NBA NOTES : Rodman Deserves to Be an All-Star

Coaches often lecture on the value of role players. They are vital. A team’s chances of winning a championship increase in direct proportion to the competence of its players off the bench.

It was a great day for coaches in 1982 when the NBA instituted a Sixth Man Award, a direct descendant of the sixth-man tradition created by Red Auerbach and the Celtics. The award made it official--the best non-starter in the league would be recognized as an elite player.

Eastern Conference coaches advanced the credibility of the sixth man in the early ‘80s when they voted Philadelphia’s Bobby Jones and Boston’s Kevin McHale to All-Star teams. Lately, however, coaches have been primarily interested in scoring.

This season, coaches--particularly Eastern Conference coaches--have an opportunity to make a statement about the value of role players.

In short, when they vote in the next two weeks for All-Star reserves, they have a chance to put Dennis Rodman on the All-Star team. Magic Johnson believes the Pistons’ forward should be on the team.

“Any successful team has to have a guy come in off the bench and get the job done,” Johnson said. “Rodman gives them that spark, especially when they aren’t playing well. He just kills you.”

In previous years when coaches selected the seven All-Star reserves--after fans voted for the five starters--coaches were forced to vote for two guards, two forwards, two centers and one wild card.

This season, however, coaches will vote for a second team--two guards, two forwards and only one center. And then they will vote for two wild cards. That gives them the opportunity to vote for the most deserving scorer and the most deserving role player.

Rodman would love to make an All-Star team.

“You see a lot of guys today making the All-Star team because of their name,” Rodman said. “You’ve got a lot of great players, but I think they should pick some guys who work really hard and deserve to be there. I don’t see why a defensive player can’t make it--a guy whose job it is to stop guys and rebound.”

Johnson and the Lakers are aware of what an impact Rodman has on the Detroit team. In the Pistons’ 4-0 sweep of the Lakers in the 1989 NBA Finals, six Pistons played more than Rodman, who averaged only 24 minutes, but he still led Detroit in rebounds with 10 a game.

Rodman’s play made a statement on how a reserve player can have impact on a series. And, now, the most effective way for coaches to make a statement about the value of role players is to vote for a player who does the dirty work and does not concern himself with scoring. Rodman is deserving. He should be on the All-Star team.

As long as Larry Brown is the Spurs’ coach, there will be rumors about trades, no matter how well the Spurs are doing. Brown has always had love-hate relationships with many of his players, and, as one associate noted, “has a history of wanting to trade every player on his team.” That has changed a little this season. Let the record show that Brown is happy with David Robinson and does not want to trade him.

Anyway, Bob Bass, the Spurs’ assistant to chairman Red McCombs, is in charge of trades, and in fact vetoed a deal last season when Brown wanted to trade Willie Anderson--a future All-Star--to the Blazers for Jerome Kersey. Bass says of the Midwest Division-leading Spurs, “We like the team we have right now. They have a very good feeling for each other, and we’re not interested in making any changes.”

Bass and McCombs have listed several untouchables on the team--Robinson, Anderson and Sean Elliott. “Those players are the future of our franchise,” Bass said.

Red Auerbach says the Celtics made a mistake on draft day. “It’s a simple fact,” Auerbach said. “We should have taken Vlade Divac, but we didn’t know he could play.”

That is strange, considering the Celtics’ infatuation with Yugoslav players. Last year they courted Stojan Vrankovic and in the last draft, they selected Dino Radja in the second round. Divac was clearly better than each of his teammates on the Yugoslav national squad.

But, besides that, the Celtics--badly lacking in team speed--also blew it when they took Michael Smith instead of Tim Hardaway, who went one pick later to the Warriors.

Magic Johnson says the race for MVP is still wide open with Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing as heavyweight contenders. But he likes what Ewing is doing. “Patrick Ewing is playing very well,” Johnson said. “Michael is still doing his thing, but Patrick’s having a super year. He’s had those 44 (points), 22 (rebounds) games with six or seven blocks, and he’s doing it every night.”

I don’t mean to be argumentative, but isn’t it about time for David Robinson to be included among the MVP candidates?

Kelly Tripucka may be from Bloomfield, N.J., but he gets no slack from the Nets’ house band. When the Hornets visited Meadowlands Arena recently, Tripucka went to the free-throw line. The band played the oldies song, “It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To,” in honor of Tripucka’s recent tearful speech to a Charlotte crowd after a Hornets game.

Expansion teams are supposed to be erratic, but the Hornets are getting ridiculous. Last season their last five victories came on the road, but they lost their last 13 home games. This season they have lost their first 16 road games.

The Bulls have five players averaging double-figure points for the first time since 1985.

The Celtics, playing without Larry Bird, lost to the Nets by nine points last week, scoring six points in the second quarter. The next night, still without Bird, they beat the Pistons at home. “I can’t figure out this team,” Kevin McHale said. “Schizo is a good word.”

Adrian Dantley has always been bothered by his reputation as a self-centered, greedy player who cares more about money than his team. Dantley complains about that image. Dantley also has a tattoo on his left hip of a money bag with a dollar sign on it. But don’t let that fool you.