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The Last Dance: Things we learned from episodes 3 & 4

By Justin Morris

Michael Jordan (L) pats Dennis Rodman (R), both of the Chicago Bulls, after Rodman was called for a technical foul 03 May during the second half of their NBA eastern conference semi-finals game against the Charlotte Hornets at the United Center in Chicago, IL. The Bulls won the game 83-70 to lead the series 1-0. AFP PHOTO/JEFF HAYNES (Photo by JEFF HAYNES / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images)
Michael Jordan (L) pats Dennis Rodman (R), both of the Chicago Bulls, after Rodman was called for a technical foul 03 May during the second half of their NBA eastern conference semi-finals game against the Charlotte Hornets at the United Center in Chicago, IL. The Bulls won the game 83-70 to lead the series 1-0. AFP PHOTO/JEFF HAYNES (Photo by JEFF HAYNES / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images) /
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The Last Dance, MJ doc
The Last Dance, MJ doc Photo by JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images /

5. Dennis Rodman was a calculative genius

The art of rebounding is not rocket science. But it isn’t something that can just befall on any average Joe either. Mastering the craft takes a delicate balance of innate talent, bodily dexterity, and above all, a certain unquestionable amount of mental recitation of repeated action.

We’ve all heard the old adage that success in sports has a physical requirement of around 10 percent, and that the other 90 percent of overall accomplishment in any playing field is entirely dependent on the mind.

Michael Jordan serves as the perfect translucent example of this belief, and we’ve already been shown multiple glimpses of the superiority of the inner thoughts that drove his outer being.

Dennis Rodman’s mind on the other hand, has always been a questionable case, to say the least.

One of the more quirky and extravagant, yet misunderstood figures in NBA history, the interior weavings of Rodman’s brain have long been the subject of intense speculation. He’s been labeled a misfit, an outsider and just flat-out weird, and some have even gone to the lengths of bluntly questioning: “what’s wrong with him?”

Related Story. The Last Dance: Things left to explore after episodes 3 and 4. light

Rodman, on the contrary, may have secured the keys to “normality” that many of us still struggle daily in finding: he’s perfected his own form of unapologetic freedom, and that’s entirely more indicative of a supreme mental strength than of a lacking in his cerebral foundations.

And this psychological fortitude was always on full display when he was in the midst of elevating for, and pulling down, seven seasons worth of league-leading rebounding totals. He was an absolute one-man rebounding wrecking crew, and this is likely due to that ever-important 90 percent.

Rodman went into full detail during episode 3 on his repeated boarding practices:

"“Basically I just started learning how to perfect (rebounding and defense…I just practiced a lot about the angle of the ball, and the trajectory of it. You’ve a got Larry Bird, it’s gonna spin. You got a Magic (Johnson) it’ll maybe spin, when Michael shoots…so basically I just started learning how to put myself in position to get the ball.”"

This is why it doesn’t come as much of a shock that MJ described Rodman as one of the smartest teammates he’s ever had. His off-court escapades are an entirely different animal, but one thing’s for sure when it come to his play on the court – the man never allowed his basketball IQ to be left up to questioning.