Dennis Rodman: NBA Hall of Famer?

Former NBA forward Dennis Rodman has been announced as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2011 to be inducted in Springfield, Massachusetts in August.  Rodman himself let the proverbial cat out of the bag when he announced he was being invited to Houston, site of the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four and where the Hall of Fame announcement was made.

Rodman's brash personality, bizarre behavior and ever changing hair color later in his career likely overshadowed a fairly solid career.  During 14 NBA seasons, he was part of five NBA champions (two with the Detroit Pistons and three with the Chicago Bulls).  He was most noted for his rebounding prowess, leading the league in rebounds per game seven times (13.1 rebounds per game for his career) and total rebounds four times.

As part of the "Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons' squads of the late 1980's and early 1990's, Rodman won NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice and was elected to both of his career All-Star games.  For his career, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team seven times.  After leaving the Chicago Bulls, he would end his career with one year stints with the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.

Some may question Rodman's Hall of Fame worthiness saying he was only a supporting player, and that assessment would be correct, but I am not one of the naysayers.  I think the fact he played a key role on teams that contained some of the greatest players of his era can not be overlooked.  He possibly could have looked to be more of a scorer (7.3 points per game for his career), but he had a role and did it well during his peak.

Those that say Rodman is not a quintessential Hall of Famer in part to his myriad of issues and headlines on and off the court are missing the point.  The Hall of Fames across the major sports have inducted players that would not have been deemed among the "good guys" in their sport.

One thing is for sure, Rodman's Hall of Fame induction speech is likely to be memorable. 

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference.com
Photo: joeyfitz89, via Photo Bucket.com