Dennis Rodman won three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and two with the Detroit Pistons. (GETTY/ALLSPORT)

Dennis Rodman entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. It’s a deserving honor considering the enormous impact Rodman has had in the sport, especially on defense where he truly (and literally) left his mark.

Rodman was an absolute pest on the defensive end, hounding perimeter players and muscling post players with an all-out style that bordered on dirty and calculated. Rodman, nicknamed The Worm, was a unique individual on and off the court. He played to the beat of his own drum, and because he wore his emotions on his biceps he can very difficult to deal with if you don’t allow him his space. But underneath the bleached hair, multiple tattoos, piercings and eccentric personality lies a truly great basketball player who defended his position with boundless energy and passion.

Rodman didn’t care about individual scoring. All he cared about was playing hard, defending his turf and, most of all, winning. When he won the first of his two NBA defensive player of the year awards in 1990 he cried at the podium. That’s how much the award meant to him, and also it validated all the hard work he put into his craft. Defense wins championships is an adage that rings true for Rodman as he helped his teams win the NBA title five times during his career. Whether it was against Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or Karl Malone, Rodman gave them hell. He guarded the basket as if his lunch money was on the line.

So, where does Dennis Rodman rank among the all-time best defensive players in NBA history? OneManFastBreak.net examines the 10 best defenders of all time:

10) ALONZO MOURNING — The former Georgetown Hoya epitomized what a Miami Heat player was in the Pat Riley era – physically and mentally tough. Riley built the Heat image with Zo in mind. Mourning was a two-time defensive player of the year, and he may have won a few more if not for kidney issues. Zo rejected 2,356 shots in his career, but altered thousands more.

9) BEN WALLACE — The Detroit Pistons captured the NBA title in 2003-04 using a suffocating defense anchored by Big Ben. In the NBA Finals, Wallace (who stands just 6-7, but 6-9 with his massive afro) guarded 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal and held his own without much of a double team and absorbed the beating from the 300-pound Shaq. Wallace is one of just two players in league history to win defensive player of the year four times.

8) SIDNEY MONCRIEF — During the 1980s, there were plenty of top perimeter defenders in the league – such as Michael Cooper, Alvin Robertson and Joe Dumars – but Moncrief was regarded as the best at his position. The former Bucks star was the first to receive the defensive player of the year award, winning it 1982-83 and again in 1983-84.

7) HAKEEM OLAJUWON — Hakeem The Dream is the NBA’s all-time leader in blocked shots, rejecting 3,830 shots during his Hall-of-Fame career. Olajuwon and Michael Jordan are the only two players in league history to win MVP and defensive player of the year in the same season. Olajuwon won both in 1993-94, while Jordan pulled off the feat in 1987-88.

6) GARY PAYTON — Nicknamed The Glove for the way he enveloped his opponents, Payton won defensive player of the year in 1996 and amassed 2,445 steals during his 17-year NBA career that included stints in Seattle, Milwaukee, L.A., Boston and Miami. The Glove was also one of the league’s best trash talkers, which oftentimes gave him a huge psychological edge.

5) MICHAEL JORDAN — Jordan is regarded as one of the greatest offensive players in basketball, but his defense was almost as good as his offense. Jordan took pride on being a two-way player, making him one of few all-time great scorers who defended his position as well as anyone in the sport. MJ never backed down from a challenge, and he often volunteered to guard the other team’s best player.

4) DIKEMBE MUTOMBO — At 7-3 and arms as long as a redwood, few tried to challenge Mt. Mutombo at the rim. And those who did often found rejection and was the recipient of an embarrassing finger wag – Mutombo’s signature diss for anyone who dared to challenge him. Mutombo blocked 3,289 shots in his career, second only to Olajuwon. He also won defensive player of the year four times, tied with Wallace for most DPY awards.

3) SCOTTIE PIPPEN — Phil Jackson calls Scottie Pippen one of the smartest defensive players he has ever coach. This is high praise from a man who coached Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. Pippen disrupted many offensive plans with his quickness, length and incredible instincts. He was named to the NBA’s all-defensive first team eight times and amassed 2,307 steals. During the 1991 NBA Finals, he flipped the series in favor of the Chicago Bulls when he suffocated Magic Johnson in Game 2 and made it extremely difficult for the Lakers to get into their offensive sets.

2) DENNIS RODMAN — During his Hall-of-Fame acceptance speech, Rodman admitted that all glitz and glamor is one big act. Underneath the body ink and the fancy outfits is a hard-working man who came from nothing and amounted to something. In the 1996 NBA Finals, then Seattle Sonics coach George Karl said Rodman could have easily been named the MVP of the Bulls-Sonics series, as Karl pointed out that Rodman almost single-handedly won two games for the Bulls in the series with his energy and defense. His former Piston teammate, Dumars, said that Rodman may be flamboyant off the court but on the court he was all business.

