Headbandgate

Another one of my favorite punching bags was in the news on 11/25. Ben Wallace decided to break a Chicago Bulls team rule by sporting headband while the club snapped a six game losing streak.

There’s no way this latest dust up had anything to do with Big Ben wanting to wear a headband, but rather more to do with the previous game.

You see, in Philly on 11/24 Wallace was benched for the entire fourth quarter and registered this dubious line: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 blocks, 2 fouls and 1 assist.

You know that didn’t sit well with the sixty million dollar man.

So the next night in New York he gets sent to the pine 2:02 into the game for wearing the headband. Then he’d remove it on the bench, go back on the court, put it back on, and get benched again. This ridiculous scenario happened several times throughout the game too.

Tantrum says what?

Exactly.

If you’ll recall, Ben pulled a similar stunt last season while in Detroit. He got upset at his then coach Flip Saunders for pulling him from a game on 4/7/06 with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. He then refused to re-enter the game minutes later.

Think about that one for a second.

How many players in the NBA would get ripped to shreds for that? About 98% or more I think. Yet this clown received pretty much a free pass.

I never want to hear or read “team player” or “leader” about this dude ever again. When you purposely quit on two different sets of teammates twice within a year for no good reason, you cease to be “good in the locker room” in my book.

All this to me is really just icing on the cake though. I’ve been saying for years that Wallace is one of the most overrated players in the league, and after this latest “incident” more people are finally catching on.

Let’s look at the numbers, shall we.

I’ll throw him a bone here and say he had five good seasons. Starting with his arrival in the Motor City (’00-01) and continuing until he won a ring (’04-05). What makes those seasons “good”, I guess, is that he averaged 13.2 rebounds and 2.88 blocks over that span.

Now for the reality check. Ever since the Pistons won their title, Big Ben has been on the serious decline. While the steals, assists and shooting percentages have stayed the same more or less, his points, rebounds and blocks are all on the down slope since ’04-05.

Not to mention through 13 games this season he’s been putting up a robust 5.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 41.7% from the field and 45.7% from the line. YIKES!

Just as I did for Chris Webber, here are Wallace’s ranking in three universal categories.

John Hollinger’s PER – 33rd for C’s at 13.37
Roland Rating – 11th on team at -7.1
NBA.com’s Efficiency – 20th for C’s at 5.5

Also keep in mind that this is a guy who has sports career averages of 6.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.3 steals & assists while shooting 48.1% from the field and 41.9% from the line.

Hall of Famer?

Pah-lease!

The book is out on Big Ben, and has been for a while now. Put a body or two on him to keep him off the glass on defense and dare him to shoot on offense.

It’s hard enough for any squad to play four on five on O, but when Wallace plays without the superior energy on D that made him a “star”, he’s completely worthless.

This is exactly the reason why you don't pay a glorified role player franchise player type of money.

Now comes word that Ben has ligament damage and chipped bones in his right hand. I doubt that’s going to improve his attitude or play any.

Enjoy Chicago!