Good Times, Ain’t we Lucky We Got’ em

by | Jul 4, 2006 | 38 comments

The bell tolls no more at the Palace, Ba Ba Ba Ben Wallace is no longer a Piston and many fans don’t know how to take the news. As for me, I knew this was coming for a while now. During the last part of the season you could just tell that Ben just wasn’t having fun out there. He was doing and saying things that were very uncharacteristic. He refused to go back into a game that the Pistons eventually lost. He actually came out and expressed his anger at his teammates for always having to play catch-up, and most of all he was very unhappy with the Pistons offensive direction.

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When he hired Super Agent Arn Tellem, it was just a matter of time. The Pistons offered him 48 million dollars over four years and Ben was disappointed. They then upped the deal to 51.8 million and he was even more offended. So he took the Bulls offer of 60 million over 4 years. It was the best contract of his career, how could he turn it down? You would have done it and so would I. Basketball is a business, sometimes your heart gets in the way and sometimes it doesn’t. Ben obviously had something else going on besides just the money, he has had a Shaq sized chip on his shoulder for a while now and if 8.2 million dollars helps him get rid of it, then good for him.

I am not bitter, I just think that his taking the offer from the Bulls put the Pistons in a tight position. In my head I was ready to start the 2006 season without Ben, but I thought a sign and trade deal was in the team’s future. With no sign and trade, the Pistons signed center Nazr Mohammed to a 5 year 30 million dollar contract that left the Pistons virtually crippled to sign any other free agents on the market due to cap restrictions.

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Sure this is not the Pistons team that we have all grown to love. Of course Nazr is no Ben Wallace, but this is how professional basketball is played, on and off the court. I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Carlos Delfino is going to see some serious court time, get his confidence up and show Flip that he, instead of Evans was the go to guy. Jason Maxiell is about to see what the NBA is really all about and I think he’s ready. Amir Johnson might even get a chance to play some minutes and show us what he can do. I am looking toward the future and right now it looks bright.

Good luck to Ben, he did what he had to do and he gave us some pretty good times here in Detroit. The Pistons gave him his identity and in exchange he gave us six hard working years, four trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and an NBA Championship. I will continue to cheer Ben along the way as long as it doesn’t interfere with my Pistons. No hard feelings Ben, I will just remember the Good Times….

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I am still a fan of Ben Wallace, but first and foremost I am a Detroit Pistons Fan, a diehard Pistons fan for life, who has seen many players come and go and have learned that you stick by the team and not the player.

38 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    YES! This is exactly what everyone else is failing to grasp. Bravo on this post!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    Sheed + Maxiell + Mohammed = KG?

    Reply
  3. JK

    lol @ the pics! Good blog! You said it right Nat!

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    “Sheed + Maxiell + Mohammed = KG?”

    No, KG will NOT become a Piston, because in the NBA there is a little thing called a salary cap and KG would put us over it 5 times over. The only other real move I can see Joe D making is trying to land a free agent that can add an offensive boost off of the bench i.e. Bonzi Wells.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    BRING BONZI WELLS TO THE D haha if thats even possible.

    Reply
  6. jake

    the pistons problems are mostly at the coaching position. flip saunders has only coached a year, and has proven once again that he simply cannot coach in the playoffs or even use the regular season to prepare his team for the playoffs (like preparing a bench). now it seems he has manged to alienate a central pillar of the team to the degree that he (big ben) has left.
    the pistons are really really gonna miss LB once they realize how bad flip is.

    Reply
  7. Aaron

    No One In Detroit Is Going To Miss LB..NO ONE! He Screwed Us Over, Flip Is Fine..He Only Coached Us To Our Best Record In Franchize History..He’s Fine..We Just Need A Bench.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    “Sheed+Maxiell+Mohammad=KG?”

    Why does everyone think we’re gonna get KG??? WE’RE NOT!!!!!!!

    Reply
  9. Anonymous

    NO KG IN DETROIT! ONLY TWO WORDS AL HARRINGTON

    Reply
  10. Natalie

    I will miss Ben so much. I don’t blame him for taking the big contract. This is the right time for him to get that type of money for his skill level. I will miss his tenacity on defense, his energy, his afro, his biceps, etc. I wish him well. I will always root for him and not the Bulls. I think we just have to get over it and try to move. We can do it. Deeetroit Basketballlll!

