LivingLegend wrote:Baseline Runner wrote:LivingLegend wrote:
Thats insane. I wold have figured he would have gotten 12-14ppg at least a few times just by all of the putbacks.
That was what I never understood about guys like Rodman and Wallace is how they did not develop some inside game to average at least 12 points a game, especially with most of those coming from garbage points.
Here is what I know--if Tristan Thompson can average 10+ PPG multiple times then Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman should have been able to lol
Rodman was putrid offensively, he was that bad (when he was younger he spent all of his time in the weight room instead of the gym). In a way I think it made him a better offensive rebounder because he focused a lot of his effort in securing the rebound instead of thinking about scoring or putting a tip back after he got it like a lot of guys do. Whereas a lot of guys would crash the boards going towards the basket to put them in a better position to scorer, Rodman could often be seen going in the opposite direction, tapping the ball to himself away from defenders to secure the rebound. He made an art form of rebounding and he said that himself that he put all of his energy, concentration and thoughts when he was with the game on just two things defense and rebounding. He knew his strenghts and weaknesses and focused all of his efforts on being the best in the world at his strengths while completely ignoring his weaknesses. In economics they call that the division of labor
Interestingly both Pistons Championships teams were a collection of these types of players. Hamilton, Billups, the two Wallaces, Prince and the Bad Boy Pistons had Dumars and Thomas, neither of whom were big time scorers, and a bunch of defensive big men.
The league is so offensive oriented right now and three point shooting has become so dominant that I'm not sure we will ever see a championship contending heavy defensive team like that again.