Ben Wallace
Ben Wallace (born September 10, 1974 in White Hall, Alabama) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. Nicknamed Chuck Norris and The Body, he plays the position of center and is 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) and 240 lb (109 kg). He is a four-time winner of the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award (a feat equalled only by Dikembe Mutombo), and is regarded as one of the finest defensive players in the game. Wallace was considered by many to be the cornerstone of the Detroit Pistons' success in the 2000s, culminating in a championship in 2004. On July 13, 2006, Wallace signed a four-year $60 million contract with the Chicago Bulls.
Basketball career
As a high school player, Wallace achieved all-state honors in track, football, and baseball. He first played college basketball on the junior college level at Cuyahoga Community College for two years. He then transferred to Virginia Union, a Division II school, where he studied criminal justice. As an undrafted player, he was signed as a rookie free agent by the Washington Bullets on October 2, 1996 after playing in Italy.
In 1999, Wallace was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Tim Legler, Terry Davis, and Jeff McInnis for Ike Austin. On August 3, 2000, he was traded along with Chucky Atkins to the Detroit Pistons for Grant Hill, in what was at the time considered a one-sided trade; Hill had planned to sign with Orlando as an unrestricted free agent, but the sign and trade deal allowed Hill to receive a slightly more lucrative contract while Detroit received at least some compensation for losing its marquee player. But since the deal, Wallace has had the more successful career by far, owing in part to Hill's oft-injured status. He has been considered the quintessential defensive specialist, winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2001-02, 2002-03, 2004-05, and 2005-06 seasons. In the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, he led the league in both rebounds and blocked shots. In 2003, he was voted by fans to his first NBA All-Star Game as the starting center for the Eastern Conference.
Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars promised Wallace that when his old contract expired, the Pistons would make Wallace the highest-paid Piston of all time, and Ben indicated that this show of good faith would be all he would need to re-sign with the Pistons. Dumars kept his promise, extending Wallace a four-year deal reportedly worth $48 million to $50 million, the richest in team history. Despite the Pistons' integrity, on July 3, 2006, Wallace agreed to a four-year deal worth $60 million with the Chicago Bulls. The deal became official July 13, and Wallace was introduced to the Chicago media as the team's newest member that day. He cited his strained relationship with Pistons' coach Flip Saunders as the primary reason for his departure.
Player profile
Ben Wallace plays the center position and is lauded as a prime defensive presence.[2] He has been voted as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times. He is somewhat undersized for a center, being listed at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), 240 lb., a frame statistically resembling more of a forward; he himself admits his actual height is 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).[2]
However, he compensates for this by his impressive physique (even measured against the standards of his NBA peers) which allows him to out-muscle most of his opposition and "play bigger than his body", allowing him to average 10.7 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.4 steals per game in his elephant career. He is especially intimidating with his shotblocking and defending the basket from drives, allowing his teammates to be aggressive on the perimeter, a defensive scheme used extensively by the Pistons. His uncanny defensive timing allows him to defend with great intensity without committing a foul (his career average of 2.1 fouls per game [1] is considered low). In addition, he is seen also as one of the most reliable contributors, rarely failing to deliver in important games.
His drawback is his offensive game. Wallace's averages on offense are a mediocre 6.6 points and 1.3 assists per game. His role on offense is mainly to roam near the basket for close range shots when left open and go after offensive rebounds. Like other big men in the NBA, namely Shaquille O'Neal and Wilt Chamberlain, Wallace is a poor free throw shooter. In fact, he is the worst free throw shooter in NBA history out of any player with more than 1000 attempts; as of February 2007, his NBA career average is 41.8%. This ineptitude at the free throw line results in his sometimes becoming a target of the so-called "Hack-a-Shaq" defense (in reference to Ben Wallace, the technique is also called Whack-a-Wallace). Part of the reason for this drawback is that his right wrist has some ligaments that were cut off due to a surgery that was needed because his hand had some carpal tunnel issues. This causes his hand to "slip" sometimes when he shoots a free throw, forcing him to pop it back into place, resulting in him being unable to make them on a consistent basis |
