Boston Celtics: Love Him or Hate Him—The Great Rasheed Wallace Debate

(This article was originally posted on 4SportBoston.com.)

Some time early last year, a friend asked me, “Who was the athlete you did the biggest 180 on as a fan once he came to Boston?” meaning, “Was there a guy you always disliked when he played for other teams, but once he came to Boston, you came to love him?”

The person I was talking with said that, for him, it was Bryan Cox, who was part of the 2001 Super Bowl Patriots team after spending the bulk of his career as a villain to New England fans in his time with the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.

I struggled to come up with someone and haven’t been able to give him an answer.

Then last July, the Celtics signed Rasheed Wallace.

Prior to 2004, I wasn’t the biggest Wallace fan, but he was not near the top of the list for most disliked either. But during the 2003-04 season, Wallace was traded to Detroit. I have never liked the Pistons; in fact, I hate them. I even wrote an entire article on this topic prior to the Celtics-Pistons series in the 2008 playoffs.

As for Wallace, I grew to hate his antics. I hated his complaining. I thought he was overrated. It drove me crazy to hear commentators and so-called sports experts treating Wallace and Kevin Garnett as basketball equals leading up to, and during, that ’08 series.

Then this summer, Wallace, one of my least favorite players—after more than five seasons on one of my least favorite teams—joined my favorite team.

Once signed, I wondered if I would be able to see to it to embrace Rasheed Wallace?

I had to give him a chance, but as Boston is set to play the 40th game of the Rasheed Wallace era on Wednesday night against his former team, the problem has become that I still have no idea what to think.

His rebounding is down and his defense seems missing at times. He still complains too much, and he still gets too many technical fouls. Then there is the three-point shooting.

Watching Wallace with the Pistons, I was always relieved whenever he would settle for a three, even if it went in. And now that he is a Celtic, Wallace has ramped up his three-point shooting pace.

He has attempted 175 threes thus far this year, making only 52 for a 29.7 percentage. He is 17th in the league in three-point attempts per game (4.9), yet only 49th in makes per game (1.4). Wallace is the only player in the NBA with over 165 three-point attempts who is shooting below thirty percent from beyond the arc. He shoots more threes per game than Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, or Eddie House.

Wallace’s 4.9 three-point attempts is the second-highest total of his career. He is doing this, albeit in only 23.5 minutes per game, which represents by far a career low for Wallace.

What makes Wallace’s three-point shooting barrage so maddening is that the few times he does venture into the post, almost invariably, something good happens.

In Monday night’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Wallace shot 5-for-9 from inside the line and 0-for-4 from downtown. He not only produced points for himself from the post, but was also able to draw personal fouls on Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki.

But because Wallace so infrequently goes into the post, both against Dallas and all season, the Celtics are not getting the most out of him. Against Dallas, had Wallace stayed in the post, maybe he tires out Nowitzki or forces the German to the bench with foul troubles. This would have been key to Boston possibly picking up the win because on the offensive end, Nowitzki torched the Celtics for 37 points on 14-for-22 shooting.

Despite the immense frustration I feel watching Wallace miss threes, I can’t help but believe by season’s end, I will be glad he is here.

With Wallace set to return to Detroit on Wednesday night for the first time since departing Motown for Boston, I keep thinking of a Pistons fan that I know. When Ben Wallace left Detroit, he understood. Same for when the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups last season.

But when Rasheed signed with Boston, despite seeing why it made sense for Detroit, it upset him that Wallace would no longer be playing for his favorite team.

It wasn’t as if Wallace put up amazing numbers when he was in Detroit (13.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg), it was just that when Wallace wants to, he has those indefinable qualities that make his impact on a team far greater than his numbers in the box score.

The wins didn’t hurt either: A .663 regular-season winning percentage during Wallace’s years, one title, two trips to the NBA Finals, and five appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals.

That is why I am reserving judgment on Wallace until the end of the season. I fully expect that as the importance of the games increases, Rasheed’s impact will as well.

Maybe I am just setting myself up for disappointment. But winning in the playoffs is about smart basketball, and it is about playing great defense. Technical fouls aside, those are two areas Wallace has excelled in during his career.

And if Wallace proves my optimism right, I will finally be able to definitively answer my friend’s question.

Notes:

• A trivia question that you can skip if you saw it during a recent Celtics game: Now that the first decade of the 2000s has ended, which Celtic had the most points in each decade, beginning with the 50s? Answer at the end.

• With Rasheed Wallace set to play his first game as a Celtic against his previous former team the Pistons, here is how Wallace has done when going up against his former teams for the first time: 12/23/96, with Portland, he had five points and one rebound in a 106-84 loss to the Washington Bullets; in 2004, with Detroit, he twice played against his former teams for the first time—2/27/04 against Atlanta, he had six points and six rebounds in a 105-83 win, then on 3/4/04 against Portland, he had 13 points and nine rebounds in an 83-66 win.

• The Celtics have had their share of injuries this year, but if any team can match them, it has been the Pistons who have been riddled with injuries as well. Their big free-agent signing, Ben Gordon, has played in only 25 games, missing the last four with a sprained groin. Richard Hamilton, who missed Detroit’s previous game, has played in only 13 games, and Tayshaun Prince just nine.

• These injuries for Detroit have perhaps played a role in their up-and-down season. They enter the game with the Celtics with a 14-26 record. After winning on opening night, Detroit then lost four of five, but responded by winning three in a row. That was followed by a seven-game losing streak. Detroit snapped that streak and reeled off six wins in seven games. Then came a 13-game losing streak to drop their record to 11-25. The Pistons then won three in a row before losing their previous game on Monday to the Knicks 99-91.

• In the offseason, in addition to Gordon, Detroit also signed Charlie Villanueva. Neither has paid off thus far. Gordon, perhaps due to injury, is averaging just 17.2 points per game, down from 20.7 last year, which is his lowest total since his second year in the league. His field goal and three-point percentages are also down from last year. Villanueva is playing a career-high 27 minutes per game, but has seen both his scoring and rebounding drop from last year.

• Nice to see former Northeastern University star Jose Juan Barea the other night playing for the Mavericks. Barea has become a fan-favorite in Dallas and is averaging career-highs of 8.9 points and 3.5 assists this year. In his career at Northeastern (2002-06), he finished with 2,290 points, behind only former Celtic captain Reggie Lewis’s 2,709 points.

• And speaking of Lewis, here is the trivia answer: Top scoring Celtic by decade: 2000-09: Paul Pierce; 1990-99: Reggie Lewis; 1980-89: Larry Bird; 1970-79: John Havlicek; 1960-69: Sam Jones; 1950-59: Sam Jones.

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