"Dennis the Hall-of-Famer"

If I had a kid, Dennis Rodman would be near the top of my list of people not to leave my kid around. He is, after all, a hard-partying, nose-earring-wearing, past-Madonna-husbanding, arresting middle-aged man.

Not exactly a trustworthy babysitter.

But is he a Hall-of-Fame basketball player? I'd bet my kid's life on it.

Rodman, retired from the NBA since the 1999-2000 season, isn't yet eligible to be nominated for a Hall-of-Fame ballot, according to a "New York Times" article, because he has played professionally in other leagues since then. A player has to have been retired five years to make the ballot.

When he becomes eligible, Rodman should be on that first ballot. He was that good - if not controversial - of a player.

I know Bostonians won't like this comparison, but Rodman was a mini Bill Russell. All he did was win. Russell won 11 championships, a record that will most likely never come down. Rodman won five championships in a much more competitive era.

First he helped the Pistons overcome their nemesis, the Lakers, in the 1989 finals and then repeat the next year. Rodman stayed on with the Pistons for two more playoff runs, which both ended in defeat, before the team missed the playoffs in his final year there. Then Rodman joined San Antonio for two years during which the Spurs averaged more than 57 wins a season. Again, they failed to make a playoff run. But Rodman's impact cannot be denied. The 62 games the Spurs won in 1995 was the most ever by the franchise until it won 63 last year.

Finally, Rodman came to Chicago and helped lift the Bulls to their second three-peat. Ask just about any player from those teams, and they'd say that without the rebounding machine, they couldn't have accomplished that feat.

When asked whether Rodman should make the Hall-of-Fame, past teammate Scottie Pippen said: "The Hall of Fame is not built on offense, it’s built on greatness, and Dennis was one of the greatest I’ve ever played with. Maybe you could have made the argument before he joined the Bulls that he didn’t have the credentials. But with our team, night in and night out, he proved his greatness, and now his credentials speak for itself. In my mind, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer."

A few more of Rodman's numbers. The 6-foot-7 forward led the league in rebounding seven consecutive years. That is absolutely amazing, especially considering the guys he was competing against. Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Robert Parrish, Dikembe Mutumbo, Alonzo Mourning. The shorter, skinnier Rodman outworked all of these behemoths to the ball year after year. There were six seasons in which Rodman averaged more than 15 rebounds a game. That, right there, is a Hall-of-Fame-worthy statistic. Rodman recklessly threw his body all over the court to snatch rebound after rebound.

Russell finished his 13-year career with averages of 15.1 points and 22.5 rebounds per game. Rodman, in the 14 seasons he played, averaged 7.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game. On the surface, the number don't even seem close. But you have to realize that Russell played in a very high-scoring era during which teams chucked up several more shots than during the low-scoring '90s, in which Rodman was at his prime.

Also, like Russell, Rodman was a beast of a player on the defensive end. He even managed to win two Defensive Player of the Year awards in 1990 and 1991. For a 6-7 player on the same team as "Bad Boys" Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer, that's awfully impressive.

Was Rodman even close to the player and leader Russell was? Heck, no. Russell was one of the five greatest players of all times - and if you ask Boston sports writers, such as Bob Ryan, he was the best ever. Rodman was just a role player. If he hadn’t been around leaders like Thomas and Michael Jordan, he might not have fit his role so well.

But as ABC and ESPN statistician Elliott Kalb writes in his book, "Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball?" Rodman "should be remembered for being the player who hustled non-stop - and did all the dirty work. He would dive on the floor. He would deny the entry pass. He would pass up shots so his teammates would be happy. He gave his team more extra possessions than anyone."

Kalb rates Rodman as the 30th greatest player of all time, a huge compliment to Rodman. He even calls Rodman "the greatest defensive player in the history of the game." While that statement could surely spark a dinner-and-dessert argument, it can't be dismissed. This guy made every single team he was on - even the '98 and '99 Lakers - better. He played unselfish. He played hard.

And most of his histrionics were off the court and didn’t affect his team. By no means was he a T.O. or Barry Bonds.

You may not like Dennis Rodman. But if you appreciate the game of basketball, you have to appreciate Dennis Rodman. And you have to believe that he's a future Hall-of-Famer.