Squash the conspiracy theory.
There are no special “Dennis Rodman Rules” set forth by game officials for the Bulls forward during these NBA playoffs.
So says Rod Thorn, the NBA’s director of operations.
“He is like everybody else. If he’s playing basketball and he’s not trying to create situations out there, then he is like every other player. He is not going to have any problems,” Thorn said Tuesday from his office in New York.
Rodman was assessed a technical foul in Sunday’s 109-104 Bulls victory after clapping his hands sarcastically following a foul call.
“That is of the discretion of the officials, and many times it will get you a technical,” Thorn said. “I’m sure Dennis has had technicals before for derisively clapping in a referee’s face. And maybe sometimes he got away with it. But a lot of times he will get a technical for that.”
Rodman routinely complains he is being picked on by NBA officials, yet he brings the vivid history of having head-butted an official and publicly chastising both Thorn and NBA Commissioner David Stern.
“If you are constantly doing things on the court to disrupt the game, then it is going to be called accordingly,” Thorn said. “Don’t try to disrupt the game and you don’t have to worry about it.”
Let ’em play! Thorn also said he has not ordered the officials to allow more contact during the playoffs.
“There is an interesting statistic that we started keeping since 1988 regarding playoffs and the regular season,” Thorn said. “I think most people feel the playoffs are more physical and the referees tend to let you play more. The reality is that there are more fouls called in the playoffs than there are in the regular season, virtually every year. This year, the fouls are up a little bit over two a game as of this juncture. And we still have a long way to go.
“A lot of people don’t believe that, but it’s true. We tell our referees to call the (playoff) games exactly like they have been calling them in the regular season.”
Insider information: We hear Northwestern and Notre Dame have been discussing a possible four-year contract to play men’s basketball, but they have not been able to seal the deal. . . . Officials of Chicago’s Great Eight basketball tournament are trying to lure Duke and Louisville to play in this year’s event.
Northern exposure: Last year, Yankees manager Joe Torre was given a Northern Illinois University cap by Yankees media relations director Rick Cerrone, an NIU alum. Torre dutifully kept the cap in his clubhouse office through what turned out to be a world championship season. Torre returned the favor, sending NIU football coach Joe Novak an autographed Yankees cap. If Novak has as much good fortune with the Yankees cap as Torre did with the Huskies hat, Northern Illinois’ football team should rebound well from its 1-10 1996 campaign.
Fly on the wall: Sox GM Ron Schueler is booked to appear on WSCR-AM 1160 at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to discuss his team’s disappointing start with hosts Terry Boers and Dan McNeil . . . Lou Canellis interviews Bulls assistant coach Frank Hamblen on Wednesday night’s 6 p.m. SportsChannel playoff pregame show. . . . The 40th annual “Canoe Marathon,” a 19 1/2-mile competition down the Des Plaines River, is May 18 in Libertyville. Call 847-692-1636 to register.
———-
Send e-mail to Fred Mitchell at Kick3485@aol.com
