Tag: Rasheed Wallace

Rasheed Wallace is joining the Lakers coaching staff, and NBA fans should be thrilled

Rasheed Wallace is, without a doubt, one of basketball’s living legends.

There is no other way to put it. Four-time NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace is, without a doubt, one of basketball’s living legends.

Wallace, who played in the NBA from 1995 until 2013, is a pioneer in the sport. He coined the catchphrase “ball don’t lie” and his hard-nosed defensive tenacity constantly set a tone for his locker room.

During his playing career,  Wallace led the Detroit Pistons to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers and win the 2004 NBA Championship. One of his teammates was Darvin Ham, who recently took over as head coach for the Lakers.

In an exciting development, the former teammates are set to join forces in Los Angeles, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Wallace will reportedly join Ham’s coaching staff.

Wallace, who began his NBA coaching career immediately after his playing career, took a hiatus from the bench after just one season as an assistant with the Pistons in 2013-14.

The former NBA veteran then took over as the head coach of Jordan High School in North Carolina between 2019 and 2021. He most recently served as an assistant (then as a consultant) for Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis.

From an X’s and O’s standpoint, it’s doubtful Wallace has much of a role or impact with the team. But from a cultural perspective, he will likely make his mark.

Early reports from Wallace’s demeanor as a coach suggest that he should out the fire burning within the Lakers, which is something the team desperately needed last year. Los Angeles played without much intensity and purpose in 2021-22, and that won’t happen again on Wallace’s watch.

The bad news is that we might also see some costly technical fouls called on Wallace, even from the bench. When he was active in the league, Wallace set a record for the most technicals called on a player in a single season.

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Lakers to hire 4-time All-Star Rasheed Wallace to Darvin Ham’s staff

The Los Angeles Lakers will hire 4-time All-Star Rasheed Wallace to Darvin Ham’s coaching staff.

As the Los Angeles Lakers continue to move forward under a new regime led by Darvin Ham, now is the time to begin filling out his coaching staff. It would be smart for the Lakers to fill the staff with proven commodities under a first-time coach like Ham and they took a step in that direction on Monday.

The first hire to Ham’s staff will be his former teammate with the Detroit Pistons, and 4-time All-Star, Rasheed Wallace. The two of them played together in Detroit when the Pistons knocked off the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals.

Wallace was an assistant coach for the Pistons during the 2013-14 season and he spent the 2021-22 season at the University of Memphis as an assistant under Penny Hardaway.

Wallace has a lot of experience as an NBA player and he went to battle with LeBron James plenty of times in the playoffs. He is a respected person in the league, despite his controversial comments about James, and this is a move that should work out on the floor for the Lakers.

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Former UNC basketball great Rasheed Wallace receives great honor

Former UNC forward Rasheed Wallace is getting a street intersection names after him in his home city of Philadelphia.

Former UNC basketball great [autotag]Rasheed Wallace[/autotag] will be received a big honor later this summer in a place that means a great deal to him.

On June 24, the intersection of 18th street and Hunting Park Ave in Philadelphia will be renamed ‘Rasheed Wallace Road’. Wallace great up in Philadelphia and attended Simon Gratz High School where he was named a two-time All-American, McDonalds All-American and USA Today High School Player of the Year as a senior in 1993.

Despite playing just 19 minutes per game his senior season, Wallace averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks per game.

Here is a look at the announcement.

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Wallace played two seasons at North Carolina (1993-95) where he helped lead the Tar Heels to the 1993 Final Four. As a freshman, Wallace averaged 9.5 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game. During his sophomore year, he was named an All-American and First Team All-ACC player while averaging 16.6 points on 65.4 percent shooting and grabbing 8.2 rebounds per game. At the time, his shooting percentage was the second-highest mark in UNC basketball history.

Wallace was then selected No. 4 in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets. After one season in Washington he was traded to the Portland Trailblazers where he made his big splash to get his NBA career started.

In eight season with the Trailblazers, Wallace was a two-time All-Star while averaging 16.8 points and 7.0 rebonds per game.

