Ben Wallace

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For the British MP, see Ben Wallace (UK politician).
Ben Wallace
Ben Wallace in 2009.
No. 6   Detroit Pistons
Center / Power forward
Personal information
Date of birth September 10, 1974 (1974-09-10) (age 37)
Place of birth White Hall, Alabama
Nationality American
High school Central HS (Hayneville, Alabama)
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College Cuyahoga CC (1992–1994)
Virginia Union (1994–1996)
Pro career 1996–present
Career history
1996–1999 Washington Bullets / Wizards
1999–2000 Orlando Magic
2000–2006 Detroit Pistons
2006–2008 Chicago Bulls
2008–2009 Cleveland Cavaliers
2009–present Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com

Ben Camey Wallace (born September 10, 1974) is an American basketball center for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. A native of Alabama, Wallace attended Cuyahoga Community College and Virginia Union University and signed with the Washington Bullets (later Wizards) as an undrafted free agent in 1996. In his NBA career, Wallace has also played the power forward position and with the Washington Bullets/Wizards, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers teams.

He has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, a record he shares with Dikembe Mutombo. In six seasons with the Pistons (2000-2006), Wallace made two NBA Finals appearances (2004 and 2005) and won a championship with the Pistons in 2004.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Ben Wallace was born in White Hall, Alabama, a small town in Lowndes County, and is the tenth of eleven children. He later attended Central High School in Hayneville where he received all-state honors in basketball, baseball, and football (as a linebacker). Former basketball player Charles Oakley is Wallace's mentor, having discovered Wallace at a 1991 basketball camp, and later recommended Wallace to his previous college, Virginia Union.

[edit] College career

Wallace first played college basketball on the junior college level at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland for two years. There, staples of Wallace's defensive prowess were shown as he averaged 17.0 rebounds and 6.9 blocks per game. He then transferred to Virginia Union, a Division II school, where he studied criminal justice. Wallace averaged 13.4 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game as a member of the Virginia Union Panthers, whom he led to the Division II Final Four and a 28–3 record.[1] As a senior, Wallace was named to the First-Team All CIAA and was selected as a First Team All-American (Div. II) by the NABC. Wallace was a letterman in football, baseball, basketball and track. He won All-State honors in all but track.

[edit] NBA career

[edit] Early career

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.

[edit] Detroit Pistons

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. Since the trade, Wallace won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, and 2005–06 seasons, and was selected to six All-Defensive teams. In the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons, he led the league in both rebounds and blocked shots, the first to do so since Hakeem Olajuwon. In 2003, he was voted by fans to the first of his four NBA All-Star Game appearances as a center for the Eastern Conference.

Near the end of a November 2004 game against the Indiana Pacers, Wallace responded to a foul by Indiana's Ron Artest by shoving Artest, which eventually led to the Pacers–Pistons brawl, involving both players and spectators. Wallace was suspended for six games, and his brother David Wallace, received a year of probation and community service for punching Indiana players in the stands.[2]

Wallace during his tenure with the Bulls

The game was a rematch of the heated Eastern Conference finals which the Detroit Pistons won on their way to the 2004 NBA Finals where they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 on the back of Wallace's effective and strong defense against a declining but still dominant Shaquille O'Neal.

The Pistons began a tradition of sounding a deep chime whenever "Big Ben" scored or recorded a block on Detroit's home court, The Palace of Auburn Hills – an allusion to the original Big Ben in London. (The Bulls and Cavaliers continued the gimmick during his respective tenures with Chicago and Cleveland).

[edit] Chicago Bulls

On July 3, 2006, Wallace agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with the Chicago Bulls.[3] Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles had a strict "no-headband" policy, but decided to make an exception for Wallace when his teammates voted in favor of allowing him to keep the signature headband.[4] During his two-year run in Chicago, Wallace battled with various knee injuries and averaged 5.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 blocks per game.

[edit] Cleveland Cavaliers

Wallace during his tenure with the Cavs

On February 21, 2008, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team deal that included the Seattle SuperSonics and the Chicago Bulls.[5] The deal moved Wallace to the power forward position with Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the starting center. Following the trade, Wallace played in 22 regular season games (all starts). In 26.3 minutes, he averaged 4.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. In 72 total regular season games Wallace averaged 4.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.[6] Wallace had a Cavalier regular season high of 12 points on February 24, 2008 against the Memphis Grizzlies, and had regular season Cavalier highs of 15 rebounds against the Charlotte Bobcats and four blocks against the Orlando Magic.[7] In the 2008 playoffs, Wallace played in 13 games (all starts) and averaged 3.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.[6] He had his playoff high of 12 rebounds in Game 4 win against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the NBA playoffs.[7] On November 25, 2008, Wallace grabbed his 9,000th career rebound and blocked his 1,900th career shot.

