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**Brian** · 11-11-2006, 07:41 AM

Kinda of an interesting article out of Chicago. Its obviously still early in the season but Ben has been non existent for the most part.

Quote:

It's early, but so far Ben Wallace hasn't shown why the Bulls obtained him

The Bulls announced that Ben Wallace has retired.

Wallace had one of the more inspirational careers in NBA history. An undrafted, undersized forward, he was traded twice before developing into one of the best defensive players in league history. He was a four-time Defensive Player of the Year and seven times was named to the all-defensive team. He won a championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons.

Click here to find out more!
Wallace … OK, OK, it's a joke.

Wallace hasn't retired, though he wasn't around much in the Bulls' loss at Cleveland on Thursday. He will start at center Saturday when they face the Indiana Pacers at the United Center.

But the premier free-agent acquisition of the off-season, the player everyone (including me) believed would turn the Bulls into serious contenders because of his defensive ability and almost unlimited energy, has had a mostly invisible start.

Wallace is averaging just 8.8 rebounds despite leading the team in minutes played. The Bulls have been at best an average defensive team and far below their standards of previous seasons in a 2-3 start.

Their defensive field-goal percentage, a regular point of pride, ranks 20th in the league. Though Wallace was terrific in a victory over Milwaukee on Monday, the Bulls were dominated, particularly inside, in losses to Orlando and Cleveland. And in a game they gave away late against Sacramento last week, the Kings came back in the last two minutes with two layups and a short jumper in the lane.

Wallace was supposed to deter attacks at the basket and provide the spark of a Brian Urlacher. Instead, he has been Artie Ulmer.

But it is just five games, and if the Bulls had not blown that big late lead to the Kings, they would be tied for the lead in the division.

"With the résumé he has, he should be given some time to understand where he is on our team right now," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said after practice Friday. "His role is different now, and he needs a little bit to adjust. All five guys who started the [Cleveland] game, they did not have the energy. They knew it. I don't want us to be in a position where we point to one guy and say, 'He doesn't have it, we're done.' I think that's unfair. If I saw it, I'm honest enough that I'd say it."

Skiles has demonstrated he would. And this is a new time for these Bulls.

"We have eight new players," Skiles said. "We have hordes of media calling the Bulls legitimate contenders. There's a lot of hype the guys have to deal with for the first time. They're no longer the underdogs. People are laying for them. They're still human beings. They need some time to jell, to get it all figured out, and I think they will. I have no reason to do anything but trust these guys."

Certainly, statistics are skewed after just a few games and Bulls teams under this regime have shown the last two seasons that the longer they play, the better they get. There was the 0-9 start two years ago and then 47 victories, and last season the Bulls went into the new year 12-19 but won 12 of their last 14.

Still, the reason the Bulls have moved onto almost everyone's playoff radar is Wallace. He's likely still the Bulls' only All-Star, and certainly the only player on the roster with all-league credentials. He's now the team's highest-paid player and is expected to provide the energy to make a good defensive team a great one.

The Bulls would have loved to have added a big-time scorer, and they pursued several. Those guys aren't easy to get, so they went for a big-time defender, certainly the top free agent. It made sense. But when Ben Gordon shoots about 20 percent every other game, the margin of error is far less. The Bulls have to make up for offensive shortcomings with a level of defense they have yet to show.

Thursday is the big night in the NBA these days because the schedule is cleared to accommodate the TNT national games, and the Bulls finally are a participant. But that status comes with harsh analysis and the discussion Thursday was that the Bulls are like a weak-hitting baseball team that added another pitcher.

But as good pitching can win, so can good defense.

That's why Wallace's play is under such scrutiny. He has been the NBA's definition of energy and hustle, the elements that should fit best with this Bulls team. It never mattered that Wallace was undersized because his enthusiasm and jumping ability were superior. It hasn't been that way yet this season.

One also senses Wallace is somewhat homesick, a little like the guy recruited for a new job and showered with attention—and money—and then he goes where no one knows him or has seen him do anything for them. Show me!

"They rang the bell [in Detroit] and he was Big Ben and always had a playoff-hardened cast around him," said Skiles, who added he did talk with Wallace on Friday. "He's in a little bit different role, but our guys are happy he's on the team. We may be guilty of looking to him too much."

Because it's just the beginning, everyone is going to be.

