How many years from now, will we remember Dream Green as we miss Rodman today?
They are the defensive mainstays of a dynasty team, and when Jordan, Curry, and Durant are in full swing, they take on dirty jobs that no one notices but is indispensable to any championship team.
They are equally elusive freaks. Rodman contracted almost all the weird things in the NBA in the nineties, and Green spewed a big mouth all over the league, and Durant and Pierce suffered from it.
Both of them were once underdogs who were not favored. Rodman was selected by the Pistons with the 3rd pick in the second round in 1986, and Green was the 5th pick in the second round.
Green was able to recite all the rookies in front of him that year, and Rodman would torture him and taunt every time he met his peer Doherty:
"Tell me, what magic did you use to make the knight choose you as the champion?"
However, in the bull, jordan and Zen master jointly suppress this unusual "flower worm".
Today's Warriors, however, lack such a character, allowing Green to play with peace of mind.
First, Rodman - is a strange coffee, but also a genius
In the summer of 1995, Michael Jordan had just returned and was eliminated in the playoffs by O'Neal and Penny's Magic, the only playoff loss in the '90s.
In that series, although Jordan was taunted by Dennis Scott as "not able to fly before", he still had 31.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists.
Hardaway, known as "Jordan's successor", only had 18.5 points and 7.2 assists in front of him, which was not much better than his previous opponents.
What they really can't figure out is 22-year-old Shaquille O'Neill.
24.3 points, 13.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 blocks, that's how O'Neal did in that series.
Bulls main "Cobra" Grant, the first triple-title winner, has run to the Magic side, and the elder Cartwright has also left. The new interior duo of Langley and Kukoc is like two ignorant teenagers who have strayed into the arena in front of the Sharks.
Together, the two of them only had 17 points and 10 boards per game, and they had to pay for 9 fouls, which was not enough for the sharks to plug their teeth.
So as the Bulls prepare for revenge next season, the first question is how to get the young shark and other top centers in the league like Big Dream, Admiral, and Ewing.
But no one expected the Bulls to choose Dennis Rodman.
Who is Rodman?
He was the number one defensive tip of the "Piston Bad Boy Army" that bullied Jordan that year, and the personal disciple of Bill Lambier, the first evil man in the NBA.
Legends such as Jordan, the Magician, and Bird will all fall prey to him when confronting the Pistons, and he even personally opened the scoop for Pippen.
He is only 2.01 meters, but he has amazing energy, bouncing and agility.
At that time, he was one of the few eccentrics who could go from defender to center.
From 1989 to 1991, he was named Defensive Player of the Year for two consecutive years. He hadn't yet awakened his terrifying rebounding skills. He was elected purely on his own outstanding defensive skills.
After 1991, he seemed to have opened up the second pulse of Ren Dou and began to dominate the league's rebounding, until 1998, when he dominated the list for seven consecutive seasons. The lowest year was 15.0 and the highest was 18.7.
His mentor, mental father, pistons head coach Chuck Daly, once said of his rebounding:
"It's very unreal (in our time) that his rebounding skills remind me of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, but he's only six feet seven inches (2.01 meters)!"
But after Coach Daly left the Pistons in 1992, the eerie young man came to show a completely uncontrollable side.
He grew up without a father, his mother and sister did not look up to him, and he was only exposed to basketball in high school, and he could not even get on the basket.
He grew up lacking love, until he was a virgin at the age of 20, and he long felt that he was intersex and had more than one suicide thought.
He was 24 years old when he entered the NBA, and it was Coach Daley who propelled him from a no-name to a championship and the league's top defensive expert. It also gave him the paternal love and care that he had lacked since childhood.
After Daddy Daly left, he began to dye his hair, tattoo himself, miss training camp, and refuse to go to away games. In the 1992–93 season alone, he was officially banned from the team for 18 games.
There was even a piston worker who saw him sitting in the car with a gun for three hours, thought he was going to kill himself, and finally called the police to find that he was just asleep.
In October 1993, the Pistons had to dump the rebounding king to the Spurs like a plague god.
