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How good was Dennis Rodman defensively?

One of the best ever? May be the best ever?

How does he compare with likes of Pippen, Olajuwon, Mutombo, Russell, Big Ben, Tim Duncan et al.?

one of the best.

Peak Draymond but a fair bit better. Top 5 all time for me, and I give him an edge over Pippen. He would be unquestionably the best defensive player today as long as he found a way to not foul out every game. Durant never scored on him. That tells you how good he was.

LeBron never scored on him.
That tells you how good he was.

He successfully defended against and beat Magic, Jordan, Bird, Malone, and Shaq in playoff series.

Purely defensive?
the best

When you could defend MJ and Shaq you are the best.

Last 2 seasons in Detroit (142 games, not a small sample size) he averages 6.2 rebounds... offensively

I don't consider him to be the greatest defender of all time but I think he may be the greatest hustle/dirty work player of all time. Every team could use someone like Rodman.

Overrated and a big part of his "defense" was him flopping to the ground at every opportunity.

When he was in SA and not on beloved popular teams in bigger media markets in Detroit and Chicago where the refs moreso took their side.....the calls didn't go his way.

David Robinson should've laid him out cold for his shambolic display vs Houston in the 1995 WCF.

To his credit he is one of the top 2 or 3 defensive rebounders ever.

FuShengTHEGreat wrote:Overrated and a big part of his "defense" was him flopping to the ground at every opportunity.

When he was in SA and not on beloved popular teams in bigger media markets in Detroit and Chicago where the refs moreso took their side.....the calls didn't go his way.

David Robinson should've laid him out cold for his shambolic display vs Houston in the 1995 WCF.

To his credit he is one of the top 2 or 3 defensive rebounders ever.

... and the best offensive rebounder

take 11rebs is not so difficult if you take 10 def rebounds as Westbrook... take 5.6 off reb for 8 consecutive seasons is a different story (and more team possessions)

Better than Trae Young for sure. Pippen gets best wing defender imho. Rodman was so good at defense though and all he cared about was that and grabbing boards. Wallace was such a beast though, he was one guy who could change a series on just the defensive end.

The Detroit-era Rodman was a legit top 5 all time defender. Once he went to San Antonio (and later with the Bulls) I think his defense declined a bit as he began to chase rebounds. He was still quite good, but no longer in the all-time elite tier.

If you are talking being an elite defender AND being versatile, he's up there with anyone.
Only guys since who could compare would be Lebron and Giannis, and I think he beats both of them.

The crazy thing about Rodman is he was a very different type of elite defender at different points in his career. I think he was at his best his 1st 5 years in Detroit and definitely in the all time great conversation based on those years. After those years his rebounding blew up but his overall defense fell off.

NZB2323 wrote:He successfully defended against and beat Magic, Jordan, Bird, Malone, and Shaq in playoff series.

This is it. If you did not know who was going to be the offensive player, the era or the system and you had to pick one guy to defend that player, picking Rodman is the best choice IMO.

Oscar9992 wrote:

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Crazy I forgot about that with Shaq. Especially since Shaq made almost every big man of the era almost without fail look like a willow tree.

He shut down Eric Andre pretty well

As a Piston, his defense was among the greatest ever, among non-centers.

When you successfully guarded and beat MJ, Malone, Kemp and Shaq, then you are the best ever. He had innate strength and unexplainable agility. His legs flew above his head on some jumps for rebounds...something only gymnasts or ballet dancers could do.