conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about NBA, Team, Huntington with the genre: Biographies & Memoirs, Ethnic & National?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'I Should Be Dead By Now'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first four paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: I Should Be Dead By Now
  Finally, my fans gripe that I'm not in the Hall of Fame. That, too, is premature. I just became eligible, and we have yet to submit the paperwork. So for those who say I've been underrated; again, I say get back to me.
  Anything that gets voted on, like the Hall of Fame, is political and, of course, subjective. Not that I did that badly in the popularity contests over the years. Even at my wildest, I made the NBA All-Defensive first team seven times and was named Defensive Player of the Year twice. Of course, I only made the All-NBA team twice in 1990 and 1992, and was actually left out during my peak years at Chicago.
  Basic statistics guarantee Dennis Rodman a place in NBA history. Seven straight rebounding titles: best of all time. Better than Wilt. Better than Bill Russell. Better than Wes Unseld. I'm one of only a handful of players to win as many as five championships—six if you count the Jam ABA title. I am even making a splash in some of the new statistics that have come along.
  These days, coaches and basketball junkies are forever trying to come up with new statistics that will give them an edge or just settle a bar bet. Sometimes, they can get way out there.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: four more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: At the time, I was getting similar "You're a loser—Fix it" messages from Michelle, Darren, and Thaer. So I made a decision to sober up. But that was just the first phase of my comeback. Now I had a reputation to live down. Needed to retool my image. Wendell had some ideas.
  One final piece of advice: "Blame it all on alcohol," said Wendell. "People love comeback stories. Blame it all on alcohol because, guess what, Dennis? It's the truth."
  Well, alcohol was the symptom and not the disease. The disease was basketball or maybe the lack of basketball. As Wendell told a reporter: "After he got cut from the Lakers, it all started crumbling down."
  When L.A. dumped me in 1999, that led to a little mix-up with my sister Debra, who had been working for me, and I let her go. My agent, Dwight Manley, and I already had parted ways right around the time I signed with the Lakers. Now there was no basketball, no Debra, and no Dwight in my life, and Carmen was coming and going. So there were huge holes to fill, and I topped them off with alcohol, alcohol, and more alcohol. Wendell, who was my full-time bodyguard at the time, watched me go down the toilet.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last five paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Even today, when coaches, owners, and GMs are sitting around talking about the kind of guy they'd like to play for them, my name always pops up.
  Everybody's always telling me, "You're a great player. You're this. You're that." But when it comes down to pulling the trigger—nothing. And I'm like, "Where are you?" I've got a suggestion: quit kissing David Stern's ass and give me a shot. I'll swallow my ego and try out. I'll come to rookie camp. I'll do anything except sweep up 
  The same man who had branded prodigal son Kobe "un-coachable" only months before, was rehired to shepherd the 34-48, playoff-challenged Lakers back to respectability.
  Sports reporters are forever asking me how I want to be remembered. Well, as a hell of a basketball player, certainly, but not just that. People come up to me all the time, and it's like, "Wow, you're not just an athlete. You're a pop icon." Yeah, I'm that and a role model and a piece of history, and most importantly, a symbol of hope for people everywhere who are afraid to open up and be themselves. That may be what I'm most proud of. People see the way I've lived my life so far, see how I took a lot of chances and not only survived, but thrived, and they're like, "Hey, I can do that, too." So I freed people up, showed people they could be themselves—say, feel, dress, and act the way they want to—and actually get away with it.
  I also hope my kids will remember me as a good father; my neighbors will remember me as a good citizen; and that some day, somehow, some woman will remember me as a good husband. But if I had to boil it all down and put how I want to be remembered on a tombstone, it might look something like this:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Even today, when coaches, owners, and GMs are sitting around talking about the kind of guy they'd like to play for them, my name always pops up.
  Everybody's always telling me, "You're a great player. You're this. You're that." But when it comes down to pulling the trigger—nothing. And I'm like, "Where are you?" I've got a suggestion: quit kissing David Stern's ass and give me a shot. I'll swallow my ego and try out. I'll come to rookie camp. I'll do anything except sweep up 
  The same man who had branded prodigal son Kobe "un-coachable" only months before, was rehired to shepherd the 34-48, playoff-challenged Lakers back to respectability.
  Sports reporters are forever asking me how I want to be remembered. Well, as a hell of a basketball player, certainly, but not just that. People come up to me all the time, and it's like, "Wow, you're not just an athlete. You're a pop icon." Yeah, I'm that and a role model and a piece of history, and most importantly, a symbol of hope for people everywhere who are afraid to open up and be themselves. That may be what I'm most proud of. People see the way I've lived my life so far, see how I took a lot of chances and not only survived, but thrived, and they're like, "Hey, I can do that, too." So I freed people up, showed people they could be themselves—say, feel, dress, and act the way they want to—and actually get away with it.
  I also hope my kids will remember me as a good father; my neighbors will remember me as a good citizen; and that some day, somehow, some woman will remember me as a good husband.