“He was a flat-out genius” - Isiah Thomas was stunned to see Dennis Rodman break down rebounding to such an extent
Back in the 1980s, Isiah Thomas had a chance to play with Dennis Rodman at the Detroit Pistons, where they led the team to two NBA championships as teammates. Thomas took the opportunity to learn and find out how Rodman was able to grab a ton of rebounds despite not being the biggest man on the floor.
Thomas was recently a guest on the show 'All The Smoke', hosted by former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. He revealed how he found out about Rodman's genius when it came to rebounding.
"I never saw anybody, scientifically, break down rebounding the way Dennis Rodman did. First couple of games, we'd be in the layup line and then he stopped. And he just stood under the rim." Thomas said.
"It used to be, you lay it up, then you start taking little short pull-up shots. Whenever we start taking short pull-up shots, he would stop. 'What you doing man? Get in line.' He's like, 'No, I'm counting.'"
"So, Dennis was a little strange, anyway. I'm like, 'I ain't gonna even respond to that.' Now, we break up and he still standing on the basket and he just looking at everybody balling. I said, 'What you doing?' He said, 'I'm counting them. I'm counting the spins on the ball.'"
"He said, 'When you shoot, your ball spin like three times, Joe [Dumars] sometimes spin four.' This dude was counting the rotation on the ball on every player. He knew how long it was gonna be in the air, how many times it rotated, where it was gonna hit, where it would bounce. I had never seen nobody break down rebounding like that in my life. Dennis Rodman was a flat-out genius."
During his time in the NBA, Rodman led the league in rebounding for seven straight seasons. 'The Worm' ended his career with 11,954 which puts him at number 23 on the all-time rebounding list.
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Isiah Thomas had high praise for Anthony Davis in Game 3
The LA Lakers took the opportunity to win against the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3 of their first-round series. After their win, Isiah Thomas had some high praise for Anthony Davis taking over for the Lakers.
"There's nobody in the league that is capable of doing the things that he can do rebounding, shot-blocking, and scoring wise." IT said.
"There's nobody in the league that is capable of doing the things that he can do rebounding, shot-blocking, and scoring wise"
@IsiahThomas on Anthony Davis after an impressive performance against the Grizzlies https://t.co/OS8X0DztVL
AD had 31 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks in Game 3, which was a huge reason for the Lakers' win against the Grizzlies.
Also read: "I’m not beefing or hating on anyone” – Isiah Thomas vindicates his criticism of Michael Jordan