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story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=2860022
Series of truth: Who made the right call on Big Ben?
Insider
Sheridan
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
Archive
There are 900 different ways to slice up the Pistons-Bulls second-round
series -- covering the past, the present and even the future. You can talk
about the old rivalry, whether there's a new one growing, and you can even
try to figure out how the heck Andres Nocioni managed to jump the gun on
Rasheed Wallace to become the first player to issue a guarantee. But there is
one overriding story line that's going to hover over this series from the
moment one guy jumps center at the start of Game 1 until the moment in the
final game when he's either grabbing the most important rebound or missing
the most important free throw.
Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images
Big Ben won big with Detroit. Can he do it against them?
Yes, Ben Wallace is going to hover over this series like his uniform number
would have hovered in the rafters at the Palace of Auburn Hills had he not
decided to leave Detroit last summer to sign as a free agent with Chicago.
The Bulls chose to pay him $60 million, believing the cost was worth the
benefit of filling their glaring needs for a low-post defensive presence and
an experienced, savvy playoff veteran.
The Pistons chose to let him go at that price after Flip Saunders had no use
for him in the fourth quarter of Detroit's final game last year, and the
money Joe Dumars saved by letting Ben leave is now earmarked for Chauncey
Billups, who will be looking for his final big payday two months from now,
just as Wallace was last July.
By the time this thing ends two weeks or so from now, we'll have an early
answer to the long-term question that's about to be put to an early
referendum: Which team made the right choice?
Detroit? Or Chicago?
"The goal last summer was to try to make us a better team," Bulls VP John
Paxson told reporters in Chicago. "When you sign free agents to big
contracts, I understand the contract becomes as much an issue as the player.
But Ben's helped us in so many ways. I didn't realize how smart a player he
is. He rarely gets into foul trouble. You can run the offense through him.
You never feel he's going to take himself out of a game."
Wallace has spent the last several days looking into the cameras and
insisting his significance to this series is not all that big a deal, but
deep down it's clear he knows he's the focal point for good reason. And truth
be told, he's not entirely uncomfortable with it.
"The time you need to start worrying is when people stop talking about you,"
Wallace said.
One of the first things that will be talked about is whether he will defend
the man who replaced him in the middle for the Pistons, Chris Webber, or the
forward with whom he shares a last name, Rasheed Wallace.
And by the time Game 1 reaches the fourth quarter, the next thing to talk
about will be whether Saunders might resort to a Hack-a-Ben strategy to send
Wallace to the foul line and see whether he can knock 'em down when his knees
should be knocking. All eyes in the arena and around the world will be
focused on the freakish foul-shooting form that produced 48 misses in 66
attempts over the course of last year's playoffs when Wallace's troubles from
the line became such an albatross that Saunders felt he had no choice but to
bench Ben.
Wallace was a beloved athlete in Detroit, always introduced last during
pregame festivities. A recording from London's famous bell tower played every
time he blocked a shot. But after giving him a mixture of applause and jeers
during the intros of the one and only game he played this season at the
Palace, the fans turned on him quickly and booed him throughout the game.
The Bulls lost that game 95-93, but they won their other three meetings
against the Pistons, including a testy finale when Tyrus Thomas and Richard
Hamilton were ejected after jawing at each other and had to be separated
again leaving the court. Thomas, who had racked up 13 points and eight
rebounds in just 10 minutes, was hit by a tube of lip balm thrown from the
Palace stands. Chicago won that game 106-88, an 18-point defeat that
resonates a little more coming into this series because it happened only a
month ago.
Beyond the Ben referendum, subplots and schematic questions are everywhere.
The Pistons are not going to have the perimeter quickness problems the Heat
had in the first round, which means Luol Deng's steady diet of open
18-footers is likely over. Tayshaun Prince will see to that. Likewise for Ben
Gordon and all those open looks he got from the 3-point line against a gimpy
Dwyane Wade. Hamilton is the one player in the NBA with enough energy to
hound Gordon for 82 feet if need be.
The Billups-Kirk Hinrich duel at point guard carries with it a subplot
that'll be continued later this summer in Las Vegas when the two compete,
along with Jason Kidd, for the starting spot on Team USA.
It'll be a referendum series of sorts for Billups, too, since Pistons
president Joe Dumars has already gone out and said he'll do just about
whatever it takes financially to keep Billups in Detroit when he becomes a
free agent. That's an awful big commitment to already be making to a player
who will be 31 in September, playing a position where, historically, players
have shown significant declines once they enter their mid-30s.
Just asking, but if the Pistons go down in four or five games and Billups
doesn't play well, is Dumars still committed to the idea of spending $50-60
million to keep Chauncey at the point through 2011-12?
But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Game 1 hasn't even arrived yet,
and there has already been some pre-series smack talk from Nocioni, who may
have already clinched this year's MBP (Most Bold Player) trophy. "We are
going to win. We are going to win, of course. We are going to play seven
games, and we are going to win [Game 7] in Detroit. It will be nice. Nice,"
he said, prompting some of the Pistons to shoot back that Nocioni is annoying
and a flopper.
"I'm sure we're going to hear their mouths and they're going to hear our
mouths," Bulls forward P.J. Brown said. "It's going to be a battle out there,
a lot of fun."
--
"I've got a busted lip and a black eye. But you do what you have to do."
-- Ben Wallace
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