Free agent center Nazr Mohammed of the Spurs has agreed to a five-year, $30 million deal with the Detroit Pistons, ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher is reporting.
Mohammed
Terms were unavailable. Mohammed replaces Ben Wallace, who told the team Monday that he was leaving to join the Chicago Bulls.
Wallace, who agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with Chicago, helped Detroit advance to four straight conference finals — the first team to do so since the Bulls of the early 1990s.
Mohammed started 30 games last season for the Spurs, averaging 6.2 points and 5.2 rebounds. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound center most likely will replace Wallace in the starting lineup, allowing Rasheed Wallace to remain a power forward.
Mohammed, who turns 29 on Sept. 5, probably will not be able to rebound, block shots and provide energy as Ben Wallace did — but he will cost about $9 million less next season. Via ESPN
Big Ben is a sellout. The two main reaons hes goin to Chicago are for money and the ability to play offense. Well get this big ben, Free Throws are part of offense! Chicago Fans are going to have to learn that its not Fear The Fro, Its Fear The Free Throw! I have lost all of my respect for Big Ben because he has accepted the deal with chicago. Selling out on the pistons was just not right. They may not be what they were 3 years ago, but they still have hope.
People think the pistons suck because they didnt make it past the conference finals, but making it to the conference finals means they are still one of the top 4 teams in the NBA. People have also forgot about their great regular season.
I just hope Nazr Mohammed can provide for the pistons as a decent center who wont sellout. I also think Armir johnson should replace carlos delfino on the bench as a backup SG.
I’m actually quite happy. I looked him up, and on average he only played 17 minutes average and got 6.2 PPG. Considering that’s how much Ben usually gets whilst playing a whole game, I think it’s pretty good. Plus, which would you rather pay; $30mil for a 5 year or $60 for a 4 year?
Hopefully Nazr can help us out here and it’s another great move by Joe D.
NAAAAAAAZRRRRR!!!!!!
I’m so glad we got Nazr Mohammad and not that white dude, Joel Przybilla. WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP!
im glad we got him over any body else HOLLA!
hope to c the BEST from em
IM GLAD WE GOT HIM TOO, BUT TRADE HIM 4 BONZI WELLS!
the pistons will do very bad next season… im predicting something close to what the Knicks had last season
You can’t sit there and say that the pistons are going to be weak as hell because that’s wrong. Just because the pistons lost Ben Wallace(that can’t provide offence to save his life) we are going to be a bad team. Even without Ben the Pistons are the team to bet in the east because the HEAT are older and they are not going to be hungry next season(WIN THE TITLE)…
They will not have the SPEED OR FIRE POWER TO BET THE PISTONS NEXT SEASONS……
LOOK FOR BEN WALLACE TO BE WATCHING THE NBA FINALS FROM HOME AND THE PISTONS TO BE IN THE FINALS…..WATCH
i know ben is so stupid for leaving da detroit pistons
he is gonna be watching at home while we go to da finals
watch da pistons are gonna be in da finals
Horrible, horrible, horrible. Nazr isnt a serious pick. They just needed someone to replace Ben, quick. But, I hope Nazr does good. I cant believe Ben Wallace turned into a sell-out, just sad and disapointing. Is Joe turning into Isaiah? I hope NOT!
I think this was a good decision that joe d. made. Nazr cant be that horrible because the spurs won the championship while he was their starting center. He might not have made that big of an impact but he know’s what its like to win and if we do go far in the playoffs he will have some experience. But Ben Wallace can kiss my ass, out of anybody in this league, ben wallace would have been the last person i would have thought that would sell out on his team for more money. Good Riddens big ben
I think its a good pick up by joe d he is the best center out there
hes pretty good on defense and better on offense then ben.
joe d to the rescue again
The Pistons are gonna be in the damn finals. We’re not dead. Far from it. I’ll miss Ben, but I’m moving on.
Natalie, what do you think about all of this?
