Ben Wallace vs Dennis Rodman - who's your pick?

Rodman had a much larger impact on the Piston's success than did Ben.  

Ben Wallace was also the better team leader. He created the image of that team (helped greatly by Rasheed and Billups). He carried that team in many ways that are not statistics (emotion, effort, consistency, belief, and of course Hard Work). Rodman provided some of that as well, but nothing like Wallace did.

And I have to admit that Draymond Green reminds me of both of those guys.  

Not that he was good at free throw shooting but Wallace was 41% for his career and Rodman was 58%. Rodman had more offensive rebounds. 

Wallace was a great off ball defender, getting a lot of blocks. Rodman hardly had any blocks but he was a great on ball defender. Wallace wasn't that great of an on ball defender. 

Rodman was "annoying" and an antagonizer. He would get under the skin of the player that he was guarding and get them off their game. He played a lot of so called "mental" games. Wallace did none of this. 

Rodman could also guard a little bit on the perimeter when switched off on a guard. 

I think that Rodman's worth really showed the most when he was with the Bulls. He was the enforcer for Jordan. He protected Jordan much like players do in hockey. 

Ben Wallace's dominance was so short lived it is hard to compare the two players' careers. When Wallace was at the peak of his game over a short stretch between, say, 2003 and 2005, he was the most intimidating and dominant defensive center in the league. He achieved a form for a couple of seasons in Detroit that was truly outstanding. The impact that he as an individual had on Pistons in their 2004 championship season was undeniably greater than the individual impact of Rodman on the bad boys teams, or any other team that he played for. But Wallace had a fairly long career. He played for a number of seasons before he got to Detroit in which he had only limited contributions for his teams and his play only had middling impact on their success. After he left Detroit in 2006 his form quickly declined as his body deteriorated and injuries mounted. By the time he returned to the team he was a shadow of his former self.

Rodman was always a strong role player. He made every team better that he ever played for, but he was never the single most important player on his team, the way Wallace was. I give the nod to Rodman's body of work because he was an impact player in the NBA for a dozen seasons. He was an important contributor to the Pistons success in the late eighties/early nineties, and he was an important contributor to the bulls and the lakers success in the late nineties. He never dominated opponents (although his single minded focus on channeling his freakish athletic skills into rebounding was impressive), and he never was a defining player on any of the teams he played for. But his consistently high level of play over more than a dozen seasons stands out over Wallace's huge impact over a few seasons.

But if I only could have them for one season in their prime, I'd definitely give the nod to Big Ben.

Rodman. But, Ben is a better leader.

Once he left the Pistons he became progressively nuts.

This stat is from the ESPN All time NBA rankings thing they are doing.  Rodman was the 10th best PF of all time according to ESPNs experts.  This stat jumped out at me:

"In seven seasons from 1991-92 to 1997-98, he had 33 games in which he pulled down at least 25 rebounds. No other player did it more than four times in that span."

What about the Dennis Rodman- Kim Jong Un combo? Cause I'll take that. They make me chuckle.

I'm suprised anyone would think that Wallace could park his car in Rodman's neighbhood let alone in the same driveway. Many people sell Rodman short because he was certifiable but for me he's in the talk for top 50 all-time.

And now we get to watch Andre Drummond, easily the NBA's best rebounder since Rodman. Even has developed an offensive game now. 

Ur mom?

Sorry, was looking for a michigan football update this morning only to find a rodman/wallace poll.

I'm not so sure it's Rodman in a landslide. Both were limited offensively. Both had trouble at the free throw line. You wouldn't run a play for either guy. Later in his career, Rodman wouldn't even look at the basket. He became enamored with getting rebounds almost to the exclusion of everything else. I remember Pistons era Rodman. He could definitely fill the lane and get out on the fast break better than Ben. It's on defense where the distinction occurs. Rodman could guard 5 positions, that's true, but how often was he called on to do that? And just because he's more versatile, does that necessarily mean he is better? A lot better? Unfortunately, it's difficult to quantify defensive ability. The simplistic, easily quantifiable way is to look at steals and blocks. Interestingly, in reasonably similar career lengths, Ben Wallace had twice as many steals and four times as many blocks as Worm. Wallace had 3506 steals and blocks, Worm had 1142. Hmmm....

Rodman, every time, not even a question. Don't let the antics cloud your judgment--Rodman was the best defensive player to ever play the game.

in many ways. Agree it isn't close.

Rodman was clearly the better player but for the pople complaining about Big Ben getting his #3 retired have you forgotten Wallace had 4 DPOY awards.. Hang that man up in the rafters, he more than earned it.