Photo: Pizza Hut
Before Dennis Rodman joined the Chicago Bulls and became a valuable piece to their second three-peat, Rodman played for the San Antonio Spurs in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 NBA seasons wherein he was paired with one of the best centers of all-time, David Robinson.
Throughout Rodman’s playing days, he was able to accomplish tremendous success because of his unrivaled rebounding and hard-nosed defense. But being one of the most misunderstood personalities of his time, his entire career was certainly filled with bizarre controversies and complex stories.
Former Spurs teammate David Robinson experienced Rodman’s unique personality first-hand during his two-year stint with San Antonio. In an interview on Bulls Talk Podcast, Robinson described Rodman’s personality and talked about the relationship they had together.
“Dennis is a complicated guy. I think because of his background, he doesn’t always know how to express himself.
He’s an easy guy to like because he has a good heart. He wants to play hard – he wants to do the right things, but as far as a team goes, he was so destructive to a team perspective. There was nothing you could do to make him get out of his comfort zone.”
Different from his Pistons and Bulls tenures where Rodman won multiple championships, Rodman and the Spurs didn’t make enough noise in the playoffs. The Spurs had a first-round exit in their first year together and went as far as the Western Conference Finals in the following year.
Rodman averaged 5.6 points and 17.1 rebounds per game on 55.1% shooting in the regular season. Whereas, he averaged 8.8 points and 15.0 rebounds per game on 53.3% from the field in the playoffs. Rodman’s career with the Spurs was cut short after he was sent to the Chicago Bulls for Will Perdue in October of 1995.
