NBA legend Scottie Pippen loved playing with Dennis Rodman on the Chicago Bulls after hating him when he played for the Detroit Pistons.
The Bulls acquired Rodman from the San Antonio Spurs in 1995.
“Dennis knows how to play his role well,” Pippen said in The Last Dance doc. “He has a great understanding of what it takes to win. He’s a huge reason for our success.”
Behind Pippen, Rodman and Michael Jordan, the Bulls won three straight championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Chicago beat the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals and the Utah Jazz in the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals.
“He studied the tendencies of his opponents and teammates, planting himself in perfect rebounding position even before guys got into a shooting mode,” Pippen wrote about Rodman in his book Unguarded. “Dennis possessed an unbelievable basketball IQ. He could have a tremendous impact on a game without scoring a single point. How many players can you say that about?”
One of the most gifted defenders and rebounders in NBA history, Rodman appeared in 199 games with the Bulls. He averaged 5.2 points and 15.3 rebounds and won three consecutive rebounding titles.
“As the days wore on, I was surprised at how reserved he was,” Pippen wrote in his book about Rodman. “There is Dennis Rodman the spectacle and Dennis Rodman the man and the two are very different. Dennis kept to himself most of the time in training camp, working on his conditioning and his craft. He was often the first player to arrive at the gym and the last to leave. I never saw anyone else learn the triangle as fast as he did. Learn in? He mastered it.”
The Bulls won three NBA titles before acquiring Rodman. However, Rodman said in “The Last Dance” doc that Chicago wouldn’t have won three more championships without him.
“You got the great Michael Jordan, the great Scottie Pippen, the great Phil Jackson, but if you take me away from this team, do they still win a championship? I don’t think so,” Rodman said. “I love Michael Jordan to death. I love Scottie Pippen, all these guys, but they really don’t do the things that I do. I’m the only guy who does all the dirty work, taking abuse from other players. I wanna go out there and get my nose broke. I wanna get cut. Something that’s gonna really just bring out the hurt, the pain. I wanna feel that.”
Pippen and Rodman are in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. They are both NBA icons.
Pippen averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.8 blocks during his NBA career with the Bulls, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. He won six championships and made seven All-Star teams, 10 All-Defensive teams and seven All-NBA teams.
Meanwhile, Rodman finished his career with averages of 7.3 points, 13.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks with the Pistons, Spurs, Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. He won five championships, seven rebounding titles and two Defensive Players of the Year Awards and made two All-Star teams, eight All-Defensive teams and two All-NBA teams.
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