Dennis Rodman's latest outburst will cost him the San Antonio Spurs' first three regular-season games, forcing his teammates to work on ways to win without him.
"It's time for us to go ahead and get on with it and start bringing our team together the way we need to bring it together," Spurs center David Robinson said after practice Wednesday.Rodman's suspension without pay will last through Friday night's opener against Golden State, then the next two games against New Jersey and Utah.
"Dennis has to realize he's not going to win the battle - fighting the NBA, fighting the officials, fighting (Spurs general manager Gregg Popovich), fighting me," Spurs coach Bob Hill said.
Spurs officials said if Rodman's behavior doesn't improve after the suspension, he'll get more of the same.
"If his conduct continues the way it has been, unfortunately we would probably have to look at a more serious suspension to get our message across," Popovich said. "I hope he gets the message. I hope he returns to the squad wanting to be a full participant, because we do respect what he can do."
Spurs forward Terry Cummings praised Rodman's basketball talents and said he hopes Rodman returns and fits in. But Cummings said the suspension is "for the betterment of the team."
"Ultimately what it says to us and to Dennis is we want to be a 12-man team strong - not 11," Cummings said.
An indefinite suspension was announced Tuesday, one day after Rodman was ejected from the Spurs' final exhibition game. Spurs officials said the suspension resulted from a series of preseason problems with Rodman, who led the NBA in rebounding last season with an average of 17.3 but also received more technical fouls - 34 - than any other player.
The NBA consulted with the Spurs in setting the length of the suspension.
"The best way to deal with Dennis is (for him) to know we very much want him to succeed, and we'd like to see him succeed in the NBA complying with our rules," NBA commissioner David Stern said.
The Spurs, who have a new coach and general manager this season, said they simply want Rodman - the flamboyant player with the ever-changing hair color and collection of tattoos - to be part of the team.
Last season under coach John Lucas, he was known to skip practices and shootarounds.
"This is no way an attack on Dennis, but rather a reaction to the continuous, flagrant disregard for the terms of his uniform player contract and the Spurs team rules," Popovich said.
Rodman hasn't commented publicly on the suspension. But on Tuesday, after a KSAT-TV crew pursued Rodman in his white Ford Bronco and caught up with him at a restaurant, he sounded confident the dispute would be resolved.
"It's no big deal. We'll work it out," he told the television reporter.
Hill said he and Popovich planned to meet with Rodman on Wednesday at Rodman's request. Hill said he did not know what Rodman wanted to discuss.