From Henry Abbott’s True Hoop, one of my favorite blogs out there, comes this little tidbit about Ben Wallace refusing to enter the game Friday night against Orlando. Not only hasn’t it gotten any mainstream attention, but Pistons teammates and coaches aren’t even mad about it.
As it turns out, Big Ben was mad about some combination of being taken out of the game when he was, and not being involved in the offense… which doesn’t seem all that different from the reasoning behind the most famous refusal to enter a game, of course Scottie Pippen’s, when a last-second play was run for Toni Kukoc and not him. Ben wasn’t asking for the ball on any specific play, but just wanted some more touches in general.
No one seemed to mind the outburst. Flip Saunders and Lindsay Hunter seemed to kinda like it. And I think TrueHoop has it right… that’s what happens when you come to play and bust your ass every time out. Things are forgiven, people are a more willing to hear what you have to say, and you get the benefit of the doubt. Granted, I’m a Pistons fan, so my reaction is a bit clouded, but his teammates all seemed to have a similar reaction. Ben got more touches the next day, a day, oh by the way, in which he grabbed 22 rebounds and beat the hell out of a division rival.
Ultimately, there was little or no reaction because… well, because it’s Ben fucking Wallace, whose work ethic is evidently beyond reproach. It is, in fact, possible to earn the benefit of the doubt.
Adam Says:
April 10th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Hey Ben, wanna know why you aren’t getting more touches? BECAUSE YOU FUCKING SUCK ON OFFENSE!! Now shut up and do what the coach tells you to.
chris Says:
April 10th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
he does blow on offense
CheeseheadPete Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 5:37 am
Needs a hair consultant too.
Carlos Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 7:27 am
So Scottie Pippen didn’t played hard enough??? Come on, Pippen was playing at an MVP level that year!. And he had a better reason too, because Toni had fucked up his last play (an iso where Toni refused to move to give Scottie more space).
Bouj Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Ben did it in a meaningless game in Orlando. Scottie did it in the Eastern Conference Semis. If Ben had pulled this in a month, he be skewered.
And Ben didn’t gag in a big playoff game because of a migraine, so there’s that too.
hkuszak Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 11:37 am
migraines are no laughing matter, bro.
Bouj Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
I know. My dad and my sis get them. But Terrell Davis won a Super Bowl MVP with a migraine. The bar has been set.
JOBS Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
“Hey Ben, wanna know why you aren’t getting more touches? BECAUSE YOU FUCKING SUCK ON OFFENSE!! Now shut up and do what the coach tells you to.”
It’s not his overall offense. He is actually a very valuble position to create space for the chaunchilla to close games out behind the arc. He just can’t shoot the ball. He has an great inside presence, but Detroit really doesn’t need that. Rasheed is the better post player, so when they go low, its sheedy or prince doing the work and ben to clean up the mess if they miss a bucket. He’ll get over this little burst.
Adam Says:
April 11th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
No, I was pretty much referring to his entire offensive game. He has no post moves whatsoever, doesn’t pass all that well, and can’t shoot outside of about a foot (which you mentioned). His entire offensive game is composed of wide open dunks or alley-oops that come when the defense completely ignores him to focus on one of the Pistons’ more talented offensive players. He isn’t creating open looks for his teammates with his low post presence like you seem to be implying, defenses only really sorta need to pay attention to him and make sure he doesn’t get a completely wide open lay-up or dunk. Look, he is what is he his, a hardworking player who rebounds and blocks shots at an incredible rate. There’s nothing wrong with that, teams need guys like that to win. But he doesn’t need to be getting touches on offense, and he should know that.
I’m not saying this is worse than what Scottie did, Pippen’s incident came in the playoffs, this was a meaningless end of the season game. But that doesn’t exuse what Ben did and I can at least sorta identify with Scottie. He’d be carrying that team all season long, and then when they needed an end of the play shot, they decided to put the ball in the hands of Toni F’n Kukoc? They never would have pulled that kind of crap with Jordan. That doesn’t excuse what he did, but I can see where Pippen might feel disrespected and pissed off. I can’t possibly see where Ben thinks he’s coming from.
baad Says:
April 16th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Hey, Adam. RE Your remark that “Ben’s offensive game sucks”:
1. Ben leads the league in offensive rebounds per game
2. Ben’s FG% of .513 is better than Rasheed’s .429 or Iverson’s .447 for instance
3. Ben leads the league in steals/turnover ratio.
There are many more finer points to offensive play than the one individual who puts the ball through the hoop, but I doubt you would understand that.
What you should have said is that Ben needs to work on his shooting skills, but to say that his offensive game sucks is just plain ignorant.