He then was traded to the Detroit Pistons where he won an NBA Championship in 2004 while playing for fellow Tar Heel Larry Brown. The Pistons would also make it back to the NBA Finals in 2005 before falling in seven games to the San Antonio Spurs. He was a two-time All-Star with the Pistons as well.

After six seasons in Detroit, Wallace then played one season in 2009-10 for the Boston Celtics before retiring for two seasons. He then came back and played one final season in 2012-13 for the New York Knicks.

In 1109 career NBA games, Wallace averaged 14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

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3 moves near past NBA trade deadlines that resulted in immediate championships

Looking back at the past NBA trade deadline moves that resulted in immediate championships.

The NBA is fascinating because it prioritizes yearlong entertainment. By the time the season ends you are thrust into the draft. Then, you get the Summer League, which coincides with the hoopla of NBA Free Agency. Before you know it, the season has arrived and before you can even understand which players are on which team, trade rumors begin floating around.

This season’s trade deadline is less than a week away and there’s already a lot happening. The Clippers and Trail Blazers just pulled off an interesting trade, and more are likely on the horizon amongst the league’s many other buyers and sellers.

With the deadline approaching, we look back at some memorable trades made around past seasons’ trade deadlines that led to instant NBA championships.

On this day: former Celtics Rasheed Wallace, Kermit Washington born

Former Celtic big men Rasheed Wallace and Kermit Washington were born on this day.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Boston big man Rasheed Wallace was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1974. A product of the University of North Carolina, Wallace made First Team All Atlantic Coast Conference in 1995 before he would be taken by the Washington (then) Bullets (now, Wizards) fourth overall in the NBA draft that same year.

Wallace would play for that team, the Portland Trail Blazers, Atlanta Hawks, and Detroit Pistons (where he would win a title in 2004) before joining the Celtics in free agency in 2009. The UNC product would sign a three-year deal with Boston that summer.

The big man had a tough season with the team in terms of production during the regular season, registering at or near-career lows in several counting stats.

NBA world reacts to Rasheed Wallace’s comments about LeBron James

NBA fans were not feeling Rasheed Wallace’s comments about LeBron James not being as good in the previous era of basketball.

Former NBA player Rasheed Wallace made the rounds this week about his comments about LeBron James.

Wallace, the No. 4 pick in the 1995 NBA draft, played 16 seasons in the league, making four All-Star appearances along with a title in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons.

As a stretch big, he was a rare commodity in the league at the time, which made him a great player to have. It led to prominent battles against notable players, such as James, who Wallace faced countless times in the Eastern Conference.

However, Wallace’s comments about James on a 2020 episode of the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” show circulated on Twitter recently:

“He probably would’ve done good with his physical stature, with him being bigger than the majority of the rest of the players. So he probably would’ve held his own, but I don’t think he would be as successful as he is now. It’s a whole different era back then. I couldn’t necessarily say that he would’ve been a beast, but I think he would’ve held his own.”

There were multiple reactions from fans blasting Wallace for his words, so let’s look at some:

Calculating the Hall of Fame odds for Boston Celtics yet to make it in

There are more Boston Celtics in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame than players of any other team – but who else might be joining them from Boston’s ranks?

The Boston Celtics have more players in Springfield, Massachusetts’ Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame than any other franchise in NBA history, and could be poised to add several more in the future, if the odds listed by Basketball-reference.com pan out favorably.

But who are the Celtics alumni with a good chance — or for that matter, any chance at all? We put together the following list of candidates with at least some shot at making the hall according to the essential reference of all things NBA statistics, excluding players who did not complete at least one full season with Boston to put some manageable limits on this exercise.

Let’s take a look at the potential candidates.

Which NBA players committed the most technical fouls last season?

Technical fouls are a part of basketball at every level, but when called in the NBA, they also come with significant fiscal consequences.

Technical fouls are a part of basketball at every level, but when called in the NBA, they also come with significant fiscal consequences.

Technicals can be issued for a myriad of reasons during the course of a game. This includes “non-unsportsmanlike” reasons such as excessive timeouts, delay of game, incorrect number of players on the floor or hanging on the basket and/or rim.

