Dennis Rodman Greatest Athlete Phil Jackson Has Coached?

[LLcoleJ]

^^ yup

[Heat3]

If the coach can't motivate his players (no matter how good they are) then the coach isn't doing his job. What else is PJ supposed to do? Might as well let Kobe call the plays and go back to Montana on his bike.

This is why sometimes coaches get fired because the players no longer listen to them lol

[BlackMamba]

i agree, as an athlete rodman is at the top of the nba.

[LLcoleJ]

If the coach can't motivate his players (no matter how good they are) then the coach isn't doing his job. What else is PJ supposed to do? Might as well let Kobe call the plays and go back to Montana on his bike.

Phil most certainly does and say things to motivate his players all the time, including Kobe. This however, is a little different and there is no connection. He was giving a speech at his alma matler where they gave him an honary phd. He mentioned many things about his life in basketball and Rodman was just one of them.

Kobe would probably agree as many others that Rodman is a superior athelte and mentioning as such means little. Dude was an animal.

Do you really think Kobe is going to hear this and say.. "oh yeah, well thats it, I am going to train for 8 hours a day instead of 6 just to show Phil?" no, thats silly. Mentioning Rodman as a top athelete ( in which he was) does not take away anything from Kobe as the leader of the lakers.

The hate and or 'connections' some of you guys draw is funny.

This is why sometimes coaches get fired because the players no longer listen to them lol

or they go back to the front office ( again) Zing!

[Citris]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/ ... &year=1994


look at those rebound numbers!

[5DOM]

this is more impressive.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/ ... &year=1992

thirty nine 20+ rebounds games.
sixty six 15+ rebounds games.

[CzBoobie]

Look for Kobe to break Rodman's rebound rate record next season!

[Kabookalu]

Bad Boy Rodman>>>Bulls Rodman

[hype_2004]

Have you ever seen his thighs... exactly like a gazelle running so fluid beating his man up and down the floor every time. If you think this guy wasnt one of the best athletes to play the game, then try playing 42mins every game while defending players 3-6 inches taller, 25-even 100 pounds heavier, dive for EVERY lose ball and while on the bench be on the threadmill. Thats a freakish athlete. No wonder why a lot of the freakish athletes in the NBA are always being compared to him but there will only be one WORM!

[mojomarc]

Shaq was an incredible athlete in his prime. He was great not just because he was huge, but because he was also unbelievably quick and agile. Go look at that alley-oop he pulled down in the dying moments against Portland -- for a 7-foot, 350 pound man to lift himself off the floor, cup an alleyoop thrown behind him at the top of the square and bring it down with one hand almost defies description. It only looks easy because plays like that were so commonplace for him. To bad he neglected his fitness later in his career, because you might not see another player like him for 30 or 40 years.

That said, I don't think it's far-fetched at all to say that Rodman could be the best athlete Jackson ever coached. Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Shaq -- not a bad group to pick from, especially considering you could probably squeeze Bryant in there, too.

The OP is dead on -- Rodman might not have been the greatest leaper, but he had just about everything else you'd want in an athlete -- stamina, timing, quickness, plus he was such a relentless worker. I think I've read somewhere that he could have been a world-class 400 sprinter if he'd had the training. I don't know how you gauge something like that, but he certainly had the gait for it.

Got a youtube link?

It kills me to post this, but: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSGh5MKTqfw

[Frosty]

I was close to the Bulls bench one time and Rodman was standing next to Pippen and these guys didn't look like they had an ounce of fat on them. Rodman was absolutely ripped.

[mojomarc]

I went down to Huntington Beach for a rugby tournament one year when Rodman was playing for, IIIRC, the Orange County Crush, and he came into the bar where we were drinking with two gals who appeared to be porn stars. I don't think either of them had an ounce of fat on them, either.

[garrick]

it's just too bad Rodman had almost no offensive moves besides layups and putbacks.