NBC analyst Isiah Thomas knows Dennis Rodman better than most people and he believes Bulls coach Phil Jackson handles the chronic problem child better than anybody.
Better than even Chuck Daly, who coached Thomas and Rodman on Detroit’s back-to-back NBA championship teams in 1989-90.
Thomas doesn’t believe Rodman’s latest antics–he skipped film and media sessions Monday and appeared live on a cable-TV wrestling show–will affect the Bulls heading into Game 4 of the NBA Finals Wednesday at the United Center.
“Phil has gotten more out of Dennis than Chuck did,” Thomas said. “Dennis is a different type of person and some of the rules don’t apply. If your team is comfortable with that and your team operates within that, then that’s how it is.”
Rodman’s off-the-court antics have made him one of the league’s most interesting attractions. The rebuilding Pistons traded him to San Antonio after six seasons in 1993, but he wore out his welcome with his behavior, and the rebound-starved Bulls were able to get him from the Spurs for Will Perdue in 1995.
“In terms of Dennis being a distraction, on any other team he might be,” Thomas said. “But this is a different type of team and our team was a different type of team. Maybe he was a distraction on that San Antonio team–those were different types of guys. I look at Detroit and Chicago and our organizations and our people were flexible enough to absorb a different type of personality. I don’t necessarily see this being that big of a distraction to them because, believe it or not, it’s normal.”
Jackson, Thomas said, probably lets other Bulls get away with certain things.
“Some of the rules don’t apply to Michael Jordan,” Thomas said. “Some of the rules don’t apply to Scottie Pippen. Some of them don’t apply to Dennis. But the rest of the nine, you’ve got to fall in line.”
