00:00Ben Wallace will go down in history as one of the most dominant defenders that there ever was.
00:06And his legacy is more than that.
00:08He's the first undrafted player to make it to the Hall of Fame.
00:12And did I mention his championship?
00:14Or his elite rebounding?
00:16Or his leadership?
00:17Or his build?
00:18Or his hair?
00:19It might sound like I'm getting more and more superficial as I go down the list.
00:22But the fact that even his hairstyle was iconic is such a stark contrast to how his career started.
00:30Or nearly didn't start.
00:33Because the four-time Defensive Player of the Year was once considered too offensively limited for pro ball.
00:39Big Ben was once thought too small to play the four or five in the NBA.
00:44The face and leader of the 2004 title-winning Pistons was once a no-name role player whose arrival in Detroit signaled a bleak future.
00:53Let's meet these other versions of Ben Wallace.
00:56In the prism.
00:58This episode is presented by Honda.
01:01The all-new CR-V Trailsport Hybrid is built to explore.
01:05In high school, Ben Wallace was 6'6", 180.
01:09While we were all a little smaller in high school, it's hard to imagine Ben Wallace that skinny when you look at him in his prime.
01:16But when you glance at his stat sheet, you can see his skill was there even if his bulk wasn't.
01:21College scouts, however, weren't impressed.
01:25His teammate was racking up 36 points a game, and that caught their attention.
01:31Wallace wasn't left hanging, however.
01:33Thanks to impressing Charles Oakley at a basketball camp, Wallace ended up at Oakley's alma mater, D2 School, Virginia Union University, where he made it to the D2 Final Four, and his unique skill set was not overlooked.
01:47His defense, his rebounding, his intangibles were celebrated.
01:51Look what his coach said.
01:53But Wallace's unique skill set didn't seem to make up for his unique skill deficit.
02:00His coach also said this.
02:02It's hard to attract pro scouts, let alone convince pro scouts of your future greatness, when a lot of what you do doesn't show up in the statistics.
02:12Let's consider Virginia Union's Elite Eight game Wallace's senior year.
02:17His stat line was...
02:19not remarkable.
02:21But Wallace spent the game guarding a 7-2 center, and he neutralized the Giant.
02:28This article gets it.
02:30You gotta read between the lines to see Wallace's greatness.
02:33Wait.
02:34This article gets it, but...
02:37Wallace is not in the headline.
02:40He didn't spur VUU past St. Rose?
02:44These are the names of the game's leading scorers.
02:47Points get the glory.
02:49Ben Wallace gets buried in the body paragraphs.
02:52As his college career came to a close in 1996, NBA scouts were aware of Big Ben, which was good.
02:59But they certainly didn't think he could survive in the league on defense alone.
03:04Which wasn't a dream-ending scouting analysis.
03:07If he worked on scoring, he could have a good chance to make the NBA.
03:11And it wasn't like Wallace disagreed.
03:14He wasn't sitting there, dressed in all black, saying nobody understands me.
03:18He knew he was on the cusp of the NBA, and he'd do whatever he needed to do.
03:23Nobody, including the player himself, could look at the Ben Wallace of 1996 and see what he was capable of becoming.
03:31Take that along with the fact that the 1996 draft class was one of the best in history, and Big Ben was not chosen.
03:39He did, however, get a tryout with the Celtics that summer, which brings us to another version of Ben Wallace.
03:47Too small for the post.
03:49During the tryout period, the Celtics played Wallace at the wing because of his height, despite his prior work experience.
03:56As Ben Wallace later recounted the story, he tried to stand up for himself.
04:00But the Celtics weren't buying it.
04:02I'm 4'5", and, you know, it was like, not in this league.
04:06He told me that I was too small, that I'll never make it in this league, playing at the 4'5".
04:11Wallace didn't make the Celtics roster.
04:14So Ben headed overseas, joining an Italian team where he did get to play center in one game before he was cut because the team wanted someone with more experience.
04:24I was able to find footage of that one game by copying and pasting Italian words into various search bars.
04:29And this sequence from the game gives us a little glimpse into what scouts saw.
04:34He bobbles the ball on offense, but then got an easy block on the other end.
04:39It almost looks like he baited the guy into shooting, hanging back and then springing up for the block.
04:44Clearly, he had talent, but it wasn't enough to keep him employed.
04:48Wallace headed home and was chosen in the second round of the CBA draft.
04:53Not even the first round.
04:55The CBA was his career plan.
04:57And even after the NBA's Washington Bullets called his agent with a tryout invite.
05:02Wallace figured they'd just play him at the 2 or 3 again and he wouldn't make the team.
05:07So he turned down the Bullets.
05:10Then, GM Wes Unsel called back himself.
05:14A championship undersized center in his day, Unsel assured Wallace he'd be playing in the post if he made the team.
05:21Unsel had plenty of guys who could score.
05:23He needed rebounds and toughness in the paint, and he thought Ben Wallace could supply that.
05:28So, Mr. Wallace headed to Washington.
05:31Bullets coach Jim Lynham was skeptical at first, but Big Ben won him over.
05:37He didn't bowl him over.
05:39He was the 13th man on the roster, but that counts.
05:43Ben Wallace was an NBA player.
05:44The following season saw a little uptick.
05:48Wallace started five games in a row while other guys were injured, and he played well.
05:53Fans were appreciative of his hard-nosed style.
05:55His teammates were too.