Thank You Joe D I really really don’t want anyone here who doesnt want to be here! I welcome Nazr with open arms and hopefully he can provide something that Ben was missing like everything that didnt have to do with getting rebounds!!!!. I really do think Ben is a sellout and he can leave cause we still gon be the beast of the EAST!!!
If Joe was turning into Isiah we would have signed Ben for 65 million and then went and got Nazr for 56 million and then signed Pryzbilla for 54 million when we already have a couple back up centers. 🙂
Its crazy that ben is gone.im reading posted comments left by others — and its wrong to curse big ben. yeah i wish he didnt go, but he decided to depart.we still have TAY – Billups – Hunter – Sheed – Rip – Delfino. And dont forget that Bonzi Wells and Kevin Garnet are still out there!!!! I would like to ask a question == Why dont i hear any noise about that fake azz Finals this year? I have wtached ball since the age of 8 years old (26 now) and this is the first Finals ive watched when the team that won didnt even EARN IT!!!!!! the refs are a joke and after three years of playing ball you cant touch WADE.its bullshit. Jordan didnt even get that kind of treatment until 90 or 91.sorry, but this has pissed me off.no oe player should shoot more free-throws than a whole damn team. sorry — just really upset about that. A FAN WANTS TO SEE THE TEAM EARN THE PRIZE — NOT GIVEN THE PRIZE TO PROP-UP CERTAIN CHARACTERS THAT TRANSLATE INTO TV RATINGS AND MONEY.
So, does this mean the Pistons won’t have the money to sign Bonzi Wells now…?
If so, that sucks. I’m definetly happy to have Nazr in Detroit, I think he’ll perform better than he’ll be projected to. But I think Bonzi Wells, behind Ben Wallace, is the second best free agent available this year, and the Pistons have some good interest in him. I don’t know, hopefully they still have money to try to get him, or maybe trade someone. (Delfino)
Also, reports on NBA.com say Przybilla is staying with Portland… for some odd reason, I’d wanna get the hell out of there. The Blazers are also trying to trade of Zach Randolph.. don’t know why, he’s by far their best player and is the most consistent for them.
farid muhammed: I’d have to agree about the Finals this year, I think every city outside of Miami feels the same way, mostly Detroit & Dallas, because that is what the Finals were suppose to be.
But, I see so many people talking about Kevin Garnett, but he is not a free agent. He’s under contract with the Wolves for a few more years. And while he has said that he’s upset with the teams performance the past couple years, he’s never really came out and said that he wants to play elsewhere, he seems pretty loyal (a quality that Ben Wallace seems to lack), and the Wolves front office say that they want to keep their franchise player. Both Minnesota and Philly seem so reluctant to trade their superstar and try to rebuild around new guys, which sucks for them because their formula hasn’t worked for years now. Each team had a couple good seasons then returned to trash.
As far as Bonzi Wells, him and Al Harrington say they wouldn’t mind returning to Indiana. I think if Bonzi Wells is really ready to go to a championship-ready team, then Detroit has to be his frontrunner choice, they’ve by far showed the most interest in him, they contacted him the first day they were permitted to do so. But, he’s from Indiana, so if he wants to be like a hometown hero then that’s his place. I just can’t see him picking Indy over Detroit just for that reason though. And I don’t think the Pacers really want Harrington back that much anyway.
All i care about is that we still have SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!
Nazzzzzzzzzzzzzr Mohammed
Why are people bitching and cursing out Big Ben?????????
Fatso Shaq makes about 20 Mil a year and he is on the decline, only reason Miami won is because the Refs and Stern gave them the
Championship.
I always found the games fascinating when he goes out and messes up the opponent’s offense which he will do in Chicago.
He went for more money and where his skills and tenacity are WANTED.
Pistons made a choice between him and Flip and decided to keep Flip, you think Ben wants to be around a coach who can’t win out of the playoffs????
