Champion Creed-Chapter 898 - 297: Dark Defense Era (Vote for monthly tickets!)

A strong small forward as the ball handler, if his mid-range shot is not ideal and he can’t play with his back to the basket, he is destined to suffer a lot.

If you have an excellent rim protector at center, then to deal with such a forward, you only need a point guard under 180 centimeters to entangle him.

This is not alarmist talk, and this phrase certainly does not just apply to Ron Artest.

Therefore, improving the quality of ball handlers is a problem that the Pistons urgently need to solve.

And Joe Dumars almost solved everything the moment people raised the question.

The addition of Rasheed Wallace raised the ceiling of this blue army infinitely.

Before Kobe and AI, Rasheed Wallace was the much-anticipated son of Philadelphia, and the local media even thought he would become the next Wilt Chamberlain.

When he decided to join forces with Jerry Stackhouse in North Carolina, people’s expectations for him reached a peak.

But after entering the NBA, Rasheed Wallace’s development was not as expected.

This wasn’t because people misjudged his talent; even now, no one thinks Rasheed Wallace lacks ability.

The biggest problem was that Rasheed Wallace never wanted to be great.

You could understand it as, he is a power forward version of Andre Iguodala.

He refused to be a leader, refused to be in the spotlight, and also refused to take on too much responsibility.

Most rebellious players are obsessed with stats, but Rasheed Wallace is quite the opposite. He is a total rebel, yet has no interest in stats.

Believe it or not, often causing trouble, Rasheed Wallace is actually a very team-oriented player.

Fans mistakenly thought Rasheed Wallace threw a towel in Sabonis’s face in front of everyone for power, for more shots, and was dissatisfied with Sabonis occupying the low-post offense.

But in fact, Rasheed Wallace simply thought Sabonis played too poorly and couldn’t hide his angry emotions on the court.

He is just that kind of person who won’t cooperate with you to put on a show.

Ironically, Andre Iguodala, who never wanted to be the boss, ended up as FMVP, and Rasheed Wallace, who also never wanted to be the boss, was forced to become a leader.

These two facts both prove that as long as you have strength, even if you don’t brag, others will give you the status you deserve.

And no matter how much you brag without enough strength, people won’t really think you are impressive.

Look at that strong small forward, Ron Artest bragging every day that he is Detroit’s king, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Pistons’ core is Big Ben.

In this timeline, due to Roger’s presence, the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t have Pippen nor Stevie Smith. So they expected Rasheed Wallace to grow into a leader earlier and lead the team out of the post-Drexler era slump.

But Rasheed Wallace never had a heart to be the team’s star, and the Portland Trail Blazers sank deeper into the abyss amidst continuous trouble from jailbirds.

As a result, they decided to rebuild earlier than in the original timeline.

Since the summer, the Portland Trail Blazers had been shopping Rasheed Wallace.

However, they overestimated Rasheed Wallace’s trade value in the market.

Averaging 19.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game are statistically splendid; Rasheed Wallace can undoubtedly be counted as one of the strongest frontcourt players in the league.

But strong teams would not give up their star players for someone unwilling to take responsibility.

For weaker teams, Rasheed Wallace is not a franchise cornerstone, so they wouldn’t part with their draft picks.

The trade thus stalled, and in the end, unable to raise the price any further, the Trail Blazers agreed to the Detroit Pistons’ offer.

The Pistons sent Clifford Robinson, Zeljko Rebrača, Collis Williamson, and a 2005 first-round pick in exchange for 27-year-old Rasheed Wallace and veteran shooter Steve Kerr.

Among these, Clifford Robinson was purely a financial balancing chip. He is strong but, as a veteran, doesn’t serve much purpose for a rebuilding team.

The real key chips were the latter two and that first-round pick.

Zeljko Rebrača was drafted by the NBA in 1994 but never made it to the North American court. In Europe, he had phenomenal performances, winning the Greek league championship, EuroLeague championship, and EuroLeague MVP grand slam last season. It’s widely believed he possesses All-Star level skill in the NBA, a lottery ticket with a guaranteed low reward but a chance for a big prize.

Collis Williamson ranked first in the first edition of this year’s Best Sixth Man list, making him a decent immediate impact player.

And the draft pick is another lottery ticket without a guaranteed reward but with a chance for a big prize.

Honestly, the chips the Pistons paid always give people the feeling of ’Pistons really got lucky with this.’

Although this trade is not as outrageous as the Lakers’ robbery of Gasol later, it still counts as a trade where one side obviously gained significantly.

In fact, this was also why the Trail Blazers delayed making a decision; they felt the Pistons’ offer wasn’t worth it.

But as Rasheed Wallace continued to showcase a total lack of star presence in the new season, and more teams completed their strengthening and withdrew their offers, the Portland Trail Blazers eventually compromised.