Maybe it’s time for Bad Boys II. Perhaps even another trip to the NBA Finals.
The Detroit Pistons, who became the darlings of thuggery in the late 1980s when they won two NBA championships, took a chance Thursday on the NBA’s baddest bad boy, Rasheed Wallace.
The three-team trade to acquire Wallace was the highlight of Thursday’s NBA trading deadline day, and it gives the Pistons two All-Stars on the front line.
Just before the NBA’s 2 p.m. trading deadline, the Pistons shipped center Zeljko Rebraca, guard Bob Sura and the rights to Milwaukee’s first-round draft pick to the Atlanta Hawks. They also moved cash, guards Lindsey Hunter and Chucky Atkins and their own first-round pick to Boston, which sent forward Chris Mills to the Hawks and guard Mike James to the Pistons. Wallace had gone to Atlanta for Shareef Abdur-Rahim on Feb. 9.
With starting All-Star center Ben Wallace and Wallace, the deal moves the daring Pistons into a tight race with the Indiana Pacers, the New Jersey Nets, the New Orleans Hornets and perhaps the New York Knicks in a run for the NBA Finals. If they make it, they could win another title with a front line that now can match up with Western teams.
“It’s a great move for Detroit,” said one general manager who was in the discussions to get Wallace.
“It gives them a chance to go for it this year and then salary-cap room to sign [free-agent Mehmet] Okur and maybe even keep Wallace. But he’s going to drive [coach] Larry Brown crazy. He’s not much of a practice guy.”
The tempestuous Wallace has been many things in his nine-year NBA career, including being among the most arrested (marijuana), suspended and fined by the NBA (defiance of league rules and threatening a referee). He has been the league’s technical fouls leader for the last several seasons.
But the 6-foot-11-inch forward with shooting-guard skills is a two-time All-Star who’s averaging 17.1 points this season. He could change the balance of power in the fluid Eastern Conference, which became even more unpredictable Thursday when the Pacers learned All-Star Ron Artest could be out the rest of the regular season after thumb surgery.
In other deadline deals, Orlando sent Gordan Giricek to Utah for DeShawn Stevenson; Utah sent injured Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten to Phoenix for Tom Gugliotta in a deal that enables the Suns to avoid paying the league luxury tax; and the Hornets acquired guard insurance with Shammond Williams from Orlando for Sean Rooks.
But the boldest and brightest move was that of Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, who trumped the moves of his major competitor, namely the Knicks and their GM, former Bad Boys teammate Isiah Thomas.
The Knicks reshaped their team with previous acquisitions of Stephon Marbury and Tim Thomas, but also were trying to deal for Wallace, who supposedly has said he wants to sign with the Knicks as a free agent after the season.
The Knicks were in the center of a flurry of deals over the last few months in which key players like Marbury, Abdur-Rahim, Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall, Antonio Davis, Ricky Davis, Keith Van Horn, Theo Ratliff and Tim Thomas changed teams.
Wallace brings talent and possibilities to Detroit, but like Brown’s former problem star, Allen Iverson, Wallace is known to skip practices on occasion or show up on the floor wearing combat boots instead of basketball shoes.
But what about all those other potential deals?
Stars like Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Steve Francis never were offered. Even the Bulls’ Eddy Curry became off limits.
“Everyone says Curry is a dog,” one general manager aware of the Bulls’ talks said. “But he’s a big dog. The Bulls didn’t want to talk about either of the big kids (Curry and Tyson Chandler).”
The Bulls did talk about moving Jamal Crawford and Marcus Fizer, but it was to no one’s surprise around the NBA there wasn’t much interest in players shooting below 40 percent on a 16-victory team.
Among the major names supposedly in the mix were the Warriors’ Erick Dampier and Nick Van Exel, the Grizzlies’ Stromile Swift and Jake Tsakalidis, the Pacers’ Austin Croshere, the Sonics’ Jerome James, Vladimir Radmanovic and Brent Barry, the Magic’s Juwan Howard, the Wizards’ Christian Laettner, the Rockets’ Mo Taylor, the Raptors’ Marshall and Morris Peterson and the Trail Blazers’ Dale Davis. It’s still possible former All-Star Vin Baker, whom the Celtics released, could hook on with another team.
Trading day
The three-way deal
Atlanta Hawks
Get C Zeljko Rebraca, G Bob Sura, future first-round pick from Detroit; get F Chris Mills from Boston.
Boston Celtics
Get G Lindsey Hunter, G Chucky Atkins, a 2004 first-round pick from Detroit.
Detroit Pistons
Get F Rasheed Wallace from Atlanta and G Mike James from Boston.
Other deals
New Orleans Hornets
Get G Shammond Williams from Orlando.
Orlando Magic
Get C Sean Rooks from New Orleans and G DeShawn Stevenson from Utah.
Phoenix Suns
Get F-C Keon Clark and F-C Ben Handlogten from Utah.
Utah Jazz
Get F Tom Gugliotta, two conditional first-round picks, a 2005 second-round pick from Phoenix; get G Gordon Giricek from Orlando.
Source: NBA.com