    Reply
  11. Anonymous

    Yeah, we all gotta move on. Our season is going to be great, even without Ben. We’re going to get through this, because we’re all DEETROIT BASKETBAAAALL fans. Our boys are going to make us proud next year.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous

    This post made me realize that breaking up the starting five isn’t the end of the world. It is sad, and I’ll miss seeing the huge blocks and hearing the bell tolling for big ben, but this gives the PIstons a great opportunity to build a team and a bench that will lead them to success in the future. I will always cheer for Big Ben, but my heart is with Detroit, and that’s where it’s going to stay.

    Reply
  13. Anonymous

    I saw this coming when rumors of Chicago being interested before the playoffs.

    Ben was disgusted with Flip and the way Detroit was playing.
    If Flip doesn’t want to get dissed, he should have respected the opinion of both of his captains, not just Chauncey.
    Dallas doubled teamed Shaq, LB had someone help Ben out with Shaq, how come it never occured to Flip to do the same thing.
    Detroit will be a very different team next year……

    Reply
  14. Anonymous

    Thank you for posting this. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

    I’m hating how the media underestimates our other starters. Sure, Ben was the face of the pistons, but we still have 4 amazing starters and perhaps Nazr can be one too.

    Pfft. Putting us at number five for Eastern Conference on SC. Yeah right.

    and KG isn’t coming to Detroit. Get over it.

    Reply
  15. Joe from Saginaw

    i was watching SC last night, and with the trade of Ben Wallace this is who they were saying the top 5 of the east is

    1. Miami
    2. Chicago
    3. Cleveland
    4. New Jersey
    5. Detroit

    this gave me a good chuckle, sure we lost Ben Wallace, but with Mohammed we gain more offense, something detroit was playing more of last year anyways, and less D, and its not like Mohammed wasnt San Antonio’s starting center when they won the championship two years ago

    these are my top 5 rankings of the East
    1. Detroit – sure we lost Ben, but we gain offense, still have 3 All Stars, and as we all saw in the playoffs, a young star emerging in Tayshaun Prince
    2. Miami – now this is even if Mourning comes back for one more year, and im sure Payton is retiring
    3. New Jersey
    4. Chicago – yes they get Ben but the same thing is going to happen to them that Shaq did to them this year in the playoffs, and everytime wade goes to he paint its a foul on someone, most likely Ben, because thats the kind of bs the NBA is leaning towards now
    5. Cleveland

    Reply
  16. Anonymous

    no kg because we is gonna make it to the nba finals just like 2 years ago YEssir BABY
    Shumel AHmed

    Reply
  17. Anonymous

    I cant belive they ranked us 5!! Ben helps so much on defense but still 5! putting cleveland in jersey infront of us ya right!
    bulls are just going to have a great first 20 games like golden state last year and then turn into a 6 7 or 8 seed just watch. Bens going to wish he was back on the pistons in no time. usually players go for championships not money, but in bens case i guess he went for the money
    by the way Joe D. worked his magic again getting the best center that was a free agent. How does he do it? i dont know. Id like to see the team get bonzi wells. I think he would be a good backup shooting guard.

    Reply
  18. Anonymous

    Ben is gone, but he will not like the bulls caz they r not a team player like pistons, pistons made ben star, now we have to make other player a star, i always look for the good things that we already have like , mr big shot, enery bunny and prince of the palace, may be pistons we will make Nazr Mohammed a star like ben.

    Reply
  19. Ben from Ann Arbor

    KG is not coming to the D no matter what we dont have the money and it will mess up the chemestry of the team that us DETROIT the only way for KG to be a Piston if next year he takes a huge pay cut and signs with Detroit as a free agent I dont see it happening SO STOP POSTING THAT KG IS COMING TO THE D

    Reply
  20. Anonymous

    without ben our defence is a lil shuntted, but now we have a more offencive team. no more hack-a-ben no more worring about givin him the ball and he will miss. he will go on. and ben will be upset when we kick his ass in the regular season. and i hope we meet then in the playoffs.