But at the Spurs, he was still lawless, peeing less than a piece with the team boss Admiral, not getting used to the team's head coach Bob Hill, and even throwing an ice pack directly at Hill during the game.
He still had the rebounding king, but the trouble on the court made him the biggest cancer in the league at that time.
In the 1994–95 Western Conference Finals against the Rockets, he refused to help the admiral defend Big Dream, and in turn the General had to face both Big Dream and Horry's joint efforts. Rodman looked at the admiral and beat him violently, and said cool words:
"If it's a man, you'll get him yourself."
So in the summer of 1995, the Bulls just used a backup center Purdue to cut him to the bottom.
Jordan's response was "this is cool, let's wait and see".
Pippen's answer was, "Probably the craziest thing to do is to get Lambier over." ”
And the coolest one is the Zen master.
On the first day of reporting to the Bulls, Rodman entered his office and saw an Indian bull's head hanging on the wall. Both had a soft spot for Indian culture, so they chatted all afternoon. Before leaving, Rodman simply threw down a sentence:
"You're not going to have a problem with me, we'll get the championship again."
Not one, but three.
In those three years, the Bulls won 72, 69 and 62 wins in the regular season.
Usually he plays as a big forward with Langley, but when it comes to key moments, the Zen master puts him on the field with Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Harper (or Cole).
Kukoc, the tallest on the field, is 2.08 meters, but he is better at outside and tandem, and Rodman is the inner pillar of the team.
Isn't that the same thing as the Warriors' Five in twenty years?
In the 1996 playoffs, the Bulls were again on magic. Rodman, who was ten centimeters shorter than the sharks on the court and 30 pounds lighter, tortured O'Neill terribly. While being swept 4-0 by the Bulls, the Sharks made a total of 17 turnovers in seven games.
Facing supersonics in the Finals, he took 47 frontcourt rebounds in the head of then-Beast striker Kemp in six games.
Even though that year was the lowest performance in Jordan's Finals, the Bulls still won 4-2 easily.
In the last two years, his fight with the regular season MVP Carl Malone became a historical classic.
The two leagues' famous villains have always fought wits and courage, but they have never added fists and feet, which is the charm of the NBA iron blood in that era.
Even in the last two years together, Jordan gradually replaced the Zen master and became the one who suppressed the devil in Rodman's heart.
Rodman can date Madonna, dress up in fancy costumes, and can be autobiographical all over the world, but he has to be fully engaged in competition and training.
Jordan can tolerate Rodman flying to Las Vegas for an all-night party immediately after the team's winning streak.
But he could also break in and carry him back to the arena from the bed of his girlfriend, Carmen Electra.
Don't hurt the team and keep winning. It was Jordan and Rodman who reached the bottom line.
So we can see that Rodman's role in that bull is not questioned.
So when he left the Bulls in 1998, Rodman became a suspected flower worm when the Mavericks and Lakers never showed a steady commitment to being with Jordan again.
So this year's 75th Awards, Rodman squeezed out a group of historical defensive toughsters such as Big Ben, Uncle Mu, Howard, etc., and became the only blue-collar representative selected.
Perhaps at that time, the most important things he should be thankful for were Zen Master and Jordan.
Second, dream chasing Green - is the leader, but also a time bomb
We all know that the Golden State Warriors' takeoff was in the 2014-15 season.
That year Steve Kerr replaced Mark Jackson as head coach.
He then made Dream Green the starter, replacing All-Star forward David Lee.
Stephen Curry then managed the ball from 7.4 minutes per game in 13-14 to 5.6 minutes in 14-15.
Then there was his first championship with 23.8 points, 4.8 boards and 7.7 assists per game, leading the team with 67 wins.
This is the warrior we know today:
Curry creates the space, while Green is in charge of the cards.
Putting Green on the starting line and replacing Curry as the real organizer of the team is Kerr's first key to leading the Warriors to a brilliant career.
Of course, Green's role is much more than just offensive.
Even his role on the defensive end is as significant to the Warriors as Curry is on the offensive end.
