There’s nothing like an old-fashioned Hall of Fame debate, and that’s what the basketball world had on its hands as Yao Ming joined Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson and more among the immortals last weekend. Some people believe that Yao simply did not play long enough in the NBA and is not worthy of induction for his playing exploits, especially in a year when O'Neal walks in as one of the most dominant players in league annals.
Major foot injuries limited the the 7-6 former Rockets center to only 486 regular-season games over eight seasons. He only made it out of the first round of the playoffs once, making for one of the skimpiest hall resumes of all time. The argument is that he should have made the Hall as a contributor — a fine designation bestowed on pioneers — not a player.
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As a contributor, Yao was a lock. No one had more to do with the explosion of the sport back home than he did. Because of his immense popularity when he played for the Rockets, an estimated 300 million Chinese residents now play the sport and the NBA's Chinese subsidiary now is valued at $2.3 billion, according to the league. But he got in for his prowess on the court, which raised some eyebrows. His backers contend that he earned his place with his eight All-Star berths — which were the results of fan voting — before his career was derailed at 30.
With Yao now ensconced among basketball’s royalty, the question becomes who is the next player who will cause such a fuss?
For my money, it’s Ben Wallace.
It’s understandable if you never even considered Wallace, an undersized center who couldn't shoot outside five feet but was one of the top defensive players and board men of his era. Retiring in 2012, he'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame next year when he's five years out of the game. What makes Wallace’s case more intriguing than Yao’s is that the hall’s selection process is shrouded in mystery. There’s no way of really knowing if a player has the requisite resume to walk the red carpet in Springfield, Mass.
The case for Wallace comes down to one word: defense.
Wallace was a four-time Defensive Player of the Year who anchored two NBA Finals teams in Detroit, including the 2004 champs who stunned Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in a five-game Finals smackdown.
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A ferocious competitor, his defensive impact was great enough to where he made the All-NBA team at season's end five times in a career that spanned 1,088 games over 17 seasons. What separated him from other centers is that he played in the middle against true giants like Yao and O'Neal. Yet he still posted monster rebounding numbers in his prime despite being listed at 6-9 (and probably more like 6-7).
Wallace had his notable shortcomings, as we'll get to. But the bar for players lowered in 2014 when Mitch Richmond made the hall. A very good scorer, Richmond averaged 21 ppg during his career for Golden State and Sacramento. But as far as Wallace’s case goes, Richmond will come in handy because Richmond also made the All-NBA team five times. Unlike Richmond, and this is big, Wallace won a major individual award four times, with his record-setting four Defensive POY awards coming in a five-year span.
Still, that might not be enough for the voters. Sidney Moncrief won the league's Defensive Player of the Year the first two times it was awarded, in the early 1980s. He has been cited by many players, including Michael Jordan, as being one of the toughest defenders during his era. But Moncrief, another five-time All-NBA selection, still has not gotten the call from Springfield.
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Where Moncrief has wrongfully fallen through the cracks of time over the last 30 years, Wallace’s defensive achievements are matched by only one other player in league history. Dikembe Mutombo, the only other four-time Defensive Player of the Year, was elected to the hall in 2015. Mutombo, at 7-2, had seven inches on Wallace. Both won two rebounding titles and averaged over 13 points per game, while Wallace had even more playoff success in reaching six consecutive Eastern Conference finals. As physically imposing as Shaq was, the 7-1, 340-pounder (during his lighter years) never once led the league in that category.
The case against Wallace also comes down to one word: offense.
Unlike Yao, who retired with one of the top 10 Player Efficiency Ratings (PER) in history (23.02) among centers and averaged 22 points a game or better in three straight seasons, Wallace never was threat to score when the ball was in his hands. He averaged only 5.7 ppg in his career and never averaged as many as 10 points in a single season. By comparison, a more famous non-scoring board wizard now in the Hall of Fame, Dennis Rodman, had a slightly higher scoring average (7.3). Wallace was a career 41% foul shooter (Rodman was 58.4%). Even more limited than Rodman, Wallace couldn’t shoot outside of four feet and usually didn’t even try. That doesn't exactly make for a Hall of Famer, although as Wallace’s former Pistons coach Larry Brown said when the team retired Wallace’s No. 3, “You broke the mold. There will never be another one quite like you.”
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His biggest impact at the offensive end was to track down offensive rebounds — his 3.2 per game average matches what Mutombo did in that department — to give the Pistons extra possessions. Those Detroit teams were the second-best in Pistons history. Only Isiah Thomas’ Bad Boys, with back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 and another Finals run in 1988, top what Wallace and his teammates accomplished.
Prediction: Wallace gets in. Hall voters, whomever they are, will have to remember that Wallace played in a different era and the Pistons had more than enough scorers in Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince. The selection committee will simply have to look past Wallace’s lack of offense, which he admitted to when he said, “my game wasn't pretty,” and award him his Hall of Fame membership based on his defensive prowess and awards.
