| | NBA iconoclast Dennis Rodman visited ESPN's Up Close show with host Gary Miller to discuss what's next for the tattooed one.
Here are excerpts from their conversation on June 7:
Miller: What is next? Are you ever going to play NBA basketball again?
Rodman: Yeah, next year, somewhere, somewhere, probably my last year though. It's time for me to move on.
Miller: This year, you were fairly limited in the options you had. You seemed to have probably burned at least the Lakers' bridge. Miami talked about signing you but then decided they didn't want to, and your good friend Chuck Daly has left Orlando. Where are you going to play?
Rodman: I don't know. Who knows? I'm going to play somewhere. It's got to be warm, it's gotta be in the right conditions. I'm going to go play and do it up. Do it up. I talked to Chuck Daly and he decided he wanted to resign from the Orlando Magic and he said, "I've been in this game too long. It's time for me to go on, on my way." Same thing here, I've done it all, it's just like, you know, it's just time to move on.
Miller: It didn't work out with the Lakers. Why will next year be different? How are you going to convince anybody to deal with this stuff?
Rodman: It's nothing to deal with, it's nothing to deal with, I just give you what you want, that's all it is. I came to the Lakers and a lot people said, "Well, he's probably out of shape, he probably this." I came here and kicked ass, won 10 games straight and boom! I decided I wanted to leave because it just wasn't right.
Miller (quoting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Rodman): Dennis didn't want to play this year.
Rodman: No, I didn't want to play. I just think that a lot of things had to do with Carmen (Electra). The reason I was here, I don't know, I think if you talk to a lot of guys that used to play the game of basketball, I think that you'll realize they felt the same way but the choices, they didn't have a lot of choices, they didn't have a lot of leeways and alleyways to go somewhere and do something else.
Miller: But you need a lot of that?
Rodman: I need a lot of that, I need a lot.
Miller (on Phil Jackson): Is he the only coach that can handle you?
Rodman: Oh yeah, 'cause he knows me, he knows me real well and he just let me go, he just let me go. And Michael (Jordan) said it best. He says. "I don't give a damn what Dennis does. I don't care if he comes to practice or not, but when he's playing the game, he is there always, always. I don't care if he does come to practice, he's going to play."
Miller: Dennis, L.A. fit you in many ways. How bad do you want Phil Jackson to be the coach of the Lakers?
Rodman: You know, since the Lakers don't want me anymore, I don't give a damn if he comes here or not. But I think they need somebody like that to have, uh, get a structure, get a foundation, a family, kind of a family role around here. They need to have like some closeness and I think he can come in here and just do that, bring his magic. I think he'd do real well here. | |
 |