Good luck to you, Ben!!
i think this was a very good move by joe d i hated ben and im very happy to see him gone but back to nazr hes good player but he will struugle when the season stars becuse the muslim holday remadan that olny let u eat small meals at night but when remadan is over the pistons r going to going on a roll and maybe joe d well traded davis for a back up point gurad he has 1 year on hes contrat and he didnt really play davis was a good player to get but flip never played him hes confdents is going to way down so he cant come off the beach because he doing a bad job when he gets on the floor because he never played but if we played im hed breing good d of the beach but i dont see that happening i see joe d trading him for a back point guard or trading him to get cap room to sign a good back up for billups if that dose not happen and we dont get a good back up for billups idd like to c boniz wells in a pistons unform from:sheed rules
we will make nazr great in the d and he well be better then ben wallace wallace was super bad when he came to the d and nazr ok when he came to the d we well make nazr better i hate ben the only im going to miss is the gong
We will make Nazr a better center than ben wallace was. Ben better watch out for nazr. Na na na na na Nazr…MOHAMMED!
Welcome to detroit Nazr
what happened to you people. sure ben left and screwed us . but think of what the guy did for us. we might have lost alot of games if big ben wasn’t there. i can’t believe you are the same guys who came out to ball game with your ben wallace jersey’s and your fro’s. give the guy a break he is 32 years old, he does not have much years left, the bulls gave him a good offer and he could not refuse. i think joe better check himself before he becomes like isiah. i felt he could have made a better offer. go pistons . deeeeeeeeeeeetroit basssketballlllllllllllllll
ASSALAMUALAYKUM Nazr Mohammed… we hope u do good this year and say salaam to Rasheed for me thanx
Rasheed Wallace is garbage. He is to much of a pussy to bang down low and he complains to refs even when it is obvious he’s wrong. If his dumbass wouldn’t of left Robert Horry open in the game 5 of the championship against the spurs we would of won back to back titles. After our first title I would of let his cancer ass go instead of signing him to that big deal. He’s not worth that money I would of used that money to sign Memet Okur and Mike James back to our squad. Those two our lighting it up on other teams. Joe has done a descent job as gm but his most critical mistake was that Darko pick. That pick will cost us dearly for the next 10 years while Wade and Lebron will run the NBA. No one knew how good Wade would be but we should of tooken the sure thing in Chris Bosh. With Bosh we would be great we wouldn’t even need Sheed. Now we are screwed due to the fact that David Stern loves superstars because they make him a lot of money and thats all he cares about. The NBA isn’t even real basketball it’s kinda like wrestling because it’s fake. Superstars get all the calls and with out a real superstar the pistons are in big trouble. We had our chance and Stern did not like it. The team concept doesn’t sell and he hated our defense. He even changed the rules so that we could not play D like that anymore. I think we are done for unless we some how get a superstar. Rasheed Wallace has a lot of talent but he is not in the game mentally and that is why he is garbage. If he actually had any kinda clue he could be as good as Tim Duncan.
man m a hardcore sheed fan its disappointin to know there won’t be adetroit jersey bearer wid all that bushy hairs n a hell lot of talent ……a gr8 defender i wud say.
I didnt get the chance to see all of your comments but, I can see some people just dont know their Detroit facts. I was on the ESPN site and saw some disturbing comments. I’ll start with Ben. He did sell out. But you have to repect why. He did what he needed to do for the pistons. He brought out the defense in them. I think he saw that his offense was just so bad that as far as he brought them on the defensive end of the floor was far enough. If i was him i would have taken the money also. He did what he needed to do with the pistons and we can carry out just fine if not better without him. Now, with him leaving it opened up options for us. We signed Nazr, who is a decent player and all around can give us more than Ben, because he has a decent offensive game. And now look what has happened. If Ben didnt leave, what reason do we have to look into Webber? We didnt. Now we have a franchise player who may not be as mobile as he once was but he can bring out offensive game a few steps up. With his ability to shoot and pass we are now a championship team again. We dont need him for defense, even tho he can play it just fine. We have plenty defensive threats, especially with Hunter on the squad. Now with Ben gone and Webber signed we have no reason for Nazr. We cn trade him. And we are looking to for a good guard suck as Bonzi Wells, which is an option being looked into. Us Detroit fans need to look on the bright side of all the crap that has happened this season.