Rodman got off easy

Rodman suspended through All-Star break

Carter: Rodman's volatility surfaces again

Famous last words, but what else did you expect from Dennis Rodman? When it comes to giving his word, it's not worth spit.

Asked about how he'd fit in again after a two-game suspension by his team, Rodman uttered the above nonsense Dec. 21. The reaction here was to immediately send up a red flag. With Rodman, you have no other choice.

"The season is just a quarter of the way over," I wrote at the time. "There still is lots of time for Rodman to go off, embarrass the Bulls and end up on the suspended list."

Voila.

Less than a month later, Rodman maliciously attacks an innocent cameraman at courtside in the Target Center. Kicks him in the groin. Shows no remorse. Questions whether his target, Eugene Amos, really was hurt. Jokes about sending him roses.

Eugene Amos, right, and his attorney Gale Pearson meet the press Friday.

All in all, a classless act by the NBA's leading troublemaker and recidivist.

The NBA did the right thing in giving Rodman the boot for at least 11 games. Tell you what: Eleven more wouldn't hurt.

During the course of his 25-day suspension, he's going to have to get professional counseling. Then the league will decide if Rodman can return Feb. 11 vs. Charlotte, or if he needs more time to get straightened out. The counseling requirement, long overdue, has been invoked in previous cases.

The reaction from Rodman's agent, somebody named Dwight Manley, was predictable. Sad, too. Manley called the punishment "excessive and unjust."

You have to wonder if Manley was watching the same replay millions of Americans watched of Amos being attacked when he was seated where he was supposed to be. Manley's client is the one who is way out of line in this case.

"There is no precedent for it, whatsoever," said Manley of the counseling requirement. Again, he is wonderfully uninformed. In 1977, Kermit Washington slugged Rudy Tomjanovich in the worst act of one-on-one violence in league history, was suspended 26 games and had to also meet with league-approved counselors before getting reinstated.

Two years ago, Vernon Maxwell raced like a lunatic into the stands in Portland and punched a fan. He too had to show counselors after his 10-game suspension that he was again mentally fit to play in the NBA again. If those two needed counseling, Rodman certainly does.

"To say he needs professional help of a counselor is unfair," Manley added. "He's perfectly sane and cognizant."

That's exactly what I think of when I see Rodman head-butt officials, take cheap-shots at opponents and get into a white wedding dress when the mood strikes him. We should all be so sane, so cognizant.

Considering Rodman's history of run-ins with officials and opponents, he's long been a candidate for some serious counseling, if not a shrink's couch. Bravo for NBA commissioner David Stern finally putting a straitjacket on Rodman.

"Until Dennis can provide meaningful assurances that he will conform his conduct on the playing court to acceptable standards -- including not placing others at physical risk -- his suspension will continue," Stern said in a statement.

According to league officials, Rodman has to show progress with the counselors, or the suspension will continue after the All-Star break. Don't bet against the suspension being lengthened, given his personality and the fact that he almost never admits to doing anything wrong, even if he is clearly at fault, even if it already is costing him $1 million in lost wages and incentives, not to mention the $25,000 chump change they call a fine.

As one league exec whispered: "He still doesn't think he did anything wrong with the head-butting episode. So you don't know if the counseling will help. Rest assured, there will be more than one session."

Lord knows he needs it. This is not to say that we don't appreciate Rodman's unique talents. There hasn't been a better rebounder at 6-foot-8 in the history of the game. On more nights than not, he's still one of the great defenders at any position across the front line. Anybody can see all that.

Rodman should have been the MVP in last year's Finals. Clearly, he won two games by himself. Two more than Michael Jordan. He plays with a passion few have. His knowledge of the game is, according to none other than Magic Johnson, second to none. "He's the smartest player I ever played against," Magic told me last spring. "And that includes Larry Bird."

And when it comes to his views on what's wrong with young players, Rodman is always on the money.

"They come into this league, making all this damned money, thinking they don't have to do anything," Rodman said in December. "Just go and be flashy. But that doesn't win. You've got to learn about the game."

Rodman knows more than his share about the game. It's the other stuff on which he is clearly in the dark, making him the one player who can stop the Bulls from winning their fifth title in seven seasons.

Without him for the next few weeks, the Bulls can probably kiss their second consecutive 70-win season goodbye. Perhaps that is why team officials were said to be angered by the length and terms of the suspension.

Tough. The Bulls chose to re-sign a pact with "the devil," Rodman's own description of himself. They knew full well what they were getting into when they had Rodman come back for year two in Chicago. Probably another title.

Definitely a whole lot of trouble.

Mitch Lawrence, NBA columnist for the New York Daily News, is a regular contributor to ESPNET SportsZone.