LA Clippers’ Montrezl Harrell: “I’m the modern-day Rodman”

LA Clippers’ forward Montrezl Harrell claims he is the modern-day Dennis Rodman.

Like all of us during quarantine, LA Clippers’ forward Montrezl Harrell was enamored with The Last Dance on ESPN.

It wasn’t necessarily Michael Jordan, though, that had Trezz hyped up. It was Dennis Rodman.

The infatuation might be because Trezz sees himself as the modern-day Rodman. Speaking to Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads podcast, he said as much.

"“I’ve been telling people, I’m the modern day Rodman, for real. I’m the modern day Rodman. That’s it. Rodman, man. Just to watch his whole process in general, man. Like, even after the documentary, I got on the Twitter and tweeted “Hey man, we gotta give a lot more credit then what we did”."

Richardson and Miles were quick to agree that it is a fair comparison. No, their games don’t exactly matchup given Trezz’s affinity for scoring and Rodman’s ability to rebound. In fact, Trezz’s current average 18.6 points per game (his career-best) is seven points better than Rodman’s best year. On the flip side, Trezz has never come close to averaging double-digit rebounding (his career-high is 7.1 RPG) while Rodman averaged 13.1 for his entire career.

No, it’s not the game but the work ethic and energy that both bring to the court where the comparison is made. Trezz even acknowledged that Rodman and players who worked hard to get playing time are who he looked up to as a kid.

"“I just looked up to guys who just worked, just competed, just got after it. I looked up to guys known for that dog mentality. I seen your clips, D Miles, JJ Hickson’s clips, Jeff Green and all his ugly clips with the surgery, after the surgery and he came back and his story. Just guys that basically got out the mud, just working to become the players they became today.”"

Casual fans may not remember it, but Montrezl Harrell started as a pure energy guy off the bench for the Houston Rockets along with some time in the G-League. Trezz used his time to work and “get out the mud” as he put it, becoming a premiere bench player for a championship hopeful LA Clippers team.

It’s not hard to see his work ethic either. Last summer, instead of taking off as many players do, Trezz was on the court constantly, working at Rico Hines and playing in the Drew League. That work ethic is the reason he’s now widely popular in the league and will likely have several big offers this offseason when he enters free agency.

Trezz will have to embrace that Rodman role to Kawhi Leonard’s Michael Jordan and Paul George’s Scottie Pippen as the LA Clippers make their championship run in Orlando. The team will need everything he brings to the court in order to come out on top. For now, though, let’s just keep him in our thoughts as he deals with family issues which have caused him to leave the bubble.

The LA Clippers tip-off for their first scrimmage on Wednesday versus the Orlando Magic. Make sure to check here for all your coverage as the NBA season resumes.