Bubba Wells waited until Dennis Rodman had jogged across the center circle before grabbing him near his shoulders. Rodman tried to wriggle free as play continued around them, and the players grappled for a few seconds before a referee noticed and whistled a foul.
Wells walked away, chewing gum, smiling sheepishly.
It was Dec. 29, 1997, and the Dallas Mavericks had traveled to play the Chicago Bulls. Before the game, Don Nelson, the Mavericks’ coach, asked Wells, then a 23-year-old rookie, if he would be willing to help execute a curious new game plan: Nelson wanted to foul Rodman repeatedly, whether he had the ball or not, to send him to the free-throw line, where he was shooting just 38.