Big Ben In NY or Lakers?

His skills are eroding faster than Shaqs. He is 32 and no longer dominates on the defensive end.

Anyone who signs him for more than 6-8 million is going to be very disappointed, he is a specialist, nothing more.

DD

 

Actually, BB (Big Ben) is more than a 'mere' specialist, he is a spiritualist. In many regards he is the soul of the P's, and thus worth more to Detroit than to others. 4/50 is 'right' IMO for Wallace. He's likely to get more, tho...not less.

 

132 mil for 6 years.... HAHAHAHA good luck with that one, NO ONE is going to pay that insane amount. funny now that i think about it roger clemens is getting paid 22 mil a season... roger clemens to baseball is way more than what ben wallace is to basketball.

 

When I was watching him the past month, it didn't seem like he was losing it because of age. When it looked at him, it smacked more of someone that was just not able to put his heart into it. Hard to explain, but there was just an empty look in his eyes. I know he also lost his mother earlier this year.

I think he wants out, how much of that is unhappiness with his role in Flip's offense (which he's complained aboout all season) or something else, I don't know.

Chicago could actually sign him, they've got the cap space, the need, and the attractive roster that could all make it happen. Bringing him in would give them the credibility that they've been desperate for (still haven't signed a worthwhile free agent since the MJ days).

I don't see what Detroit would find attractive in either the NY or LA rosters in a S&T. Further, if they're going to give up Ben, they may break up the team. This was, more than any squad since the 80s, a group that exceeded as a whole instead of a sum of individual talents.

Evan

 

I'd take any one of their starters with the exception of Big Ben. They're not gonna move Prince or Billups, but I'd love to have 'Sheed or Rip on the Rockets.

 

Remember everybody, this is the NBA we're talking about. Where Erick Dampier got $73 million for averaging 12 points/game...Where Kelvin Cato got $49 million for one game of work...Where Jim Mcilvaine got $35 million for being 7 feet tall. If you're 6'10" and you can distinguish a basketball from a faberge egg, you're pretty much set for life...

 

...and white. Ooops, did I say that?

 

This is the wrong season for Ben. I think he had a remote chance (still not very likely though) to get that kind of contract before this season. But like someone has said, he won't be able to get half of that now. Also, any team who is getting Wallace will practically have to play 4 vs 5 offensively in the 4th quarter at least because his FTs is so bad that you can't pass him the ball otherwise the other teams will just foul him.

 

They got those because of the magic of "upside". Wallace has nothing but downside left in his career, and if these playoffs were any indicator, it looks like a long way down.

 

I want some of what your smokin'....

The guy just got his fourth "Defensive Player of the Year" award in five years.
I wouldn't give him mad money like $132 million but I'd give him the full MLE for 3 years, or do a sign and trade for Swift plus a trade exception and make him my starting PF and bring Juwan off the bench where he can be the primary low post scorer.

 

all i know is that i hope whoever signs him pays him his full asking price.

 

132mil for 6 years

Big ben must really be smoking something, for a guy who averages less then 10 pts and shoots like 30% from the freethrowline there is no way any GM is stupid enough to take him for that amount of money.

 

this is ridiculous timing by ben. in fact, his timing all season has been ridiculous.

first, he complains during the season about his limited offensive role. ignore for a second what happened during the playoffs. at that time, the pistons were steamrolling to what could have been a historic season. so, the justifiably last option on offense decides at that moment to air his complaints about his "touches"? everyone knows that flip loosened the reigns on offense, which generated more opportunities for rip, chauncey, sheed & prince - the scorers of that team. yet ben wants more touches? please.

this would have been understandable if ben had been working on his offensive acumen. but has anyone seen a new offensive move from the big fella? i know i haven't. how about some time spent working on free throws - a facet that would inevitably increase in numbers if he were given more touches. how does that benefit the team?

second, he asks for this huge contract coming off of an unsuccessful postseason that saw the entire pistons team unravel. the entire team, led by big ben, has decided to place their failures at the feet of flip saunders who, by the way, did exactly what detroit fans and players wanted him to do - increase the offense. the defense? well, according to pistons players, they already knew how to play defense and would ratchet it up come playoff time. what happened? they found out that intensity is not a light switch that gets "flipped" on and off. so now they "flip" the coach off publicly and privately for their own transgressions. classic.

big ben's seeing his own mortality. he's realizing that for all the "team sacrifice" the pistons exuded - and benefitted from - the reality is that he is getting older. the reality is that he has only one more time to go for the cash grab. get paid now, because his role - that of an undersized (albeit effective) defensive menace - is going to be reduced more and more every year. and this won't just be by the pistons. it's going to be by the entire nba, as we go to a more streamlined nba full of 6'4 - 6'9" mulitpositional players. too late, ben. the emperor's clothes are off. and you can't get enough cash to cover your shortcomings.

 

OVERRATED. This guy is sooooo not worth that kind of money. He is still a solid PF who can play D and rebound but he is older and has no offense whatsoever. He is a bit undersized and not playing D as well as he used to. I was at the Rockets vs. Pistons game this year and before Yao got into foul trouble he was taking Big Ben to school big time. He also did a poor job agianst Shaq in the conference finals. The Pistons are falling apart and the team may get taken apart. I still can't belive they passed on Melo, DWade Bosh and others in that draft

 

since when?

 

In wallace's defense, unless I missed something, the only source I could find on Ben Wallace seeking $132m is this half-assed column from the Orlando Sentinel, which, after you read the context and since it has a question mark after the figure, appears to be pure speculation on the part of the writer rather than a realistic assessment of Wallace's expectations

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...6jun04,0,2545835.column?page=1&coll=orl-magic

 

Trade JHo or Swift for Big Ben, then play Ben, the remaining lame PF and Chuck Hayes at PF and Backup C. If we can trade JHo and dump his contract we then definitely need a healthy Tmac and Yao, a strong scoring 2, a scoring backup 3 and a scoring backup/starter 1 to pair up with Rafer.

But the PF's esp BB and CH can grab and hold an offensive rebound and make some putbacks. Yao gets the PF who can watch his back on defense.

But BB definitely must sign for reasonable - $6-7MM money, and 3-4 yrs at most.

So many if's in this whole thing. Gawd I hope we don't screw up this draft....

If Flyin' Ryan isn't our 15th player this season I am going to be real disappointed. Les has got to bust the cap if we can get some quality players.

 

He is good, but not that good...He can't shoot a free throw, can only dunk and is only good on Defense, but he complained about that in the playoffs...

 

I think it would be werid to see him in a Laker uniform..