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HOUSTON -- Dennis Rodman earned plenty of labels during his sometimes turbulent NBA career.
Here's one the player who created chaos on -- and sometimes off -- the court never expected: Hall of Famer. Rodman headlined the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's 2011 class announced on Monday at the Final Four, a group that includes former Dream Team member Chris Mullin and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.
"It's just unreal," Rodman said.
And somewhat unexpected, at least to the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and five-time NBA champion who believed his extracurricular activities -- including donning a wedding dress to marry himself and kicking a photographer in the groin -- would overshadow his on-the-court accomplishments.
"I looked at the way I am, and I thought I wouldn't get in," Rodman said.
Here's one the player who created chaos on -- and sometimes off -- the court never expected: Hall of Famer. Rodman headlined the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's 2011 class announced on Monday at the Final Four, a group that includes former Dream Team member Chris Mullin and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.
"It's just unreal," Rodman said.
And somewhat unexpected, at least to the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and five-time NBA champion who believed his extracurricular activities -- including donning a wedding dress to marry himself and kicking a photographer in the groin -- would overshadow his on-the-court accomplishments.
"I looked at the way I am, and I thought I wouldn't get in," Rodman said.
"They looked past all the negativity and thought 'Wow, he actually did change the game a little bit,'" said Rodman, who averaged 13.1 rebounds a game while playing for five teams. "I wasn't a good scorer. I wasn't the best athlete. But I was part of the machine."
"Dennis was obviously a personality," said John Paxson, the Bulls' vice president of basketball operations and former player who retired the season before Rodman joined the team. "When the lights were turned on, Dennis became Dennis. ... There's a lot of good rebounders in the league now, but Dennis, at that time, I think the thing that made him stand apart was every time you watched him you knew the effort he was putting into that part of the game."
All I can say is that it's about damn time.
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