    Reply
  21. Anonymous

    ECF – Pistons vs Bulls callin it right now haha

    Reply
  22. Anonymous

    This post is an excellent call. All this came as a huge blow to me initially. With the money factor and everything, I thought I might never be able to enjoy the NBA again (and I live in Chicago so I’d actually be able to see more Ben on TV). But it’s so right-on to say you root for a team, not a player. I remember being 13 years old and witnessing the dismantling of the Bad Boys. If they would’ve made the right moves back then, we may have never had to enter the Teal Era. We shouldn’t have made so many sentimental sacrifices just to hold on to certain players so long past their prime. You gotta know when to cut your losses. That’s what Joe D is doing: setting us up for a quicker rebound from this loss. This may be the best thing to ever happen to this team. We are supposed to be the fans that value teamwork over individualism. None of us can know what dynamics were going on in the team anyway. We’ll always love Ben, but there were some obviously suspect moments this year, especially when it came to chemistry. I know that everyone said that Ben was the spiritual leader, but how much were those little incidents indicative of a broader Pistons schism? Hopefully that spiritually defensive presence of Ben’s has already been forever stamped into Piston DNA (actually, it was already there before). The other guys will step up. Count on it.

    Desmond

    Reply
  23. Anonymous

    Yeah no doubt we will step up. I suspect Tayshaun to come out big next season I have a big hunch i dunno why..

    -Detroitbball

    Reply
  24. Anonymous

    I also suspect Tay to come out strong this next season. I have this huge feeling in my stomach that he will.

    Don’t count us out yet. =]

    And to Big Ben, as Sheed says ‘Roll with us or get rolled by us.’ <3

    Reply
  25. shorty

    Its all good ben was huge to our team but this is just a start. Jay max is a pretty big guy and for a rookie he came out strong when he played, and remember nazr was part of the team that beat us in 05 so hes gotta be a plus and Flip Saunders is a good coach, the problem during the playoffs was the players and the 3 for 15 shooting not the coach the players had the freedom to do what they thought was right on the floor they made a lot of bad decisions but the coach shouldnt be blamed because of his rep he did good and sometimes players make mistakes shit happens and now you can only move forward

    Reply
  26. Anonymous

    WE’LL MAKE NAZR A STAR JUST LIKE WE DID BEN I MEAN COMON! WHEN WE GOT BEN HE WAS WORSE THEN NAZR WAS!

    Reply
  27. Anonymous

    play with good people in the nba or make money …lets seee here…. wow nba has changed alot!!!!

    Reply
  28. Anonymous

    Great post
    I can’t even imagine what it is going to be like when the pistons play the bulls. Sheed and Ben fighting for rebounds?

    Reply
  29. Anonymous

    Who needs Ben or KG…. Nazr = future superstar! too bad we couldn’t get super-stud Przybilla too.

    Reply
  30. Anonymous

    So hows this gonna go now NA-NA-NA-NA NAZ-HEEEEEEEEEEEEE MMMMMMMOHAMMED! *fire comes from the basket* KABOOM* crowd goes wild..

    -detroitbball

    Reply
  31. Anonymous

    Hahaha. ^ I actually screamed that out loud to see how it sounds. And coming from Masons mouth, I think it’ll sound particularly snazzy =]

    Reply
  32. Anonymous

    NAT DO U THINK THE PISTONS ARE STILL TITIL CONTENER JHON SALLY OF THE BEST DAMN SPORT SHOW SAY THERE NOT AND THE BULLS R WHAT DO U THINK I WANT U TO COMMENT BACK

    FROM:SHEED RULES

    Reply
  33. Anonymous

    COMMENT BACK NAT!!!

    FROM:SHEED RULES

    Reply
  34. Anonymous

    Whatever happened to please? Jeez… haha jk

    -Detroitbball

    Reply
  35. Natalie

    Sheed Rules,

    One mand doesn’t make the team, we are still the Pistons don’t count us out so fast. Yes we are a different team now but I would hardly call us the Knicks.

    I am glad everyone is counting us out, the Pistons like flying under the radar.

    It’s busy around here sorry if I don’t comment quickly I do it when I can.

    Reply
  36. Anonymous

    NAT I NEVER SAID I COUNT THE PISTONS OUT I JUST WANTED TO NO WHAT U THINK ABOUT IT IM A DIE HARD PISTONS FAN I GOT A ROOM OF ALL PISTONS AND OF THE 89-90 BAD BOY NEWS PAPERS FRAMED ON MY WALL AND I HAVE LIKE 11 PISTONS JERSEYS COMMENT BACK!

    FROM:SHEED RULES

    Reply
  37. Natalie

    I think we will be a bit different but we will be fine. We are still a contender!

    Reply
  38. Anonymous

    oh man, was I disappoited to hear that ben is going to chicago–but not really surprised in a way–he didn’t seem too happy at the end there. and really, I love him to death, but let’s face it– he didn’t get paid what he deserved in detroit, he’s 31 and he’s gotta get paid now

    Reply

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