On June 25, 2009, Wallace was traded to the Phoenix Suns with Sasha Pavlović, a second round draft pick and $500k for Shaquille O'Neal.[8] On July 13, 2009, the Suns bought out Wallace's $14 million contract, saving $8 million in the process. Wallace actually received $10 million but Phoenix was in luxury tax so the savings were effectively doubled.

[edit] Return to Pistons

On August 7, 2009, Wallace agreed to re-sign with the Pistons as a free agent to a 1-year deal. He formerly wore #3 with the Pistons, but changed his jersey to #6 upon his return, allowing Rodney Stuckey to keep that number. On July 11, 2010, Wallace agreed to a 2-year deal with the Pistons.[9]

On August 4, 2010, Wallace was re-signed by the Pistons.[10] On November 30, 2010, in a 90-79 road loss to the Orlando Magic, Wallace surpassed the 10,000 rebound mark for his career, becoming the 34th player in NBA history to achieve that mark.

On December 22, 2010, in a 115–93 road win over the Raptors, Wallace played his 1,000th game becoming the 95th player in NBA history to achieve this record.

On February 14, 2012, Wallace played his 1055th game, passing the record held by Avery Johnson for most games by an undrafted player.[11] The same night, Wallace announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2011-12 season.

[edit] Player profile

Ben Wallace primarily plays the center position despite being somewhat undersized. Wallace is listed at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), 240 lbs, a frame that is more suited for a forward rather than a true center. He, himself, admits his actual height is 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).[12] However, Wallace's long wingspan, brute strength, tenacity, and keen ball awareness neutralize his lack of height at the center position. As a result, he is lauded for his prolific rebounding and shot blocking, [12] having been voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times. Unfortunately, Wallace lacks solid offensive scoring skills, with most of his points coming from offensive put-backs, baskets in transition, or other high-percentage field goals. His most problematic area on offense is his free throw shooting. Wallace's career free throw shooting percentage has never exceeded 50%.[13] This has often led teams to foul him much like the Hack-a-Shaq defense.[14]

[edit] Personal life

Wallace is married to Chanda and is the father of two sons, Ben Jr. and Bryce, and one daughter, Bailey.[15] Wallace appeared on the cover of ESPN NBA 2K5. An inflatable basketball training aid of Wallace's likeness, called the Inflatable Defender, is manufactured by PlayAir Systems. His sneaker, the Big Ben was released November 5, 2007 under Stephon Marbury's Starbury label and sold for $14.98 at Steve & Barry's stores.[16] Fans often arrived at games sporting wigs in honor of his trademark afro hairstyle.[citation needed] However, he usually only had the afro for home games; for away games, he had his hair styled into cornrows.[citation needed] In 2011, Wallace was arrested and charged with DWI and carrying a concealed weapon.[17]

[edit] Honors and statistical highs

Wallace is honored with the Pistons at the White House for the team's victory in the 2004 NBA Finals.
  • First Team: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • Second Team: 2007
  • 5× All-NBA:
  • Second Team: 2003, 2004, 2006
  • Third Team: 2002, 2005
  • 2× NBA regular-season leader, rebounds per game: 2002 (13.0), 2003 (15.4)
  • NBA regular-season leader, blocks per game: 2002 (3.5)
  • 2× NBA regular-season leader, total rebounds: 2001 (1052), 2003 (1026)
  • NBA regular-season leader, total defensive rebounds: 2001 (749)
  • 2× NBA regular-season leader, total offensive rebounds: 2003 (293), 2006 (301)
  • NBA regular-season leader, total blocks: 2002 (278)


[edit] NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

[edit] Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1996–97 Washington 34 0 5.8 .348 .000 .300 1.7 .1 .2 .3 1.1
1997–98 Washington 67 16 16.8 .518 .000 .357 4.8 .3 .9 1.1 3.1
1998–99 Washington 46 16 26.8 .578 .000 .356 8.3 .4 1.1 2.0 6.0
1999–00 Orlando 81 81 24.2 .503 .000 .474 8.2 .8 .9 1.6 4.8
2000–01 Detroit 80 80 34.5 .490 .250 .336 13.2 1.5 1.3 2.3 6.4
2001–02 Detroit 80 80 36.5 .531 .000 .423 13.0 1.4 1.7 3.5 7.6
2002–03 Detroit 73 73 39.4 .481 .167 .450 15.4 1.6 1.4 3.2 6.9
2003–04 Detroit 81 81 37.7 .421 .125 .490 12.4 1.7 1.8 3.0 9.5
2004–05 Detroit 74 74 36.1 .453 .111 .428 12.2 1.7 1.4 2.4 9.7
2005–06 Detroit 82 82 35.2 .510 .000 .416 11.3 1.9 1.8 2.2 7.3
2006–07 Chicago 77 77 35.0 .453 .200 .408 10.7 2.4 1.4 2.0 6.4
2007–08 Chicago 50 50 32.5 .373 .000 .424 8.8 1.8 1.4 1.6 5.1
2007–08 Cleveland 22 22 26.3 .457 .000 .432 7.4 .6 .9 1.7 4.2
2008–09 Cleveland 56 53 23.5 .445 .000 .422 6.5 .8 .9 1.3 2.9
2009–10 Detroit 69 67 28.6 .541 .000 .406 8.7 1.5 1.2 1.2 5.5
2010–11 Detroit 54 49 22.9 .450 .500 .333 6.5 1.3 1.0 1.0 2.9
Career 1026 901 30.3 .475 .128 .415 10.0 1.4 1.3 2.0 6.0
All-Star 4 2 21.5 .400 .000 .000 7.0 .5 2.0 1.2 3.0

