The Perpetual NBA Thread

[baiskee]

Dapat itong si Big Ben palitan na rin yung kanyang hairstyle dahil bago na team niya...

sungay na lang..tutal mukha na syang BULL eh.

[ILuvDetailing]

Big Ben has come a long way from his cold Toronto days way way back...and with 60 million dollars to spare, good times for BB.

Toronto Days? AFAIK he started his career with Washington, traded to Orlando then traded again to Detroit.

The Wizzards once had Chris Webber, Ben Wallace, Juwan Howard on the same team, they also had Rasheed but traded him for Rod Strickland (if am not mistaken).

[tsupermario]

Wallace will struggle to reach lofty expectations
by Eddie Johnson / July 14, 2006

Ben Wallace was supposedly the free-agent catch of the summer. I beg to differ. Yes, he is a stud and his work ethic is a benefit for any team. But aren't we losing sight of something here? Since when do we anoint a player who can’t score, pass or shoot free throws savior status?

Just think about it. How many more blocks and rebounds will Wallace garner than what Tyson Chandler used to? And how many more victories will Wallace bring to the Bulls to justify ridding themselves of Chandler and paying Wallace $60 million?

The Bulls are getting Dennis Rodman... without the benefit of having Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen around.

If the Bulls think Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni are the equivalent of those two great players, then somebody better wake up soon in that organization and smell the coffee.

Those are very good young players, but they are not go-to players that will take the pressure off of Wallace having to contribute offensively – like Rodman didn’t have to for those great Chicago squads.

Wallace will be the highest-paid player on the team, but the fourth or fifth best in all-around skill categories.

How will that discrepancy sit with players like Hinrich and Gordon?

Ben Wallace will find out early how much Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince meant to him and how they hid his deficiencies.

He was protected to the max in that lineup with the multitude of offensive players surrounding him. Now he has a young inconsistent team with a volatile coach in Scott Skiles to protect his weaknesses every night.

I know Pistons coach Flip Saunders can’t wait to see those weaknesses exploited, thus proving to everyone why he couldn’t play Wallace consistently against certain teams down the stretch of the season and during the playoffs.

Understand I am not a Wallace-basher. I think he is one of the hardest workers in the league, but there is a reason why... He has no choice. If Wallace didn’t work hard, he would be out the league.

He can’t shoot from outside three feet, he has no post moves, he is an adequate passer at best and he is a horrible free-throw shooter. Wallace's attributes are great weak-side defense and tenacious rebounding.

But understand this warning... If Tyrus Thomas can’t defend the ball in the post like Rasheed did in Detroit allowing Wallace to roam, then he will likely be inconsistent and stay in foul trouble – in the end, not paying the dividends they are expecting.

You have to wonder why the Pistons didn't do everything to keep Wallace. They obviously knew what they were doing when Larry Brown was allowed to leave Motown one year after winning a championship.

We saw first hand with Brown why the Pistons didn’t cry and you will see again next year why they still will not pout too much over Wallace leaving.

They know who their best interior player is and his name is Rasheed – not Ben. And although Antonio McDyess is not Ben Wallace, he is a capable defender and a much better scorer.

They also didn’t like the way Wallace was complaining about coaching strategy publicly. Wallace complained that the Pistons didn’t work hard enough on defense, but yet couldn’t Saunders complain that he didn’t work hard enough to improve his offense?

It seemed like the player whose weaknesses were being protected the most was turning on the very hand that put players around him to secure his cult status and put him in position to earn mega millions.

So now that the Bulls have invested $60 million in a player that needs more help around him than any player probably in the history of the league to justify his earnings. We will see how patient they are as an organization. And most importantly, we will see how patient those die-hard Bulls fans are now that they feel like they can contend with the best clubs in the Eastern Conference.

[ILuvDetailing]

^^ true true except for the Tyson Chandler comparison, he is truly overpaid, but the Bulls had to overpay to get him, to get more ticket sales... and to go deeper in the playoffs but I won't compare Wallace with Chandler tho, Wallace is a man, Chandler is still drinking milk.

[theveed]

I so totally agree, Ben has been so overrated since winning the championship...

I find it insulting when people keeps comparing Ben to Shaq just because of FT woes. Ben can NEVER be a threat on offense, I doubt if he can score against Nate Robinson geez.

Chicago, I think, will end up being a high-expectation team that will crumble late in the season...

Barring injuries, I like Orlando's line up much, much better.

[ILuvDetailing]

Speaking of Orlando, JJ Riddick still sidelined with that herniated disk.

