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Basketball Fan Franchise Player
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Posts: 24763
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:13 pm Post subject: Shaq calls Dennis Rodman the worst teammate he ever had |
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https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/09/14/shaq-calls-dennis-rodman-the-worst-teammate-he-ever-had/
Quote: | Shaq calls Dennis Rodman the worst teammate he ever had
Dennis Rodman is a Hall of Fame player. He is a five-time NBA champion, arguably the greatest rebounder the game has ever seen, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.
Rodman is also the worst teammate Shaquille O’Neal ever had.
That’s what Shaq said on his The Big Podcast with Shaq, when asked about his worst teammate ever he didn’t hesitate to call out Rodman (hat tip CBS Sports).
“Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman,” O’Neal said. “He was a great player, but he made it hard. Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants. So we had to be there an hour before the game. He’d come in fifteen minutes before the game eating chicken and rice. While the coaches are talking, he would jump in the shower. Cold shower. Come and give you 15-20 rebounds.”
That tracks.
And Shaq and Rodman were only teammates for one season, with the Lakers in 1998-99.
It’s pretty easy to see Rodman as a crucial player on the court and a disruptive force off it. Rodman had his best success on teams with strong coaches and locker room leaders — Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan in Chicago, Chuck Daly and Isiah Thomas in Detroit — that could keep him relatively in check. Keep him focused on the task at hand, at least when it mattered (the rest of the time, well…).
Plenty of Rodman teammates likely would back Shaq up. Other former Rodman teammates will look at the rings on their fingers and know those wouldn’t be there without him. |
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anth2000 Franchise Player
Joined: 16 Apr 2001 Posts: 12193 Location: Pasadena, CA
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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Rodman never wanted to be here, in my opinion. He played only 23 games for the Lakers after playing 80 the year before with the Bulls and winning the three peat. I think he was done mentally. After the Lakers debacle, he played only 12 games with the Mavs and that was the end of his career.
Great player, a huge headcase for sure. |
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activeverb Retired Number
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 37470
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
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activeverb Retired Number
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 37470
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
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TDRock Retired Number
Joined: 27 May 2010 Posts: 49180 Location: LA to the Bay
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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Wow that's shocking.
Lol |
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hydrohead Star Player
Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 4112 Location: Space City
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
IIRC, he was cut after Rambis threw him out of practice. Think he came in with bare feet and his shoes in hand. _________________ Darvin |
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MJST Retired Number
Joined: 06 Jul 2014 Posts: 26386
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
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And the
N...W....O!!!!! _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk |
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Dr. Laker Franchise Player
Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 17108
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
The other issue was money. IIRC, Rodman officially retired when his contract ended, instead of just becoming a free agent. When he came back, there were no Bird Rights, so no sign-and-trade options - he could only sign for the minimum with most contenders, as they'd used their cap space and exceptions. As I understand it, his agent tried to get the Lakers to circumvent the cap by giving him a house in Malibu off the books and other stuff, but Dr. Buss played it straight. Rodman was having $$$ issues and wasn't motivated playing for 10% of his previous salary. _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns". |
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activeverb Retired Number
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 37470
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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hydrohead wrote: | activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
IIRC, he was cut after Rambis threw him out of practice. Think he came in with bare feet and his shoes in hand. |
Yeah, that happened too. He refused to play in the 4th quarter of a game, and then showed up late the next day to practice, and said he had personal issues to deal with. He missed four games, and went to gamble in Las Vegas. It was one thing after another. |
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lakersken80 Retired Number
Joined: 12 Aug 2009 Posts: 38789
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 8:01 am Post subject: |
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MJST wrote: | activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
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And the
N...W....O!!!!! |
Yes, he cared more about wrasslin' than playing basketball at that point. |
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zambia Star Player
Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 1191
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 8:59 am Post subject: |
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activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
Rodman was not stat padding, he would always hit the boards. He was doing Buss a favor, he really didn’t really want to play. Remember when Magic agreed to coach, he was doing Buss a favor.
