Whether they’re players that can create off the dribble or three-point specialists, NBA teams lean heavily on drafting, signing and trading for offensively-talented players. 

After scoring, rebounding is arguably the next most-important piece that goes into the success of a team. From a very basic level of understanding the importance of rebounding, the ability to restrict the opposing team to one shot on the defensive end ultimately limits the total number of attempts they’ll have to score a basket. 

Off the top of our heads, NBA fans can easily list off some of the league’s most devastating scorers Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kevin Durant, but who are the league’s best rebounders?

Why Rodman is the Best Rebounder in NBA History

The best rebounder in NBA history is a difficult task.No surprise that there are differing opinions. From a quantitative standpoint, we can just look at the numbers with Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell the only players with more than 20,000 career rebounds. As amazing as those numbers sound, there were a lot more missed shots when Wilt and Russell played. It was a different era.

Qualitatively, what makes for a good rebounder? Despite being only #24 in total rebounds, we contend that Dennis Rodman has many of the qualities (and accomplishments) to be considered one of the best rebounders, if not the best rebounder, in the history of the game.  

His stature This stands out the most. Comparatively, Dennis Rodman was relatively short at just 6 feet 7 inches. Rodman was also relatively slight when his playing weight was somewhere between 210 and 220 lbs. Standing next to and facing much taller and larger players, often 4-6 inches taller and 60-100 lbs heavier, and still achieving as many rebounds as he did only serves to underscore Rodman’s amazing rebounding instincts and hard work.

“He’s 6-8 and he’s stronger than anybody on the court,” John Salley told the Los Angeles Times, Rodman’s teammate with the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls. “Most cowboys are not fat. They’re really thin and wiry.”

The seven-year streak For seven years, Rodman was the rebounding champion. He won consecutive rebounding titles from 1991-92 through the 1997-98 season. In that first year he averaged 18.7 rebounds per game in 1991-92, which was the highest average since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1970’s. That number made up for a whopping 42.1% of his teams total rebounds. 

In his worst year of the seven rebounding titles, Rodman averaged 14.9 rebounds per game and that 14.9 rebounding average would have led the league in 15 of the last 20 seasons!

Largest margin of victory In his time, Not only did Rodman win the rebounding titles in both total rebounds and rebounds per game, but did so by a impressively large margin. During his rebounding titles years, Rodman averaged 3.5 more rebounds than whoever came second place. Depending on the year, that’s anywhere from 15-20% higher than the league’s second-leading rebounder.

His dedication to the sport  In the space of two years, Rodman doubled his rebounds per game. According to anecdotal evidence and a recent interview during The Last Dance documentary, Rodman knew how many spins every other player on his team put on the ball while shooting and where the basketball was likely heading if it missed.

As much as Rodman’s rebound relationship comes naturally, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year’s relationship with rebounding also comes from his attention to detail and dedication to his craft is incredible. All of that together has certainly helped him collect caroms.

The era he played in The 90’s were known as “The Era of the Big Men.” Rodman rebounded against players often several inches taller than him. The list of players is a who’s who of legendary big men: Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Robert Parish, and Dikembe Mutombo. Not to mention bruising power forwards Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Buck Williams, and Charles Oakley. Each one of these players rank higher on the NBA’s Career Leaders and for Total Rebounds. For a player of his size, it was impressive that Rodman managed to not only hold his own, but succeed.

Controversial, popular and underrated

Even though Rodman won several NBA championships, he has been consistently-underrated for several reasons. Some of it his doing, some of it is just the nature of the game. Off-the-court Rodman evolved into a very  controversial player. He married himself while wearing a wedding dress to a book signing, spent much of his free-time in Las Vegas partying.

While in Vegas he had a wild relationship with Carmen Electra, a rebound relationship with Michelle Moyer that lasted five years and then infamously shacked up with Madonna (among many many others). Last year, Rodman alleged that Madonna offered him $20 million to get her pregnant.

On top of that, Rodman often skipped practices, was on Celebrity Apprentice, broken his penis three times, dabbled in professional wrestling with fellow NBA star Karl Malone… both in the ring and on the basketball court, and could be found in strip clubs. Rodman’s alcohol problem is one of the NBA’s worst kept secrets and most-recently traveled to North Korea on a couple occasions and became friends with the communist country’s leader Kim Jong-un.

On the court, even with his gaudy rebounding numbers, he never matched that with looking for his shot. Fans and his teammates loved him for that, but as we mentioned, the NBA favors great scorers. Dennis Rodman was never the best player on his team, but he may be the league’s best rebounder ever. He’s certainly one of the NBA’s most controversial players both on and off the court.