Does Rodman Belong in the Hall?

Dennis Rodman has played a lot of roles in his lifetime. He has twice been an NBA All-Star and defensive player of the year. He has also been a bridegroom and a bride, a father and a surrogate son. He has been an author, an actor, a corporate spokesman and a full-time enigma.

Rodman, 45, who won five championships during a tumultuous 14-year NBA career filled with as much controversy as glory, would like to add another title to his lengthy resume: Hall of Famer.

"Getting into the Hall of Fame would be something very special," Rodman said recently over lunch in Times Square. "I don't think it would mean as much to me as it would to all the people who brought me up, like my mother, my college coaches and Chuck Daly and Phil Jackson, who were both like a father to me. It would also mean the world to my wife and children."

He won five NBA titles

One of the greatest rebounders in NBA history, Rodman retired after playing 12 games for the Dallas Mavericks in the 1999-2000 season. In his prime, he won two championships with Daly's Detroit Pistons (1989 and '90) and three more with Jackson's Chicago Bulls (1996-98).

But what Rodman accomplished on the court, including his seven rebounding titles and his seven-time selection as an NBA all-defensive first-team player, was often overshadowed by his antics. The 6-foot-7-inch, 228-pound Rodman had a nose ring for the ball, a pierced navel and a bleached head that was not always in the game.

The list of Rodman's disciplinary problems is almost as long as the wingspan that helped him soar for 11,954 regular-season rebounds. As a result, Rodman and his marketing agent, Darren Prince, say that the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is keeping its distance.

"Dennis has been out of the NBA for at least five years, and yet the Hall of Fame has not contacted him about being nominated," said Prince, who is based in West Orange, N.J. "Dennis should be eligible this year."

A question of eligibility

In lobbying for Rodman, Prince contacted John Doleva, the president and chief executive of the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

In a letter to Prince, Doleva said that Rodman was not eligible to be nominated because he had played professionally since retiring from the NBA. In the past six years, Rodman, still muscular, still covered in piercings and tattoos, played in the new American Basketball Association, the International Basketball League, Finland, Britain and Mexico.

Doleva wrote to Prince, "The clock really has not 'started ticking' towards his five-year retirement eligibility requirement and cannot until he is fully finished with professional paid basketball."

Doleva added that "the clock had to be reset when both Earvin Johnson and Michael Jordan returned to the court professionally" after they retired.

No such clock exists for coaches.

Prince asked why the Hall was holding the ABA and leagues abroad against Rodman.

Doleva replied, "Professional basketball is not defined specifically as the NBA."

Though Rodman will eventually be nominated to the Hall of Fame, he is not sure if he will be elected. His lifestyle aside, there is another obstacle for him to clear on the path to Springfield. A power forward whose strength was defense, he averaged only 7.3 points a game.

"Was Bill Russell too one-dimensional?" Rodman said. "Russell wasn't a scorer, but he won 11 championships with Boston and led those teams by averaging over 20 rebounds a game, which is unheard of." (For the record, Russell averaged 15.1 points in his 13-year NBA career.)

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