Dennis Rodman may be an NBA legend for the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, but that doesn’t mean he’s still in love with the sport. In a recent “Full Send” podcast, Rodman admitted that the NBA is now “very hard to watch” citing the “intensity” and “competitiveness” that Rodman’s cohort used to play at. The 60-year-old was suggesting that the modern-day NBA stars have evolved and played a different style that he’s not interested in watching.
Rodman said he didn’t want to “watch players coming down shooting 50 footers”. He insisted that he is “not basketball”. It was a perceived dig at modern-day NBA icons like Steph Curry and Damian Lillard who have proven incredibly reliable from long-range. Rodman was brought up in an NBA era built on durability and power. He was considered an absolute demon on the court, with his ability to dominate his opponent into submission making him one of the most feared power forwards of all time.
Rodman has a point when it comes to the evolution of styles in the NBA
It’s fair to say that Rodman is spot on when it comes to the evolution of the NBA. When Rodman appeared on the scene in his rookie season of 1986, teams were averaging just 30% from the three-point range. In the 2020-21 season, teams were scoring 36.7% of all their three-point attempts. In Rodman’s final season with the Bulls in the 1997-98 season, the Bulls averaged 11.7 three-pointer attempts per game. Last season, Steph Curry averaged 12.7 three-pointer attempts alone per game. Rodman was also quick to admit that although he finds the NBA “difficult to watch” in its current guise, “a lot of kids love it”.
It’s hard to believe that Rodman is now 60 years old. He admitted “a lot of people thought [he] would be dead” before celebrating his 60th birthday, with the Trenton-born enigma proving something of an eccentric character in the world of sport. Whether it was his penchant for multi-colored hair, women’s make-up, or his weird friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Rodman has long been an intriguing personality that’s lived a hard and fast lifestyle.
Rodman featured heavily in the successful Netflix documentary ‘The Last Dance’ which surrounded the NBA phenomenon of Michael Jordan. As Jordan’s Chicago Bulls teammate, Rodman was a key part of the storyline in the docuseries. Jordan told of Rodman’s weekend bender in Las Vegas in 1998 during the thick of the 1997-98 NBA season. The incident was discussed during the third and fourth episodes in The Last Dance when Bulls head coach Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan had to drive to the Nevada desert themselves to bring Rodman back – away from the clutches of Carmen Electra.
Rodman’s ill-fated weekend in Vegas is to reach the big screen
The story proved so popular that Rodman’s weekend in Vegas will be recounted as part of a new feature-length movie titled “48 Hours in Vegas”. A movie in which Rodman himself will be executive producer. The Lionsgate movie will veer slightly away from the true story of Rodman’s “Sin City” bender. Instead, the film will focus on Rodman’s friendship with his assistant GM. Furthermore, the movie is not going to be set midway through the NBA season, but in the middle of the 1998 NBA Finals, with the Chicago Bulls on the cusp of lifting their next NBA Finals trophy.
The storyline has been written by Jordan VanDina, who was the brains behind the recent success ‘OAnimaniacs’. According to the official press release, 48 Hours in Vegas will be produced by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, with Rodman taking an executive watching brief.
Lord and Miller said that Rodman was such as fascinating character because he “refused to follow the herd”. The duo said that while this “made him a target” it also “made him a star”. Lord and Miller describe how Rodman’s weekend in Vegas was brimming with “fun and hijinks” but the movie will also attempt to explore “the way public figures are treated”, particularly “when their individuality is expressed so vividly. The projected release date has not yet been confirmed, although it is expected to arrive in 2023.