The NBA Dribbled Out

On Rebounding

William Wallace had his own issues with my post about The Round Mound of Rebound:

As someone who rebounds for a living (while not being a physicist), I take offense to this. Rebounding was at a zenith when Dennis “the Worm” Rodman was in the leauge. Nobody before or after did it like him. Yes, Wilt and Russell put up monster rebounding stats, but Wilt was 7’+ playing against a bunch of 6 footers, and Russell was just athletic as fuck. Even Griffin, who is easily one of my favorite 3 players in the leauge right now (OKC, OU connections), isn’t a great rebounder. That video you had just shows that this kid has INSANE up’s. That helps a lot with rebounding, but being 6’10 and having a 20 foot vertical isnt really a skill in my book.

Rodman…. now that was all heart and skill. I can remember at least a dozen games where you would see him dive, completely parallel with the ground, and grab a board. He did that on the reg. He was not a center, yet he could box out anybody for a rebound. Classic battles with the mailman, Akeem, and even Shaq, and he would win everytime. He was the starting power forward on 5 championship teams. The fact that he is not in the HOF, or even 1st ballot, is disgusting. I don’t care that he had amazing hair, starred in awesome movies with Van Dam, or wore a wedding dress to his book signing, the HOF is for basketball, not personality. Will Kobe not get in the Hall because of the Colorado incident? DWade for his Ron Mexico impersonation with his wife? Lebron for the Decision?

IMHO, nobody ever rebounded like Rodman did. 100% heart, hustle, and focus. The skill of rebounding is defined by him. Go to my youtube page, and watch his highlight reel.

I didn’t mean to go on a rant, its just that rebounding is my passion when I play basketball. Its my favorite thing to do. Id rather get a great rebound than a great basket or assist. Theres no feeling like going up against a guy, both of you with the sole intention of grabbing the rock, and you come down with it in your hands. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. For me growing up, Ewing, Oakley, Rodman, and Barkley where the best. I would wake up everyday and read the sports page, and see Rodman with stats like: 0 points, 24 rebounds, 1 Technical foul; and I would get so excited by that.

Props for the pre-Muslim Hakeem spelling of Akeem.  Man knows his stuff.