Before he became a Chicago Bulls legend, Dennis Rodman was a fiery young star for the Detroit Pistons. He won two championships with the franchise, with them dethroning the legendary 1980s Boston Celtics along the way.
In 1987, after the Celtics beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, Dennis Rodman called Larry Bird overrated and said it was because he was white. In a recent interview with DJ Vlad though, he walked back that take.
“No like I just said, I was green then,” Rodman said. “I was just saying anything man, just because. I was frustrated because guess why, I got my a** whooped. That’s probably why I said something then. Not because I was angry or hatred came with it, it just came out just like that.
“And because I really wasn’t paying attention to the whole league, I was just paying attention to my team. Stuff like that. And I was just wondering why this guy’s so good or whatever you call it, great. I think I would have said the same thing about if he was black.
“I would have said something in a different direction, but it so happened to be Larry Bird, so… And I apologized for that many, many times over. That’s history. Like, you know, move on.”
(starts at 1:27 minutes)
It was wild to call Larry Bird overrated in 1987, considering that he had won two championships, two Finals MVPs, and three MVPs in three years from 1984 to 1986. To top it off, Rodman said it after Bird dropped 27.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game in those Conference Finals against the Pistons. Most people knew he was wrong in that situation.
What Exactly Did Dennis Rodman Say?
There was massive uproar over Rodman’s comments back in the day, and it’s important to know what exactly he said during that time. Here’s a look via SI:
“Larry Bird is overrated in a lot of areas. I don’t think he’s the greatest player. He’s way overrated. Why does he get so much publicity? Because he’s white. You never hear about a black player being the greatest.”
He had a lot more to say about Bird recently too. In any case, a lot of time has passed since then and it’s a good thing that Rodman acknowledges that his take was quite wrong. A conversation about racial bias is important, but it’s wild to say that Bird was overrated and that it was because of his skin color.
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