, ‘If Michael goes to the basket, put his a** on the ground.’ That’s what he said… You gotta hit him, Every time he went to the basket, we hit him and stuff like that. But like I say, I give that guy a lot of credit, man. These players today, they don’t really respect how tough it was to play in that era.”
Rodman explained just how rough it would get on the court in those days.
Dennis Rodman: “You know how tough it is when you have to go to the basket, get your teeth knocked out. Go to the basket, get your head knocked off. Go to the basket and be on the ground and stuff like that and all of a sudden nobody want to pick you up. They don’t understand that stuff how we played.”
Rodman stated that Jordan’s ability to dominate in that era is why he considers him the greatest.
Dennis Rodman: “That’s why I started calling Michael the greatest basketball player ever because he got his a** handed to him a lot. We hit him, man.”
Pistons head coach Chuck Daly and his assistants had reportedly devised the “Jordan Rules” after the Chicago Bulls icon scored 59 points against them in a game in April 1988. The Pistons used the tactic to great effect, knocking Jordan and the Bulls out of the playoffs in 1988, 1989, and 1990.
In order to cope better with the Pistons’ physicality, Jordan bulked up in the offseason before the 1990-91 campaign. He went from 200 pounds to 215 and it certainly helped.
Jordan and the Bulls met the Pistons in the playoffs for the fourth straight year in 1991 but this time, Chicago swept Detroit to advance to the NBA Finals. Jordan averaged 29.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game in that series.
Once that Pistons hurdle was cleared, there was no stopping Jordan and the Bulls. They three-peated twice, from 1991 to 1993 and then from 1996 to 1998. That historic run led to Jordan being regarded as the greatest of all time. Rodman would end up being his teammate during the second three-peat and the two along with Scottie Pippen helped the Bulls dominate the league.
Former Pistons Coach Shared Their Four-Step Defensive Strategy Against Michael Jordan
While Rodman there spoke about hitting Jordan when he got to the basket, there was more to Detroit’s gameplan than just that. Former Pistons assistant coach Brendan Malone once explained the four steps to stopping Jordan using the “Jordan Rules.”
The first was that when Jordan was on the wing, they pushed him to the elbow and did not allow him to drive baseline. The second was when Jordan was on top, they would influence him to his left. The third involved trapping him from the top if he got the ball in the low post. The fourth and final one, of course, was to knock Jordan to the ground when he got in the paint.
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