The olds are at it again with their rallying against resting players in this modern NBA. Dennis Rodman, who is aged and also not a scientist, spoke at profanity-filled length on CBS’ Reiter Than You on Wednesday about the difference between his former teammate Michael Jordan and never-his-teammate LeBron James on the topic of greatness. You’ll never guess who Rodman thinks is better.
LeBron’s doing the one thing I’ve always said Michael Jordan never did: never rested. He played every game. He played every game. LeBron has the position to do this because they need him. The league needs him, that’s why he’s doing all this crazy shit now like bitching and complaining and all this bullshit now.
Jordan did have that whole vacation with baseball when he was 30 that took up most of two seasons, and that three-year vacation when he retired at age 35, but I guess I see what he’s saying. He only missed significant time in 1985 when he broke his leg, a catastrophic injury that tends to happen more when you play all 82 games.
It’s very easy to define greatness. Michael Jordan did it when it was tough, really tough. He led the league in scoring 10 years in a row. Ten years in a row. Back then, that was hard. Average like 32 points a game. That was hard back then. Now it’s easy.
“More like JeBron Lames,” old man Rodman would have said if he weren’t walking uphill in the snow to the court both ways.
This isn’t the first time Rodman has been critical of James, who he thinks would be “just an average player” in the 1980s. Obviously that would be batsh*t crazy, but people keep handing Dennis Rodman microphones so what did you expect to hear?
Rodman also veered briefly toward calling out Russell Westbrook‘s pursuit of averaging a triple-double for only the second time in NBA history.
“All this bullshit about a triple-double—I don’t give a shit about that,” Rodman said briefly before getting back to why LeBron James is a gigantic baby boy and he wished strongman Michael Jordan were his dad.
Back then when (Jordan) was getting his ass whupped—I mean beat down every game—when he played against us he said, guess what? ‘I gotta go back in the gym.’ He got tough. He got great. And great-er. So. That’s it.
It is difficult to compare eras in any sport, and basketball is no exception. But part of the problem is that we are stuck in the present, and many of the people that played the game back then are firmly rooted in the past.
While those of us who are observing the NBA in the present may be riddled with recency bias, former players struggle to wipe away the nostalgic tears when they try to measure then and now. Rodman is no exception, he’s just more willing to drop some swears in between the bias to make it a more interesting read.
(Via CBS Sports)