The Warriors' five most murderous squads, their winning logic is to play a historic output on offense, while still defending against your opponents, especially the tall center on the opposite side.
During the 2015-18 Warriors' four-year triple crown, defensive efficiency was first, fifth, second, and eleventh (rising to first in the playoffs).
One of the most critical is that there is one that can both defend the opponent's tall interior line on the defensive end and not drag down the team's players on the offensive end.
That person is Green, who is extraordinary and has not become an offensive shortcoming, but the team's biggest offensive booster pump.
And his defense is really good.
Not only can it top the opponent's inside line, but when the Warriors face a team with top attackers, they will even let him directly align or lead the defense, maximizing the guarantee that Curry will not be infinitely named and consumed.
LeBron, Harden, Durant and Leonard in those years were all carefully cared for by him.
Although the "Splash Brothers" are more comfortable, Clay has also saved the team from water and fire countless times. But in this Warriors, Green is actually the most important guy outside of Curry.
However, his temper was too smelly.
He entered the league as a rookie that no one expected, playing as a defender with mediocre speed, poor forward shooting skills, and insufficient height to play inside.
He can play first of all to meet a Bole like Cole, and the other is to have a teammate like Curry, but the most important thing is that he has a brave and fierce heart.
Curry and Thompson are both harmless and friendly personalities, and a successful team must have someone out to be evil, to inspire the team, to intimidate opponents. It was Green who played this role for so many years.
But he was too involved.
"Kick the egg" Adams
Poke LeBron
and all kinds of "exciting movements" on the field
For a long time, while making great achievements for the warriors, it also brought the greatest controversy.
Even, if he didn't take the bait in Game 4 of the 2016 Finals, and the clash with LeBron led to a suspension triggered by the full number of points, how could the Cavaliers complete a one-to-three reversal?
He was like a double-edged sword, invincible most of the time, and coldly cut a deepest cut for his own people.
Today, the sword is on the verge of getting out of control.
On January 9 against the Cavaliers, Thompson returned from injury after 941 days, but Green was injured before the game, and only symbolically participated in the jump ball and then took the initiative to go off.
On March 14 against the Wizards, Green returned from injury, and the iron triangle that used to be in the limelight was finally playing together after 1006.
However, two days later Curry was injured again and was reimbursed for the regular season.
At a time when Thompson is still recovering and in an unstable state, and Wiggins and Poole are still embarrassed by their big responsibilities, the Warriors urgently need veterans like Green to step forward and stabilize the military.
And what did he do?
On the 21st, he played at home to the Spurs, and he was directly sent off in the third quarter for two consecutive technical fouls due to dissatisfaction with the referee's decision.
The Warriors were also dragged to the final moment by the Spurs, now twelfth in the West, first with Looney grabbing a rebound and committing a foul to send the Spurs two free throws.
Wiggins and Clay then made a mistake in grabbing a rebound, and was picked up by Kelden Johnson to rebound in the front court and hit a deadlock.
In those two rounds, it was supposed to be Green standing there to solve the problem.
After losing this game, the Warriors are third in the West with 47 wins and 24 losses, not only being further widened by the Grizzlies (49-23), but even feeling the aggressiveness of the Jazz (45-27) behind them.
Coupled with Curry's injury, the Rest of the Warriors' regular season is destined not to be so easy.
As for Green, it was time for someone to stand up and tell him:
"Now is the time for you to take responsibility."
But who is such a person?
Aside from Curry and Clay, no player in the team today has the credentials to point fingers at him.
And we know that the Splash Brothers not only have a strong friendship with him, but are never the kind of leader who stands up and dances with their teeth and claws.
Perhaps the most important thing to stand up for is head coach Cole.
After all, he and the Warriors team with this warrior team have gone from obscurity to the current peak,
It was he who transformed Green from a blue-collar worker into a championship interior, a one-of-a-kind small-ball center
But after all these years, it seems that he rarely comments on his players publicly.
It's just that in this dangerous autumn, the Warriors should have someone to stand up and say two words to Green.