"I've been playing in this league a long time," Wallace said. "Pressure doesn't really bother me, [and] what everyone else thinks I'm supposed to be doing. I'm just trying to fit into this team and do whatever I can to help this team win."

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....ulls-headlines

**Brian** · 11-11-2006, 07:51 AM

Stat wise

Nazr 9.0 PPG 8.0 RPG 1.67 BPG .535 FG% .800 FT% 21.3 MPG
Ben 5.2 PPG 8.8 RPG 1.60 BPG .474 FG% .615 FT% 33.0 MPG

Nazr is beating him in almost every catergory and playing 12 minutes less a game. Stats don't tell the whole story though we know there are a lot of things Ben does that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. So far I am very happy with Nazr though.

MLKG · 11-11-2006, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

Stats don't tell the whole story though we know there are a lot of things Ben does that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. So far I am very happy with Nazr though.

And, from what I've seen this year, he hasn't been doing those things either....

We all know how hit or miss Ben has been over the last 2 seasons. Sometimes he looks great, sometimes it looks like he's not even trying. With the latter occuring more and more frequently.

If he doesn't pick it up soon I think he's going to find he'll be given a lot less rope with his new teams fans than he was with his old ones.

**ChrisWoj** · 11-11-2006, 08:48 AM

I'll be honest, were Ben a Detroit Piston I think that things would be slightly different on the sheet. He'd be in a situation with guys he is comfortable with, regardless of the non-existent relationship between himself and Saunders. He'd be putting up better numbers than Mohammed at the least, in a `Stons uni.

Now, with that said I don't think that letting him go was a bad idea. Although his numbers would have been better than Nazr, it wouldn't have been a huge difference, he would have been a slight malcontent (although I'm sure he would have been great with his teammates still, his repartee with Saunders could have been damaging to the team) and he would have cost FAR more than Nazr did.

I'm glad we did what we did, if not overjoyed because I enjoyed Ben Wallace's presence on the court. But last night we looked fine without him, with five people playing offense and a hearty dose of zone shown to the Lakers, primarily with Prince anchoring it with his long arms and burgeoning leadership. You have to move on sometime, we didn't wait too long which is great.

-Chris.

ike · 11-11-2006, 09:03 AM

" I told you so!!"... Well, I mean, I would've liked to have him in our team but I think he's been declining and he have become a little bit overrated. No way he deserves all that money. But it's still early this season so we'll have to wait further this season before we can make better analysis.

Goubot · 11-11-2006, 11:38 AM

Chicago's problem hasn't been on defense. They live and die by their streaky shooting (this is especially apparent with Ben Gordon). Deng is good (I'm a fan of his) but he is prone to disappearing, Hinrich's been lighting it up but has had trouble playing because of foul problems, Nocioni is usually pretty good but is struggling as of now, Gordon can absolutely torch you one night and shoot 10-20% the next, Duhon has been shooting very well but he makes ridiculous errors. Thing is, for all their troubles, they are actually shooting well. They just never get to the line and they're fairly weak on the boards in spite of Ben Wallace (whose rebounding numbers are way down anyway), so they have a tendency to just fade away if their shot isn't falling.

JoeD · 11-11-2006, 12:00 PM

Ben wouldn't be allowing the ridiculous points in the paint we've given up a few games. And most of the games we could really use him to make up for Rip and Chauncey getting blown by.

I actually think it might be better he isn't here to do those things because now everyone is getting better to adjust, and last season we got scored on a lot in the paint and Ben couldn't stop every guard that blew by Chauncey. Big Ben alone could only do so much. Now with a team effort maybe we have a better chance over fixing these serious problems, starting with personal responsibility with our guards. We're already rebounding better so far now that everyone is picking up the slack. Though some of the rebounding credit is Nazr and Dice who were good rebounders that weren't involved last year.

**DetBNyce** · 11-16-2006, 08:00 AM

Intimidation is the key. We all knew Ben was falling off, but this was a team that had two straight NBA Finals and four straight conference finals appearances. So in a way, some teams are thinking, "what can you do to beat this team?". Without each other, and with our defeat to Miami, players getting a year older, etc. I just don't think that's there anymore. With that being said, I'm glad we let Ben go. At times he looked like he didn't even care, and with all the things going on with he and Flip it just wasn't worth it. We can still be a good team, but I can't say with confidence that we're a championship level team right now.

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