[edit] Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002 Detroit 10 10 40.8 .475 .000 .436 16.1 1.2 1.9 2.6 7.3
2003 Detroit 17 17 42.5 .486 .000 .446 16.3 1.6 2.5 3.1 8.9
2004 Detroit 23 23 40.2 .454 .000 .427 14.3 1.9 1.9 2.4 10.3
2005 Detroit 25 25 39.2 .481 .000 .461 11.3 1.0 1.7 2.4 10.0
2006 Detroit 18 18 35.7 .465 .000 .273 10.5 1.7 1.3 1.2 4.7
2007 Chicago 10 10 36.9 .566 .000 .500 9.5 1.4 1.5 1.7 8.7
2008 Cleveland 13 13 23.4 .515 .000 .350 6.5 1.2 .6 1.1 3.2
2009 Cleveland 14 0 12.6 .615 .000 .000 2.7 .3 .3 .3 1.1
Career 130 116 34.8 .482 .000 .418 11.2 1.3 1.5 1.9 7.2

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Ben Wallace Bio | Official Site of". Bballone.com. http://www.bballone.com/benw/benwallacebio.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  2. ^ "Palace brawl lives in infamy 1 year later". Associated Press. November 26, 2005. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/10089645/. 
  3. ^ "Ben Wallace makes it official, signs with Bulls - NBA - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2006-07-13. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2508742. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  4. ^ "Skiles makes an exception to headband rule for Big Ben - NBA - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2007-10-02. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3045949. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  5. ^ "Cavs land James some help". NBA Experts Blog (Yahoo! Sports). http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/nba_experts/post/Bulls-trade-Wallace-Smith-for-trio?urn=nba,67973. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
  6. ^ a b "Ben Wallace Statistics –". Basketball-reference.com. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wallabe01.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  7. ^ a b "– Ben Wallace 2007–2008 Game Logs". Basketball-reference.com. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wallabe01.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  8. ^ "Suns Complete Trade With Cavs, Send Shaq to Cleveland". NBA.com. 2009-06-25. http://www.nba.com/suns/news/shaq_traded_090625.html. Retrieved 2009-06-25. 
  9. ^ Boourns, The. "Ben Wallace signs with Pistons for two years.". Detroit Bad Boys. http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/7/11/1564434/ben-wallace-signs-with-pistons-for. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  10. ^ "Pistons Re-Sign Center Ben Wallace". NBA.com. 2010-08-04. http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/wallace_100804.html. Retrieved 2012-02-13. 
  11. ^ "Pistons' Ben Wallace sets NBA record for games played by undrafted player | The Detroit News". detroitnews.com. 2012-02-14. http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120214/SPORTS0102/202140445/1361/Pistons--Ben-Wallace-sets-NBA-record-for-games-played-by-undrafted-player. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  12. ^ a b "ESPN - Detroit's Ben Wallace wins NBA's top defensive award - NBA". Sports.espn.go.com. 2006-05-08. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=2437567. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  13. ^ "Ben Wallace NBA & ABA Statistics". Basketball-Reference.com. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wallabe01.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  14. ^ "Blogger: Aanmelden". Mistakesports.blogspot.com. http://mistakesports.blogspot.com/2009/01/to-hack-or-not-to-hack-ben.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  15. ^ "Ben Wallace Bio Page". NBA.com. 1974-09-10. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/ben_wallace/bio.html. Retrieved 2012-02-20. 
  16. ^ Gregory, Sean (November 2, 2007). "Sneaker Cents". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680154,00.html. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
  17. ^ "Ben Wallace faces two charges". espn.com. espn.com. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7034376/detroit-pistons-ben-wallace-charged-drunken-driving. Retrieved 29 September 2011. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ben Wallace

3 Stuckey | 5 Daye | 6 Wallace | 7 Knight | 8 Gordon | 9 Wilkins | 10 Monroe | 12 Bynum | 20 Macklin | 22 Prince | 23 Russell | 31 Villanueva | 33 Jerebko | 54 Maxiell

Head coach: Frank | Assistant coaches: Hill | Loyer | Rogers | Brown | Klask

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