[kimpOy]

malas naman ang orlando, last year yung first round nila decided to play abroad tapos ngayon sidelined si JJ

teka eto bang ang JJ na ginawan pa ninyo ng thread....

well about big ben its true that his defense is the exact opposite of his offense but i think the whole offense of the bulls will fed off by its defense, imagine more fastbreak plays more point of turnover.

the bulls are now a balance team although it will now show its wares next season i think its a work in progress

More important than his numbers in my opinion is what impact he can have on the youngsters concerning work-ethic, attitude, etc.!

Wallace mentor Oakley likes Bulls' prospects

July 7, 2006

BY LACY J. BANKS Staff Reporter

Reaching the second round of the playoffs should be a cinch for the Bulls now that they are adding All-Star center Ben Wallace.

That's the prediction of former Bulls star Charles Oakley, the former 19-year NBA veteran who discovered Wallace at his 1991 basketball camp in York, Ala.

''The Bulls are getting an architect and a strong builder in Ben Wallace,'' Oakley said. ''They're getting a guy who can design, draw, build and make things better. They had to spend money to get the best, they spent money and they're going to get every cent of the value of the money they spent.

''Winning a championship takes time, and it's a step every year. This deal was made for the end of the year. They've made it back to the playoffs but been stuck in first round the last couple of years. Now, they should make it to the second or third round, maybe even the Finals.''

Oakley and his longtime friend, Jeff Warner, have seen Wallace come a long way since he was that 6-4, 170-pound, 11th-grader in the camp Warner helped Oakley run.

''When I first saw him, he showed me athleticism, a quickness to the ball and a toughness to convince me that he could make a living playing basketball,'' Oakley said.

Later, Oakley helped Wallace get a scholarship to attend Auburn, where Wallace wanted to play basketball and football. When the university's football coaches refused to let him play basketball, too, he left the school.

Oakley then involved Warren, who coached Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, where Wallace would play two spectacular seasons. In his sophomore year, Wallace averaged 24 points, 17 rebounds and 7.0 blocks.

But when Wallace stopped going to class after the basketball season, he was dismissed and no Division I college accepted his transfer. Oakley rescued Wallace again by arranging for his former coach at Virginia Union, Dave Robbins, to let Wallace play two seasons there, where he averaged 13.4 points and 10 rebounds.

Although Wallace was not drafted by an NBA team, he signed with the Washington Bullets in 1996, gradually progressed from averaging 1.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and .32 blocked shots his rookie season to as many as 9.7 points, 15.4 rebounds and 3.48 blocked shots in a season. He also has made the last four All-Star Games and has been named defensive player of the year four times, including last season.

''The Bulls now have what Oakley was to Michael Jordan when they played together,'' Warren said. ''They have an enforcer who won't allow other teams to try to punk out the Bulls. If his teammates get beat on defense, he'll be a safety valve to back them up.''

Oakley agrees.

''He's always been blessed with raw talent and fresh legs from the start,'' Oakley said. ''He's gotten bigger and meaner over time. He's always had muscles. He just worked hard in the weight room and gym and got more of them.

''But muscles don't make a man. It's what's inside you that makes you a man. [/b]Ben got his success the hard way. He had to eat soup with a fork.''[/b]

[Isuzoom]

Speaking of Orlando, JJ Riddick still sidelined with that herniated disk.

or hang over?

[tsupermario]

Source: Murray, Pistons agree to 2-year, $3.6M deal
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider

It appears that the Detroit Pistons have cornered the market on Flips in the NBA.
The team came to terms with free agent Ronald "Flip" Murray on Friday on a two-year, $3.6 million deal, a league source told ESPN.com.

The team had been looking for a combo guard who could penetrate to the basket and produce instant offense off the bench and Murray appears to be a perfect fit.

Murray made a name for himself two years ago in Seattle when he was inserted into the starting lineup on opening night after Ray Allen suffered an injury and scored 20 or more points in 10 of his first 11 games.

Even more perfect for the Pistons was the price at which they got him. The Pistons originally offered the majority of their mid-level exception to Murray, but Murray hesitated to take it, hoping to get a more lucrative deal elsewhere.

In the meantime, the Pistons found out that they were losing Ben Wallace and made Nazr Mohamed an offer. When Mohammed accepted, Murray was left without a big suitor.

In the end, the Pistons were able to fill both their needs -- adding a center to replace Wallace and adding some scoring punch to their backcourt.

While no one is pretending that the Pistons are going to be better without Wallace, they are adding some depth to what once was a paper thin rotation.

Expect Murray, Carlos Delfino and Antonio McDyess to give the Pistons a legit eight-man rotation next year.

Dumars is really a heck of a GM..

[Eismann]

Toronto Days? AFAIK he started his career with Washington, traded to Orlando then traded again to Detroit.

The Wizzards once had Chris Webber, Ben Wallace, Juwan Howard on the same team, they also had Rasheed but traded him for Rod Strickland (if am not mistaken).

Yeah, my mistake.
Thanks for the correction.