When Rasheed Wallace shifted power to the Detroit Pistons

When the Portland Trail Blazers finally decided they had enough with all that Sheed brought, they shipped him off to the Atlanta Hawks (along with Wesley Person) for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Theo Ratliff and Dan Dickau. Then, inexplicably, the Hawks shipped Sheed off again (along with other players to the Boston Celtics) to the Pistons for a bunch of players I won’t bother to name.

Before DeMarcus Cousins, no player who possessed such innate gifts on the basketball court while also being broadly misunderstood more than Wallace. For those like me, we would defend this man to the grave. There was nothing Sheed couldn’t do, one step in his Nike Air Force 1 His at a time. For others, the perceived hot-headedness and over-confidence in his three-point shooting caused many to turn away from the do-everything power forward. The reality was, Sheed was a volatile player who had been cast-off for perceived greener pastures. In the Pistons, a team made up of nothing but cast-offs, Sheed would join a squad that was, in his words, “full of dog-faced gremlins getting down on all fours ready to scrap.”

The end result was the Pistons eviscerating the Eastern Conference and shocking the world by annihilating the Los Angeles Lakers in five games to win the NBA championship.

*****

The Detroit Pistons, with Rasheed Wallace on the roster, went to five conference championships in his six seasons playing in Motown. Many would consider it money well spent, but then you realize how much money he saved the organization, you might consider it criminal. Dumars and his stress levels were elevated beyond belief as Sheed’s peers were signing lucrative deals left and right. Wallace eventually re-signed for $57 million for the next five years, and signed the contract while wearing flip flops, white socks, blue athletic shorts, a matching top, and his 2004 NBA championship hat. His peers had checks cut for them, Dumars by comparison, got a heck of a deal.

• Kenyon Martin signed with the Denver Nuggets for $90 million over 7 years
• Mehmet Okur signed with the Utah Jazz for $60 million over 7 years
• Marcus Camby re-signed with the Denver Nuggets for $40 million over 4 years
• Carlos Boozer signed with the Utah Jazz for $70 million over 6 years

In a time where teams made it about him and what they couldn’t handle as an organization, another found their missing link to greatness. Thank goodness for the 2004 NBA trade deadline.