Big Swami
12-05-2007, 11:26 AM
:lathamjahnke:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/SPORTS03/712050334/1051
SECRET SHEED: Despite volatile reputation, Wallace invaluable with advice for teammates
December 5, 2007
More than anything, people base their view of Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace on his past. Past blowups with officials, past technical fouls, past comments in the media.
No matter what he does, he irks opposing fans -- and opposing players -- much the way former Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer did. He's the Piston outsiders love to hate.
Even some Pistons fans feel that way. More than any other player, Wallace is the one who fans most often say they want traded.
It's sad, because the truth is Wallace, especially this season, is the kind of player any club would dream of having.
"People don't know him," forward Antonio McDyess said. "In the locker room, he's such a good guy. ... I think it's just unfair to him. They don't know him as the Rasheed we know him as. When he's not on the floor, you can see, we're a totally different team without him."
His play this season has been focused and consistently good -- not to mention largely technical-foul-free. Wallace has posted up when easy baskets are needed, and he has played intelligent defense that makes life difficult for opposing players.
He also has controlled his famously uncontrollable emotions. His technical foul in the first quarter Tuesday night at Atlanta was only his second of the season.
But there's so much more.
From his hilarious pregame dancing -- when he pops into the circle of teammates for a hoedown -- to his love of throwing basketballs at unsuspecting teammates, to say Wallace keeps things loose is a gross understatement.
He makes everyone around him feel good. When he sat out a game recently with injury and walked onto the court after the national anthem, the entire team began to smile, one-by-one, as each player saw him. That's telling.
During games, Wallace is the Pistons' best on-the-floor communicator. He also spends time-outs making suggestions to teammates to make things operate better. Some people simply see Wallace sitting on the scorer's table, away from the cluster of players at the bench during breaks. They don't hear him offer X-and-O advice to his teammates as they gradually come to sit with him.
"He always comes talking to me because we're bigs," McDyess said. "Even when he wasn't playing, he'd be saying, 'Hey, stop the ball here, it's a lot easier. Pick up the ball, get it out of the guards' hands.' It's stuff that the coaches don't say, but 'Sheed always picks up on those things."
McDyess said Wallace sees things he doesn't.
"He's always talking about what we need to do, and that stuff actually works," McDyess said. "It's little detail stuff we don't think about. I don't know how he picks it, but he does."
That extends to practice, too, when Wallace's running commentary makes certain that every player brings his best. Especially with young players, Wallace offers a tough-love approach that molds prospects into more complete players. With the current crop of youngsters, that mentoring role is more important than ever.
For instance, third-year forward Amir Johnson credits Wallace for helping him learn to hold his spot in the post with a lower base.
"When he opens his mouth, man, everybody listens," Johnson said. "If you're doing something wrong, he puts his opinion in. And everybody listens to him."
McDyess said he sometimes even asks Wallace to tone it down because he worries about the young guys' confidence. But Wallace certainly is more of a help than a hindrance, regardless of whether haters want to believe it.
"You can see how much he's helped Amir," McDyess said. "Amir's gotten a lot tougher, a lot stronger. He tells Amir all the time, 'Do everything strong, do everything strong.' And now you see Amir posting up a lot stronger, not taking threes. He used to shoot threes when he first got here, and 'Sheed would say, 'Get your (butt) on the block!' "
Wallace -- who deflects credit like it's an opponent's shot in the lane -- would say to all of this: "That's just me hoopin'. That's just basketball."
I'd say it's so much more.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/SPORTS03/712050334/1051
SECRET SHEED: Despite volatile reputation, Wallace invaluable with advice for teammates
December 5, 2007
More than anything, people base their view of Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace on his past. Past blowups with officials, past technical fouls, past comments in the media.
No matter what he does, he irks opposing fans -- and opposing players -- much the way former Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer did. He's the Piston outsiders love to hate.
Even some Pistons fans feel that way. More than any other player, Wallace is the one who fans most often say they want traded.
It's sad, because the truth is Wallace, especially this season, is the kind of player any club would dream of having.
"People don't know him," forward Antonio McDyess said. "In the locker room, he's such a good guy. ... I think it's just unfair to him. They don't know him as the Rasheed we know him as. When he's not on the floor, you can see, we're a totally different team without him."
His play this season has been focused and consistently good -- not to mention largely technical-foul-free. Wallace has posted up when easy baskets are needed, and he has played intelligent defense that makes life difficult for opposing players.
He also has controlled his famously uncontrollable emotions. His technical foul in the first quarter Tuesday night at Atlanta was only his second of the season.
But there's so much more.
From his hilarious pregame dancing -- when he pops into the circle of teammates for a hoedown -- to his love of throwing basketballs at unsuspecting teammates, to say Wallace keeps things loose is a gross understatement.
He makes everyone around him feel good. When he sat out a game recently with injury and walked onto the court after the national anthem, the entire team began to smile, one-by-one, as each player saw him. That's telling.
During games, Wallace is the Pistons' best on-the-floor communicator. He also spends time-outs making suggestions to teammates to make things operate better. Some people simply see Wallace sitting on the scorer's table, away from the cluster of players at the bench during breaks. They don't hear him offer X-and-O advice to his teammates as they gradually come to sit with him.
"He always comes talking to me because we're bigs," McDyess said. "Even when he wasn't playing, he'd be saying, 'Hey, stop the ball here, it's a lot easier. Pick up the ball, get it out of the guards' hands.' It's stuff that the coaches don't say, but 'Sheed always picks up on those things."
McDyess said Wallace sees things he doesn't.
"He's always talking about what we need to do, and that stuff actually works," McDyess said. "It's little detail stuff we don't think about. I don't know how he picks it, but he does."
That extends to practice, too, when Wallace's running commentary makes certain that every player brings his best. Especially with young players, Wallace offers a tough-love approach that molds prospects into more complete players. With the current crop of youngsters, that mentoring role is more important than ever.
For instance, third-year forward Amir Johnson credits Wallace for helping him learn to hold his spot in the post with a lower base.
"When he opens his mouth, man, everybody listens," Johnson said. "If you're doing something wrong, he puts his opinion in. And everybody listens to him."
McDyess said he sometimes even asks Wallace to tone it down because he worries about the young guys' confidence. But Wallace certainly is more of a help than a hindrance, regardless of whether haters want to believe it.
"You can see how much he's helped Amir," McDyess said. "Amir's gotten a lot tougher, a lot stronger. He tells Amir all the time, 'Do everything strong, do everything strong.' And now you see Amir posting up a lot stronger, not taking threes. He used to shoot threes when he first got here, and 'Sheed would say, 'Get your (butt) on the block!' "
Wallace -- who deflects credit like it's an opponent's shot in the lane -- would say to all of this: "That's just me hoopin'. That's just basketball."
I'd say it's so much more.