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Gary Payton was a nine-time All-Defensive selection, Defensive Player of the Year and steals champion who was known for talking trash during his Hall of Fame career. If there was ever anyone who could appreciate a player doing the dirty work on the defensive end, it was the Glove. He made that appreciation clear when talking about Dennis Rodman during Sunday’s broadcast of (The Last Dance) (documentary on ESPN.) Dennis Rodman was the f – kup person, Payton said. “He just f – ks everything up.”
While his off-court behavior often drew headlines, Rodman was the ideal third star on those Bulls teams from through . He did the dirty work of battling for rebounds and guarding the opponent’s best forward while rarely ever asking for the ball on the offensive side while Jordan and Pippen did the scoring.
Rodman averaged 5.2 points and . 3 rebounds a night on the Bulls, underscoring the type of impact he had as they won three championships. Payton experienced that firsthand, as Chicago’s 1998 championship came against his Seattle SuperSonics.
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