“Hit Me on the Chin, Kicked Me in the Knee”: Being Roommates with Dennis Rodman Didn’t Stop 4x NBA Champion’s Tough Pistons Introduction

Dennis Rodman was the one of the most polarizing figure in the NBA during the 90s. Rodman’s eccentric lifestyle made him quite a controversial figure and the perpetual focus of media attention. But the Worm played with a certain physicality and tenacity that etched his name in the Basketball Hall of Fame forever. However, the 4x NBA champion John Salley, who was once Dennis Rodman’s roommate, experienced a shocking truth about the NBA during a Detroit Pistons practice session. The things Salley learned that day changed his perspective forever.

Dennis Rodman and John Salley knew each other before their NBA days. They emerged as the country’s best college players in the mid-80s. Moreover, in a tournament in Hawaii where the top 50 players of the country at the time had assembled, Rodman and Salley were roommates. The two bonded through the course of the tournament and developed a close relationship that is strong even today. However, despite being in close proximity to Rodman, Salley was a stranger to the harsh reality he experienced in his rookie season with the Detroit Pistons.

John Salley gets a reality check at a Pistons practice despite friendship with Dennis Rodman

The Detroit Pistons drafted John Salley as the 11th pick in the 1987 NBA draft. They also drafted Rodman in round 2 as the 27th pick from the same draft class. During his appearance on the ALL THE SMOKE podcast, Salley reflected on an incident on his first day with the Pistons. He narrated the incident of how two players of the team, Sid Green and Rick Mahorn, got into a physical altercation. Salley, new to the team and the league culture, innocently attempted to break the fight. However, his plan backfired pretty quickly. Salley light-heartedly confessed, “Rick hit me in the chin, and Sid kick me in the knee, and I was on the ground.”?

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The incident made a lasting impact on Salley’s career and life. That day, he confessed that he realized that basketball was a business. The 58-year-old made a profound statement to conceptualize his learnings further: “We are all individual companies working for a single company.”?

Salley also admitted that he was grateful to have learned this at such an early point in his career. Moreover, he attributed his success to the eccentric teachings of the veteran players in his first team.?

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Therefore, friendship with Dennis Rodman didn’t help Salley avoid a beating from the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons. However, it ended up being an important life lession for him.