Stat padding is what the Utah Jazz stats personnel did for John Stockton. |
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activeverb Retired Number
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 37470
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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zambia wrote: |
Rodman was not stat padding, he would always hit the boards. He was doing Buss a favor, he really didn’t really want to play. Remember when Magic agreed to coach, he was doing Buss a favor. |
I'll just leave it at: Your memories/perceptions are dramatically different than mine. |
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epic_ Franchise Player
Joined: 23 Jan 2020 Posts: 11310
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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Still makes IT tear up thinking about how much Dennis changed. _________________ 💜💛 🏆 👀 🍖 #18!!! |
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zambia Star Player
Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 1191
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:11 pm Post subject: |
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activeverb wrote: | zambia wrote: |
Rodman was not stat padding, he would always hit the boards. He was doing Buss a favor, he really didn’t really want to play. Remember when Magic agreed to coach, he was doing Buss a favor. |
I'll just leave it at: Your memories/perceptions are dramatically different than mine. |
Very true. |
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Steve007 Franchise Player
Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 13227
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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Another reason Rodman got cut is the team brought him in to guard Karl Malone. Malone killed the Lakers in the 97 and 98 playoffs and had a tougher time when he played the Bulls.
In a late season game with Rodman guarding him much of the time, Malone shot 12-12 and made 6 of 8 free throws. I don’t know if this was a factor but in the last 2 games of the 98 Finals, Malone was finally starting to dominate against him.
If he couldn’t slow down Malone even just a little bit, then he wasn’t going to help the team that much in the playoffs. At the time getting by Utah was the biggest concern.
Last edited by Steve007 on Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Steve007 Franchise Player
Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 13227
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately Tim Duncan had his best series against the Lakers that year. The front court of Duncan/Robinson outplayed Shaq and JR Reid. I doubt Rodman would have been so ineffective, but that Laker team still wasn’t playing like a championship team, especially not after the Glen Rice trade (the other big disappointment of that season). |
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Steve007 Franchise Player
Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 13227
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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anth2000 wrote: | Rodman never wanted to be here, in my opinion. He played only 23 games for the Lakers after playing 80 the year before with the Bulls and winning the three peat. I think he was done mentally. After the Lakers debacle, he played only 12 games with the Mavs and that was the end of his career.
Great player, a huge headcase for sure. |
He has said repeatedly that he couldn’t stand to be around Kobe and Shaq. I was watching something once and he said guys would be cussing at each other in the locker room. When he talked about the Pistons, he said the players were close.
Here’s one example:
Quote: | I said, ‘Jerry, I gotta take a break.’ One reason: Shaq and Kobe. I couldn’t deal with those [expletives]. I’m not going to lie to you: I couldn’t deal with them. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not used to this,’ right? I’m used to winning, but I can’t deal with these [expletives expletive-ing] every [expletive] game. Like, [expletive]. I mean, every, I’m like, [expletive], we’re winning, what? So I go and I say … ‘I’m so used to having calm and serenity and stuff like that.’”
Rodman said that Buss asked Rodman if he wanted to go somewhere, and he responded, “Yeah, I gotta get the [expletive] out of here.”
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Steve007 Franchise Player
Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 13227
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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hydrohead wrote: | activeverb wrote: | By the time he was a Laker, Rodman cared about nothing except rebounding and padding his stats.
I remember one game where an opponent missed a free throw. Shaq had the inside position for the rebound, but Rodman tried to steal it from him. Shaq ripped the ball away and glared at him. Rodman tossed up his hands and trotted down court.
He was cut by the Lakers soon after that. |
IIRC, he was cut after Rambis threw him out of practice. Think he came in with bare feet and his shoes in hand. |
He showed up late saying he was looking for shoes and socks. Just a ridiculous excuse to make.
I forgot he also married and divorced Carmen Electra that year. |
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