Give a gift from the past, an antique.
PHILADELPHIA -- Dennis Rodman's latest tirade will cost him six games and more than $200,000. It could cost the Chicago Bulls a chance to become the first NBA team to win 70 games.
Rodman, the league's leading rebounder and most volatile character, got a six-game suspension without pay and $20,000 fine Monday for head-butting a referee and other outbursts after being ejected from Saturday night's game.
"Physical assaults on referees cannot and will not be tolerated under any circumstances," NBA vice president Rod Thorn said.
Rodman's suspension was the third longest levied by the NBA. Kermit Washington was suspended for 26 games in 1977 for punching Rudy Tomjanovich, and Vernon Maxwell received a 10-game suspension last year for going into the stands and hitting a fan.
With Rodman and the injured Scottie Pippen out, more of the burden to carry the Bulls will fall on Michael Jordan, who said Rodman let down the people "who gave him an opportunity to prove himself."
"We're trying to progress as a team and he kind of let it go by the waysides," Jordan said. "A lot of what you see in Dennis is his image and persona. He has continued to feed off that and that's very dangerous to this team's success."
Jerry Krause, the team's vice president of basketball operations, acknowledged Rodman committed an "extremely serious offense," but thinks the penalty was "too severe for a player whose conduct has been excellent up to this point this year."
Bulls coach Phil Jackson didn't quarrel with the league's discipline.
"Certainly his distractions are not acceptable," he said. "I think the league called it right."
Several teammates said they sensed Rodman's patience with NBA officials was wearing thin.
"You can see it built slowly because the referees are paying so much attention to him," Bulls center Bill Wennington said at the team hotel before Monday night's game against Philadelphia. "You know with his personality something's going to happen eventually."
Along with his $20,000 fine and an automatic $1,000 fine for his ejection, Rodman will lose about $34,500 in salary for each game he is suspended. That means the incident will cost him a total of $228,000.
It could also prove costly for the Bulls, who are on pace to break the record of 69 victories in a season by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. Without Rodman and ailing All-Star Pippen, who is expected to be sidelined for another week, Chicago (57-7) could be vulnerable as it plays three games in the next four nights.
The Bulls must win 13 of their last 18 games to set the record, beginning with Monday night's game.
"As far as winning 70 it may hurt us," Bulls said center Luc Longley said at the team hotel. "But as far as down the stretch it may not be a bad thing. ... Other guys will have to step up and play a lot of minutes."
After being ejected during the first quarter of a win over New Jersey, Rodman head-butted ref Ted Bernhardt, knocked over a water cooler, stripped off his jersey and shouted obscenities before leaving the court.
"The suspension and fine reflect not only the head-butting, but the totality of his actions on the court," said Thorn, who was at the game and saw the tirade.
Rodman, who averages 15.1 rebounds, claims that refs have been picking on him because of his bad-boy reputation. He won't be eligible to play again until April 2, when the Bulls visit Miami.
"They can suspend me and make an example out of Dennis Rodman, I don't care," Rodman said after the New Jersey game. "If I butted him, I butted him. So suspend me, David Stern. Suspend me, Rod Thorn. You guys are so big, suspend me."
Rodman, seeking his fifth straight rebounding title, is as well known for his troubled past as his ferocious work on the boards.
Since October 1992, he has been suspended at least seven times by the league or his team. He also has been fined at least nine times during that period.
Last season, while playing for the San Antonio Spurs, he was benched during Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals for arguing with coach Bob Hill and refusing to join team huddles. The Spurs traded him to Chicago for center Will Perdue on Oct. 2, 1995.
Earlier this season, Rodman was fined $5,000 for verbally abusing referees and failing to leave the court in a timely fashion after being ejected from a game with Seattle.
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