Reisman reached Rodman’s mother, Shirley, who invited him to Dallas. But when Reisman showed up at their apartment, Rodman refused to leave his bedroom. Reisman kept knocking and waiting, knocking and waiting. It must have become evident to Rodman that this guy was not going to leave him alone.

“He opened the door, and I don’t know what it was, but we just had an instant connection,” Reisman said. “You have that with some recruits.”

That same afternoon, Reisman left to head back to Southeastern Oklahoma State — with Rodman riding shotgun. They wound up playing H-O-R-S-E in the school gymnasium, Reisman said, then sat together in the bleachers for a quiet conversation. Reisman told Rodman that he had a tremendous amount of talent.

“Do you really think so?” Reisman recalled Rodman asking him.

Reisman soon persuaded Rodman to stick around. After cluttering the box score in his first game, Rodman told Reisman that he hoped he had not disappointed him.

“I hope you disappoint me every night,” Reisman recalled telling him.

And when Reisman broke the news to Rodman that he had been named an N.A.I.A. all-American after his sophomore season — the first of three straight selections — Rodman was taken aback: What was an all-American? Reisman had to explain that it meant he was one of the top players in the country.

In the N.B.A., Rodman could be maddening, distracting and exhausting for opponents and teammates alike. The ESPN documentary touched on the notorious midseason vacation that Rodman took to Las Vegas, where he appeared to indulge in all the various excesses that befitted his playboy lifestyle while the Bulls plodded along without him. But then he returned — miraculously — in tiptop shape, according to Jordan. It was as if Rodman’s Sin City sabbatical had never happened. It was another feat in a career full of them.

But it also served as an example of how Rodman’s eccentric personality often overshadowed his greatness as a player. And his greatness was the result of an approach that ran counter to the popular narrative that he helped stoke: He worked incredibly hard. He was a blue-collar welder who merely dressed as if he had tickets to Comic-Con.