05:57Particularly because he brought that same intensity to practice.
06:01Ben Wallace was a tough, hard worker, and Rod Strickland and Chris Webber sang his praises.
06:06The five-game streak was referred to as Wallace's emergence.
06:11Within the sentence, despite Wallace's emergence, he won't be getting more playing time when the other big guys are healthy.
06:18So, kind of a mixed bag there.
06:21Year two, he averaged many more minutes than year one, but still not a lot.
06:26And the fervor of support waned.
06:29But being a mediocre sub is better than being the 13th man.
06:34Or not in the league at all.
06:37Year three, his stat line improved, and because of teammate injuries, he got a lot more playing time,
06:42splitting the center role with Terry Davis.
06:45Problem was, the Wizards were quite stinky.
06:49And a lot of that was blamed on the Wallace-Davis co-center situation.
06:54Why wasn't Wallace considered a true center?
06:57His size.
07:00But hey, fine role player is better than mediocre sub, so let's take a win while we've got it.
07:06Because the fine times in Washington didn't last.
07:11The Wizards themselves bought the too-small rhetoric.
07:14They traded Wallace to Orlando for true center Ike Austin.
07:17Even Wes Unseld, who personally knew what a smaller center was capable of, was like,
07:24yeah, it'll be nice to have a tall guy.
07:27While the trade probably felt like a rejection, it turned out to be a blessing,
07:32because it's in Orlando that we start to recognize glimpses of the Ben Wallace we know today.
07:37Yes, it's true, he still struggled on the offensive end.
07:41But the Magic didn't care.
07:43He was their starting power forward, and his job was to focus on defense and generate fast breaks.
07:49And he was very good at his job.
07:52In March, he had three games with 16 or more rebounds, and earned high praise from coach Doc Rivers.
07:57As the Magic made an unexpected playoff push, Wallace played through bone spurs,
08:03and the city fell in love with his effort and skill and attitude.
08:07He started to be described in much more positive terms.
08:11Yes, that is the guy I know.
08:14But all this praise didn't define Ben just yet,
08:18because it was in the context of being an underdog minimum contract guy on an underdog overachieving team.
08:25Expectations were low, and he exceeded them.
08:29At the end of the season, Wallace was a free agent,
08:31and with other teams courting him, the Magic GM posited that
08:35Wallace might not be so well-liked under the expectations of a bigger contract.
08:40Which brings us to another version of Ben Wallace.
08:44A no-name role player on the rebuilding Detroit Pistons.
08:48Now, the Pistons didn't exactly trade one of the league's best players for Ben Wallace and Chucky Adkins.
08:56Grant Hill was going to Orlando in free agency,
08:58but the teams agreed to do it as a sign-in trade with Adkins and Wallace as throw-ins.
09:03However, at the time, fans and the media reacted as if it was a direct Grant Hill for Wallace and Adkins' trade.
09:11Because, after all, that's who the teams were getting.
09:16And it seemed pretty clear who won that trade.
09:20Wallace wasn't known on the national scene.
09:22His breakout season was on a team that didn't end up making the playoffs.
09:26Outside of Orlando and D.C., nobody knew who Ben Wallace was,
09:31but they did know Grant Hill was a five-time All-Star.
09:34In Detroit, Wallace seemed more like a burden than an asset.
09:40One guy said Wallace wasn't insignificant,
09:43which is different from saying he's significant.
09:46Oh, but what's this?
09:48By January, the Detroit press had some nicer things to say about Big Ben.
09:53At that point, Wallace was third in the league in rebounding.
09:57You might be wondering, so why not give him an A?
10:02Well, mostly because of the refrain he's heard throughout his career.
10:06Size and offense.
10:08By the end of the season, he had at least shed the no-name perception.
10:12He led the league in total rebounds that year.
10:14That's gonna turn heads.
10:16But that wasn't enough to make people shut up about his size.
10:20And again, his team bought in.
10:22Detroit spent the 0-1 offseason collecting tall, true centers.
10:26But that's okay.
10:27He'd get to play power forward.
10:29He's not being tossed out on the wing.
10:31And the Pistons were building around him,
10:34which is kind of cool for a guy who was on the cusp of the NBA five seasons ago.
10:39After going 32-50 in 0-1,
10:41nobody expected the Pistons to do anything in 2002.
10:46But they did.
10:47Flipping the script, they went 50-32
10:50and made it to the Eastern Conference semis.
10:52And that was largely because Ben Wallace became Ben Wallace.
10:59Yeah, that one.
11:00He was Defensive Player of the Year and led the league in rebounds per game.
11:05Wallace attributed the shift to Rick Carlisle and the rest of the coaching staff,
11:09giving him minutes and opportunity,
11:10and not relegating him to merely a role player.
11:14And the rest was history.
11:16Multiple all-star appearances,
11:17a title, face of the franchise,
11:19a wonderful legacy and a wonderful life.
11:23His legacy is so strong,
11:24it could not be overshadowed by the next chapter of his career.
11:28Butting heads with new Piston coach Flip Saunders,
11:31followed by a disappointing stint in Chicago.
11:34His legacy is so strong,
11:36it makes early analysis seem paradoxical.
11:40Offensively limited?
11:42Who cares?
11:43Too small?
11:44Is that a joke?
11:45A no-name role player?
11:47Man, open your mind.
11:50This is Ben Wallace,
11:52as we will always know him.
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