OT: Ben Wallace Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame
It's not official until tonight, but that's the word. Fear the 'Fro! Great news and a testament to hard work. Amazing to think that a guy who averaged 5.7 PPG over his career is going into the HOF.
Way to go, Big Ben. LINK.
Very cool. Those were such fun teams and a perfect starting five.
This is so awesome
Good for Big Ben
Loved Big Ben, but not a HOF level player.
Of course he is. Top-5 all-time defensive player and rebounder.
Any 4x scoring leader will be elected, so why would a 4x DPoY be any different than that?
He's probably the best defensive player of the last 20 years (this century). His 4 defensive player of the year awards is tied for the NBA record.
His offensive game was poor --- he didn't even shoot 50% for his career, even as a center, and let's not talk about his free throw shooting --- but I think he's a Hall of Famer.
Seriously! Not a HOF player?
Literally nobody could score on those Pistons. Ben was a giant blocking, rebounding, defending nightmare for the entire league.
He was holding playoff teams to under 60 points a game on a regular basis. Or was it 65 points a game? It doesn't matter. Nobody could score.
Nice honor for him, and the second Piston to get in mostly for his defense and rebounding.
Feels a bit like an analog to guys like Mitch Richmond, who were HOF because of their offense. At his peak Wallace absolutely changed how teams ran their offense and he deserves recognition.
FEAR THE FRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS BEN!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU FOR THE GOOD TIMES!!!!!!
He had a HOF physique. Where did he play college ?
Virginia Union
...and was never drafted.
Nice edit, bud. ;)
Good for him. Great player and cool dude. Met him once.
One of the best defenders and rebounders ever to do it. Well deserved.
Looking back to 2000:
https://pistonpowered.com/2018/09/17/detroit-pistons-trade-franchise/
"It was not a surprise but what resulted from this trade would be."
The article makes it sound like the Pistons just traded Hill away. It was a sign-and-trade situation.
The Pistons wanted to re-sign Hill as a free agent but he was frustrated about never making it past the first round of the playoffs, and committed to go to Orlando. To clear cap space to sign him, Orlando then traded Wallace and Atkins to the Pistons. Dumars’ failure to re-sign Hill ended up working out incredibly well.
Good point. Pistons literally got a Hall of Famer in return for Hill.
It's about time. Ben was a beast and put the fear of God into anyone driving the lane. 1 Championship should have be 2. It never would have happened without Ben.
Big Ben, goin' to work.
*****GOOOOOONG******
Hell Yeah! I remember that Gong going off like crazy during Game 5 against the Lakers. Had to check the stats and he want off for 18 points and 22 rebounds in the last game. Incredibly fun series kicking the Lakers asses!
I remember Bill Davidson at the parade saying “When I heard the odds were 10-1 for,the Lakers, I said bullshit!”
The Pistons absolutely toyed with the Lakers in that series. Just toyed with them!
First thing I think of with Ben Wallace is Malice at the Palace.
I am not saying he shouldn’t be in the NBA HOF. I don’t pay enough attention to the NBA to know about all of his accolades. I know he was a damn good player and part of a very good Detroit team that win it all. I’m just saying that as someone who isn’t a Pistons fan (or by extension, an NBA fan in particular), that’s the first thing I think of when I hear his name.
So basically, you don't follow the NBA, or at least didn't then.
That's great, but then why are you commenting here?
Yes! Defense gets it due.
A very shaky choice by the stats. But if a guy could be a Hall-of-Famer based solely on defense, it would be Big Ben.
I'm surprised to see this because I equate the HoF with offense - and Big Ben didn't do much on the offensive side. But what a big congratulations to him!!! As a defensive standout for his entire career, he earned it!!