When Dennis Rodman, the Chicago Bulls’ larger than life star, went partying in Las Vegas it took the power of Michael Jordan to bring him home.
Rodman was one of a trio of stars, along with Jordan and Scottie Pippen, in the Bulls’ dominant side of the 1990s and are arguably the best NBA team basketball has ever seen.
But Jordan was the superstar and is commonly regarded as the greatest player to ever play.
By the time of the 1997/98 season, the Bulls had five titles to their name and were looking for a second, unprecedented three-peat.
Turmoil behind the scenes, though, threatened the greatness they were on the cusp of.
Jordan, although formidable, was turning 35 and with Pippen undergoing late surgery – on purpose due to contract frustrations – which ruled him out of the first 35 games of the season, he needed Rodman to step up.
The eccentric rebounder, who dated Madonna in addition to model-turned Baywatch actress Carmen Electra and known for his multi-coloured hairstyles, tattoos and piercings, rose to the task.
“You hear a lot of negative things about Dennis Rodman. But you don’t actually know Dennis Rodman,” the former Chicago Bulls star told episode three of Netflix’s The Last Dance about himself.
“They just see what they see on the court and see what they read in the papers. They think he’s a bad person.
“Nobody can say anything bad about me as a teammate,” Rodman added.
“You have the great Michael Jordan. You have the great Scottie Pippen. You have the great [coach] Phil Jackson. But if you take me away from this team, do they still win a championship? I don’t think so.”
Jackson said Rodman held the team together, while Jordan acknowledges his teammate carried the team at times in a way he couldn’t.
“Dennis was a model citizen to the point where it was driving him f***ing insane,” Jordan explained in the third episode.
And so when Pippen returned from injury, Rodman felt he needed a holiday.
He was given 48-hours off and swapped the Windy City for Sin City with Electra in tow.
He didn’t return on time.
“We had to get his ass out of bed,” Jordan recalled laughing.
The most famous sportsman on the planet travelled to Vegas to literally bang on his bedroom door and wake him up as Electra hid.
“I do remember being in Vegas with [Dennis].” she said.
“The party was starting right away. One thing about Dennis, he had to escape. He liked to go out. He liked to go to clubs. We’d go to his favourite restaurant. Then we’d go to a nightclub. Then we’d go to after hours. It didn’t stop. It was definitely an occupational hazard to be Dennis’s girlfriend. He was wild.
“But to be honest, I didn’t realise what the team’s schedule was,” she continued. “I didn’t know he took a detour.”
To ensure that Rodman got back in shape after ‘blowing off steam’, Jackson organised a conditioning drill that forced everyone to match the pace of the players in front of the line. While most walked or jogged lightly, when Rodman reached the front of the line Jordan said he held the lead against the rest of his teammates for four laps.
“He needed to get away. But in all honesty, Dennis was always there,” Jordan said. “He was always on point.”
