From Draymond Green to Tyler Herro to Tyrese Haliburton, many have grudges against the players drafted before them. Ben Wallace (50 years old, this September 10), he arrived in the NBA in 1996, the year of one of the most impressive Drafts in history, with 1984 and 2003.
There are three future MVPs: Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash. All-Stars galore: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Stephon Marbury, Jermaine O'Neal, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Peja Stojakovic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas. And players with very good careers: Derek Fisher, Marcus Camby, and Kerry Kittles.
So there would have been no shame in being selected behind those players. Except that the pivot, who came out of the small Virginia Union college and was watching the ceremony at home, was not called by David Stern that night.
A disappointment that will turn into a driving force. It has also become his particularity because “Big Ben”, 25 years later, has in fact become the first player to enter the Hall of Fame without having been drafted.
“Once the first shock has passed and we realize that we have to make every team that missed its chance to bet on you pay, we get back to work.”, Ben Wallace had told. “So that night, I went to the gym. I was on a mission to tell everybody, ‘You missed somebody.’ I kept repeating everybody’s name to myself at the gym: Iverson, Marbury, O’Neal, Bryant, Allen… It became a motivation: me, my back against the wall, against everybody. And I always kept an eye on them, on their careers. It wasn’t personal, it wasn’t against them, it was just how I approached it.”
“A great example for young people who swear by offensive actions”
After timidly making his mark for two years, Ben Wallace gained some volume during his third season in Washington, then in Orlando in 1999/2000.
Then, his career and the story of the 2000s took a turn: he was transferred to Detroit in the trade around Grant Hill. He then became one of the best rebounders and blockers in the league, a multiple All-Star and was crowned four times Defensive Player of the Year (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006).
In 2004, he won the title against the Lakers and thus left a lasting mark on the league of that time with his style, his afro and his defensive statistics. Despite a very meager offensive contribution since he only scored 5.7 points on average, not to mention his abysmal clumsiness in free throws, with only 41% success.
“I'm so excited to have someone like Ben inducted into the Hall of Fame,” appreciated Larry Brown, his coach in Detroit during the title, who took charge of his induction. “He’s a player who played to the limit of his potential and showed people that if you work hard, defend every play and rebound every play, then you can make an impact and have an impact without scoring 30 points. You can look at the numbers of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond, but they had an impact in many ways. Ben Wallace was that and he’s a great example for young people who are all about offensive plays.”
Article originally published in 2021
