In the NBA, many players are very conscious of their image and won't give teams any bulletin board material. Today's profilee is not one of those people. He was his biggest self-promoter, but nonetheless was a key defender and rebounder for five NBA title teams, and won two Defensive POYs and seven consequitve rebounding titles. He is "the Worm", Dennis Rodman.

Dennis Rodman was born May 13, 1961 in Trenton, New Jersey. His father left the family when Rodman was three, and the young man eventually grew up in the ghetto of Dallas, Texas, where he was listed on the high school team of South Oak Cliff High School, but rarely played. Rodman would attend Cooke County Community College, but he flunked out due to poor grades, and then attended Southeastern Oklahoma State, where he was a three-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-American, averaging 25.7 PPG and 15.7 RPG. When he won MVP of the Portsmouth Invitational following his college days, he caught the eye of the Detroit Pistons, being selected with the third pick of the second round (27th overall) of the 1986 NBA Draft.

Rodman joined the Pistons at a critical time, as the team transformed from a finesse, offense-oriented team, to a tough, defensive minded team known as the "Bad Boys". Rodman had a pedestrain rookie season, with averages of 6.5 PPG and 4.3 RPG, and made more waves for calling Larry Bird overrated because he was white than for his play. Rodman steadily improved over time; he averaged 11.6 PPG (a career best) and 8.7 RPG in year two, and was a defensive standout off the bench during the Pistons' first title run in 1988-89. By his fourth year, Rodman got serious recognition, winning the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1989-90 and earning his first of two All-Star selections (the other was in 1992), and helping Detroit repeat as champions.

In 1990-91, Rodman won his second straight Defensive POY, but the Pistons lost in the conference finals to the Chicago Bulls. As the aging "Bad Boys" began to decline, Rodman started to become a fearsome rebounder. In 1991-92, he averaged a staggering 18.7 RPG (the highest average since Wilt Chamberlain pulled in 19.2 RPG in 1971-72) and made his second All-Star team. However, by 1992-93, things began to fall apart personally for Rodman. The first blow came when coach Chuck Daly resigned in May 1992, causing Rodman to lose the man he looked at as a surrogate father. He then married and soon after divorced Annie Bakes, and by May 1993, he was found in his car with a loaded rifle. While this served as an epiphany for him personally, his relationship with the Pistons soured, and he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs for Sean Elliott.

Rodman played well on the court for the Spurs, winning the rebounding title in each of his two years there, and earning All-NBA 3rd Team honors in 1994-95. But he soon strained his relationship with Spurs management, and after that season, he was traded again, this time to the Bulls for Will Perdue and cash. Rodman gave the Bulls the needed toughness and rebounding void left by former Bull Horace Grant, even though his behavior left something to be desired; he appeared in a wedding dress to hype his autobiography, and headbutted a referee in March 1996, though he wasn't suspended. Rodman won yet another rebounding title with 14.9 RPG and helped Chicago to the greatest season in NBA history, with a record 72 regular season wins and another NBA title.

Rodman's next two seasons were less than ideal in many respects. He was suspended 11 games for kicking a camerman in Minnesota during January 1997, and he was less than effective during the 1996-97 season, despite another rebounding title. He also made several sabbaticals to wrestle for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) alongside pal Hulk Hogan, which earned him some scorn from people who thought he should focus on basketball. Still, Rodman remained a factor as the Bulls won two more NBA titles. After leaving the Bulls after the 1997-98 season, Rodman bounced around in his final two seasons, playing 23 games for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1998-99 and 12 games for the Dallas Mavericks the following year before NBA teams lost interest in him. While Rodman's bizarre behavior may turn some people off, there's no doubt that he will be remembered as a fierce rebounder and defensive presence who won five NBA titles and was a key cog on two of the greatest teams of all-time.

Season-by-Season Statistical Review:
1986-87: 77 GP, 1 GS, 6.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 0.7 APG, 54.5 FG%, 58.7 FT%
1987-88: 82 GP, 32 GS, 11.6 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 56.1 FG%, 53.5 FT%
1988-89: 82 GP, 8 GS, 9.0 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 1.2 APG, 59.5 FG%, 62.6 FT%
1989-90: 82 GP, 43 GS, 8.8 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 0.9 APG, 58.1 FG%, 65.4 FT%
1990-91: 82 GP, 77 GS, 8.2 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 49.3 FG%, 63.1 FT%
1991-92: 82 GP, 80 GS, 9.8 PPG, 18.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, 53.9 FG%, 60.0 FT%
1992-93: 62 GP, 55 GS, 7.5 PPG, 18.3 RPG, 1.6 APG, 42.7 FG%, 53.4 FT%
1993-94: 79 GP, 51 GS, 4.7 PPG, 17.3 RPG, 2.3 APG, 53.4 FG%, 52.0 FT%
1994-95: 49 GP, 26 GS, 7.1 PPG, 16.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, 57.1 FG%, 67.6 FT%
1995-96: 64 GP, 57 GS, 5.5 PPG, 14.9 RPG, 2.5 APG, 48.0 FG%, 52.8 FT%
1996-97: 55 GP, 54 GS, 5.7 PPG, 16.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 44.8 FG%, 56.8 FT%
1997-98: 80 GP, 66 GS, 4.7 PPG, 15.0 RPG, 2.9 APG, 43.1 FG%, 55.0 FT%
1998-99: 23 GP, 11 GS, 2.1 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 1.3 APG, 34.8 FG%, 43.6 FT%
1999-2000: 12 GP, 12 GS, 2.8 PPG, 14.3 RPG, 1.2 APG, 38.7 FG%, 71.4 FT%