Dennis Rodman almost signed with the Miami Heat if not for Pat Riley.
Rodman undoubtedly had a decorated NBA career. After cementing himself as one of the Bad Boys in the famed late 80s Detroit Pistons group, and later as part of the Chicago Bulls alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, in 1999, he almost signed with the Heat, but Riley had other ideas.
“Pat Riley is too cool,” Rodman told 7Sports News in an interview earlier. “He is too cool for cool. You know, a lot of teams wanted me in 1999 because I still had some gas in the tank. Pat got too much pride. He has way too much pride. He said, ‘Oh Dennis is too much for us, we can’t handle him.'”
Rodman’s career trajectory after his time with the Bulls saw a downward spiral. Soon after his stint in Chicago, he teamed up with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to become a Los Angeles Laker, but his run was cut short by off-court issues and he played just 23 games.
And maybe Riley didn’t want to risk his Rodman and his bad boy reputation. The Heat were building their own brand and culture and perhaps he felt ‘The Worm’ wasn’t the right fit.
Despite The Reputation, Dennis Rodman Was Electric In The NBA
For all the personality damage that Rodman endured during his time in the NBA, he was still one of the more electric athletes to have played the sport.
And vouching for it was his former Pistons teammate, Isiah Thomas. “Best athlete I’ve ever seen, probably in the NBA,” he said on the All The Smoke podcast.
“Not the highest jumping but just the best athlete. I had never seen anybody who ran that fast and then quickly jump like that. So, my first time playing with him, literally, he gets the rebound, kick it to me on the outlet pass. Right? And, so, when I get on the outlet, now I’m dribbling to the middle of the floor to set the break. As I’m dribbling to the middle of the floor, now this dude just threw it to me, he was down there underneath the basket waving for it. I’m like, ‘How the hell did he get (there)’ So, of course, I kick it up. But adjusting to his speed was the first thing I had to do.”
And that was seen over the course of his career where he was the dominant rebounding presence in the NBA. He was good at what he did, and maybe if not for the wildness, Rodman may have been a notch more of a bonafide star in the league.
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