1) BILL RUSSELL — Defense wins championships and nobody won more titles in the NBA than William Felton Russell. The 1960s began and ended with Russell walking off the court a champion. The Boston Celtics dynasty was built on defense, and Russell was front and center. He is second all-time in rebounds with 21,620 and turned the blocked shot into an art form.

Blocks weren’t kept during Russell’s playing days, but if they were he would easily be in the top five. What made Russell a great shot-blocker was the way he kept the ball in play, often igniting fast breaks for his teammates. And even though he lost the majority of his one-on-one battles with his nemesis Wilt Chamberlain, Russell never backed away from his greatest challenge and the Celtics almost always came out on top on the scoreboard. Great defensive centers are often compared to Russell, but the five-time NBA MVP was a once-in-a-lifetime player.

Joel Huerto is the publisher and editor of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

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Center Alonzo Mourning finished his career as the 10th-best shot blocker in NBA history. (GETTY IMAGES)

When you look up the word “warrior” in the online dictionary, it reads: one who is engaged aggressively or energetically in an activity, cause, or conflict.

When you look up the picture of a warrior, you see Alonzo Mourning.

Mourning, 38, announced his retirement from the NBA after 15 years of engaging in aggressive and energetic activity on the basketball court. The knee injury he suffered back in December of 2007 was just too much to overcome for a man who has overcome so much during his career. He left the court as the all-time leader in points and rebounds for the Miami Heat and his 2,356 blocked shots ranks him 10th in league history. He was twice named defensive player of the year and was named to the All-Star team seven times.

But Mourning’s contribution to the game goes beyond hardware and statistics. He was, and always will be, the heart and soul of the Miami Heat. He anchored Pat Riley’s defense that was built around intimidation. He was the inspirational leader of the Heat teams of the late 1990s that included Tim Hardaway, Dan Majerle, Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown and Voshon Lenard.

Mourning is remembered more for being a hated brute than a beloved superstar. He wore his Georgetown scowl as soon as he stepped off the bus. Because he was a bit undersized as a center (listed at a generous 6-foot-10), Zo had to make up for his lack of length with grit, determination and intimidation. He played every minute or every game as if it was his last. He often willed his teams to victories. He often did not back down from a physical challenge. And when he got knocked down, he often got right back up.

He got right back up after being forced to retire in 2002 because of a bad kidney. During an emotional retirement press conference, Riley could not hold back the tears when he told reporters that Mourning, a pillar of strength and health since becoming the face of the Heat franchise in 1996, was retiring. After taking a year off, Zo returned to the NBA in 2003 and joined the New Jersey Nets. Riley got teary-eyed again in 2005 when Mourning returned to the Heat.

Because he wore his aggression and his passion on his biceps, Mourning was a magnet for confrontations. His battles with fellow Hoya, Patrick Ewing, during the 1990s were legendary. Larry Johnson could not stand him when they were teammates in Charlotte and the two got into a serious throw-down at Madison Square Garden with Jeff Van Gundy playing referee and holding on for dear life. Shaquille O’Neal relished his matchups with Zo so that he can dunk on him. O’Neal and Mourning would eventually make peace and lead the Heat to a championship in 2006.

O’Neal paid Mourning a high compliment when he chose not to wear No. 33 when he first arrived in Miami. Shaq believed that “33″ should be reserved for the man who shouldered the Miami Heat franchise through bad times and good times for 11 seasons.

It will be greatly debated whether Mouring deserves to be in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. If the criteria is solely based on numbers, Zo is a longshot. But if more weight was placed on having a warrior’s mentality on the court and performing community service off it (he is heavily involved in the McDonald’s All-American Game and Zo’s Summer Goove is one of the more popular exhibition games during the offseason), Alonzo Mourning’s name belongs in the hallways of Springfield.

OneManFastbreak.net rates Alonzo Mourning’s top five moments:

5) Zo’s Summer Groove – Now in it’s 12th year, this annual charity event raises funds for the Alonzo Mourning Charities, which has raised more than $6.5 million for various programs that aid in the development of children and their families in struggling communities.

4) Winning gold in 2000 Olympics – As the only true center on the roster, Mourning more than held his own against the rest of the world and was the defensive foundation of the U.S. team that took home the gold medal at the Sydney Games.

3) Shooting down the Celtics in the playoffs – During his rookie season with the Charlotte Hornets, he made a game-winning jumper with no time left on the clock that eliminated the Boston Celtics from the 1993 Eastern Conference playoffs.

2) Coming back from retirement and overcoming the odds – After being forced to retire in 2002 because of a failing kidney, Mourning got himself back in shape and returned to the NBA with the New Jersey Nets in 2003. After two uneventful seasons in New Jersey, he was reunited with Riley and Miami in 2005.

1) Winning an NBA championship with the Heat in 2006 – After 13 years of coming up short, Mourning finally became a champion. One of the highlights of the 2006 NBA Finals was when a 36-year-old Mourning pulled back time and gave a performance for the ages, blocking five shots and throwing down one vicious dunk to spark the Heat to its first NBA title.

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