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When a former Bulls Assistant GM recalled being in awe of Dennis Rodman's superhuman stamina: "A freak like Michael Jordan"

Before Dennis Rodman and the Chicago Bulls won three straight titles, The Worm was giving Michael Jordan and Co. problems as a member of the Bad Boy Pistons. For three straight years, Rodman helped Detroit send the Bulls packing in the postseason, which led to then-Assistant GM Jim Stack scouting the team's practices.

While it took until the 1991 NBA Playoffs for Chicago to finally beat the Pistons, it was another several years before all of Stack's scouting paid off. At the time, starting forward Horace Grant parted ways with the Bulls after the 1993-94 season, and the front office was left wondering how they could fill the void left by Grant.

The way Stack saw things, the team should pursue Dennis Rodman, who at the time had won four straight rebounding titles from his 1991-92 season with Detroit through his 1994-95 season with San Antonio but was embroiled in off-court controversies.

In an interview with the Daily Herald in 2011, Stack recalled pitching Rodman to General Manager Jerry Krause, who at the time described him as "nuts."

"What was compelling about Dennis is after he would play 45 minutes in a game, he would go in the weight room for an hour-and-a-half. I'd see Dennis in there, and he's working himself into a lather riding the exercise bike, lifting weights.
"That always stuck with me. The guy never gets tired. He was a freak like Michael in that respect. He was bionic."

Jerry Krause wasn't initially on board with Jim Stack's idea to pursue Dennis Rodman

Although Dennis Rodman had terrorized the Bulls for years as a member of the Bad Boy Pistons, General Manager Jerry Krause, who orchestrated the team's two three-peats, wasn't sold.

With Rodman fully embracing his public metamorphosis from Detroit's quiet young forward to the outgoing and often-times flamboyant rockstar, Krause wasn't enthusiastic about acquiring a player San Antonio was looking to unload for his off-court antics.

According to Stack, Krause even started to get "upset" when he was pestered about the possibility of the trade. Eventually, however, the legendary GM changed his mind, opening the door to a Dennis Rodman trade under one condition.

As Krause was quoted as saying in the aforementioned 2011 Daily Herald article:

"The provision was Dennis had to come and spend two days at my home so we could really sit down and talk to one another."
"He came and spent most of the time with us those two days. At the end of two days, I looked at Phil and Phil looked at me and I said, 'This is a good risk. We're going to do this.' Phil said, 'Great.'"

The two teams finalized a deal sending Will Purdue to the Spurs in exchange for Rodman, who went on to lead the league in rebounding for three straight years, helping the Bulls with their second three-peat.

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