However, more detrimental are unsportsmanlike whistles for conduct such as disrespectfully addressing an official, physically contacting an official, overt actions indicating resentment of a call or non-call, use of profanity, taunting or deliberately throwing elbows at an opponent.

While the players we’ll discuss in the list are the modern leaders of getting T’d up, no one comes remotely close to what Rasheed Wallace accomplished during the 2000-01 campaign. Wallace was called for 41 technical fouls that season, which forced the league the eventually change the rules.

Nowadays, players are automatically suspended once they reach sixteen technical fouls in a single season — as Dwight Howard was this past season. Players then receive another automatic suspension with each passing two technical fouls they are called for (e.g. technical fouls No. 18, No. 20, etc.) subsequently.

Even though none of these players come close to matching the prolific rate Wallace once had, the following players are the ones who best embody his spirit:

(Data via Spotrac and Stats Perform)

NBA champion Rasheed Wallace takes Sixers over Nets to make NBA Finals

Former NBA champion Rasheed Wallace is picking the Philadelphia 76ers to make the NBA Finals.

When it comes to the NBA Finals and the Eastern Conference, the conversation has been centered around the two top teams in the standings, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets.

The Sixers, led by their star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, have been sitting at the top of the East for the majority of the season as the play of their stars combined with the supporting cast has been great. However, a lot of the talk has been centered around the Nets due to their star trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden.

The trio the Nets have assembled are guys who have proven themselves on the big stage, and it will certainly be tough for the Sixers to get through, but Philadelphia has something Brooklyn does not right now and that is chemistry.

Former NBA champion, and Philadelphia native, Rasheed Wallace joined ESPN’s First Take and he is taking the Sixers to come out of the East for that reason:

Don’t get me wrong, Brooklyn has a trifecta. They have three great players with Kyrie, Honeybun, and KD. So, those three guys, you got to respect them, but the Sixers, I think what makes them a little bit different, and I would have to give the edge to them is the fact that team has been together for a couple of years… forget it. I’m gonna go ahead and say, yeah.

Wallace is not wrong about the chemistry. The Big 3 in Brooklyn was formed in January, and they have played only seven games together. That could be an issue come playoff time. The Sixers, while adding new pieces to the core, have had their mainstays together for a bit. Embiid, Simmons and Tobias Harris have played together, and that just might give them the edge in the postseason.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Rasheed Wallace doesn’t think James Harden and Kyrie Irving would fit together

The James Harden-to-Brooklyn talks have quieted, but there’s been no indication that a deal couldn’t still happen.

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Kevin Durant already has two former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates in Brooklyn with him in Jeff Green and Royal Ivey, the latter joining the franchise as an assistant coach.

Durant reportedly wanted a third ex-Thunder teammate to move to Brooklyn — James Harden — but chatter seems to have died down since NBA free agency began on Friday.

Still, there’s been no indication that a deal couldn’t be struck. So it’s only natural to wonder, how would Harden fit in with Durant and, especially, Kyrie Irving?

Retired four-time NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace tried answer that very question when he appeared on WFAN’s Moose & Maggie on Tuesday.

“I don’t think that would work,” Wallace said. “Because look at the two players. You got James Harden, we all know that he’s a scoring machine, instant offense. But, he demands to have the ball. He has to have the ball in his hands to be effective. It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen James Harden lined up in the corner, waiting for the ball to get to him for a three. You’re dealing with Kyrie, as well. Kyrie, of course, being the point guard that he is, he’s a little bit more of a facilitator than James Harden, I think. But, in my opinion, I don’t know if you can have both of them out there on the floor — because they need to have that ball in their hands too much to be effective.

“Of course, KD is KD. He don’t need the ball. Because he could come off a screen, he could get his own shot. So, he doesn’t necessarily have to dribble a gajillion times to try to get a layup or somewhat of an open jump shot.”

When asked if the personalities could mesh if Harden’s was added to the mix, Wallace said, “I think that would be more up to the players as opposed to the coach or coaching staff.”

“Look how it gelled for KD for those two years out there in Golden State,” he added. “It could be the same thing here in Brooklyn.”