Tex Winter’s son apparently didn’t think Dennis Rodman was Hall of Fame worthy and other reactions from around the web
I gave my take on Rodman’s Hall of Fame induction, but there’s plenty of coverage out there on Friday evenings festivities. Here’s a sampling of some of the highlights and lowlights.
Tom Matlack, Good Men Project:
"I always loved Dennis Rodman in a sick kind of way. I hated him on the Pistons. Hated him more on the Bulls. But I loved his style, his irreverence, his willingness to be his own man. In his speech last night at the Hall of Fame he got honest about being a father, a son, a husband. And how hard his life has been. And the men who saved him. It’s worth the ten minutes of your time."
"Rodman knew that no sane power forward would bother paying attention to him if he set a screen for a guard in a screen and roll attack, so he used his considerable speed to gum up the works for retreating defenses in transition. Dennis was the fastest guy on the court, always, so he would run in front of his teammate with the ball and block the line of vision or outright screen his man on the fast break. Rodman essentially acted as an offensive lineman on the fly while some speedster returned a kickoff for a touchdown, just gettin’ in the way. Sometimes legally. It must have been so annoying."
Arturo Galletti, Wages of Wins:
"I’ll leave you with one final thought: the greatest athlete Phil Jackson ever coached according to Phil? One Clue. He’s in the Photo."
"Dennis Rodman didn’t give an induction speech. He just bared his soul. One of a kind, one more time."
Steve Luhm, Salt Lake Tribune (Note: this column is really dumb, but I found this anecdote, which Luhm was disgusted by, to be thoroughly hilarious):
"At some point during a long-ago game against the Jazz at the Pontiac Silverdome, Rodman ran past the Utah bench, looked at coach Frank Layden and screamed, “Sit down, fat man.”I blamed the incident on the youthful enthusiasm of a young, unknown player who would probably be out of the league by the time the Jazz and Pistons played again.I was wrong."
"Later, Rodman thanked Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, his All-Star teammates with the Bulls.Things weren’t always peachy between those three, especially when you consider Rodman was probably the one player in NBA history whose defense frustrated Jordan, back when Rodman was with the Pistons.But they became close after Rodman joined the Bulls in free agency, a story that Rodman recounted Friday.“Phil Jackson asked me to come to (former Bulls GM) Jerry Krause’s house, and he said, ‘Dennis, we’d like you to come play but you gotta do one thing for me. Could you go in the kitchen and tell Scottie Pippen you‘re sorry?” Rodman said, drawing laughter. “I said, ‘You know what? OK, I’ll do that.”"
Mike Monroe, San Antonio Express-News:
"Given his history as a basketball non-conformist, there was reason for concern. After all, when Hall officials asked him to select a Hall of Famer to be his escort to the stage, he told them he wanted Eddie Vedder, front man of the rock group, Pearl Jam, whom he has followed on tour on numerous occasions.“I told them Eddie was a Hall of Famer — that he was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Rodman said before Friday’s ceremonies. “But then Eddie told me Pearl Jam’s not in the (Rock and Roll) Hall. How messed up is that?”"
Bill Plaschke, LA Times (Another horridly awful column, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw the comments from Tex Winter’s son on Rodman. I felt a little bad for Chris, who gave the most hopelessly awkward speech ever, but I found those comments on Rodman to be just flat out classless.):
"Seriously. What is Rodman doing there? And he’s entering with Tex? Can you imagine? One guy who tore apart the Lakers enshrined with a guy who helped rescue them?“I don’t know what’s more shocking,” said Chris Winter, Tex’s son, to reporters. “That they didn’t put Tex in 30 years ago, or they didn’t make Dennis wait another 30 years.”"
"During a recent phone call with my generally basketball oblivious mother, I mentioned my trip down to Springfield to watch Rodman, a player she knows only through his high-profile flings with Hollywood starlets, ride off into the sunset.“The weirdo with the hair?” she queried, almost in disbelief.The one and only."
There’s nothing to excerpt for this one, but everyone should check out the brilliant Hall of Fame graphics designed by the guys at Hoopism.
And, because we wouldn’t recognize him any other way, check out Rodman hawking merchandise less than 24 hours after his speech:
"Now that I’m in the @hoophall you have to get one of my limited edition balls. Get one while they last."