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Tim_Hardawayy wrote:Maybe its because I'm a Heat fan and everytime we ever faced the Pistons, we had 2 centers better than him, but I was never that impressed by Ben Wallace. He's like Alonzo Mourning, with a little bit more athleticism, but suck away almost all his offensive game, and take away a bit of size.

The poster who said he could become like Draymond Green in today's game must be on crack or something, or never actually watched Ben Wallace play, he was one of the least offensively skilled big men of all-time, literally his only value on offense was putbacks and screens, he wasn't even a great lob catcher for a guy with his athleticism.

BDM22 wrote:

1eyedjake wrote:Love Big Ben but it's unlikely he'd be able to stay on the floor for a championship team now, at least being as big a part as he was for Detroit.

Nonsense. A prime Ben Wallace's versatility defensively and ability to make game changing plays on that end is unmatched by a longshot in today's NBA. Add him to the Cavs, and they actually have a shot against the Warriors.

RSP83 wrote:Ben Wallace had an excellent career, certainly deserve all the accolades he's getting.

But you may be overrating him a little bit when comparing him to today's bigs. The game is played differently today, he's going to have to step out to guard the stretch 4s and the stretch 5s. Ben does have the necessary athleticism and lateral mobility to guard quicker bigs like a KAT or even AD, but I wonder if he's going to be as impactful defensively as he was in that era.

CoreyVillains wrote:Ben would be more than capable of defending Draymond in space. Ben had great lateral quickness, great hands, quick feet, length. I think he would be perfect in slowing Draymond down. Offensively he would do nothing but defensively I cant think of a big he couldnt handle.

Lakerfan17 wrote:Ben didn't strike me as a particularly great man defender, more so a great team defender.

Declining, fat Shaq shot 60% against him in the Finals.

Impuniti wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Big Ben was a bad dude but I think you're underselling some of the centers you have posted...namely Towns, Jokic, Embiid if healthy) and Cousins.

There's also Gobert.

Jokic and Towns are soft and mediocre defenders, they would get wrecked by Big Ben.

vxmike wrote:

RSP83 wrote:Ben Wallace had an excellent career, certainly deserve all the accolades he's getting.

But you may be overrating him a little bit when comparing him to today's bigs. The game is played differently today, he's going to have to step out to guard the stretch 4s and the stretch 5s. Ben does have the necessary athleticism and lateral mobility to guard quicker bigs like a KAT or even AD, but I wonder if he's going to be as impactful defensively as he was in that era.

This. There aren't many post guys that need guarding.

Rodman would be the ultimate defensive player today just like he was in his time. He is the only player in NBA history that could both bang with Shaq and also check PGs. He would Draymond look like an amateur on D today plus grab 18rpg.

Phil Jackson said Rodman was the greatest athlete he ever coached. The guy who coached MJ, Pippen, Shaq and Kobe said that. For real. Rodman was also 34 y/o when he joined the Bulls.

Agenda42 wrote:

CoreyVillains wrote:Ben would be more than capable of defending Draymond in space. Ben had great lateral quickness, great hands, quick feet, length. I think he would be perfect in slowing Draymond down. Offensively he would do nothing but defensively I cant think of a big he couldnt handle.

I don't mean that Draymond is a threat to go around Ben and score or anything like that. I mean that Draymond is going to pull Ben away from where he wants to be on defense. He's a style of big that basically didn't exist when Ben played. Ben won't be his usual self defensively if Draymond is playing C against him.

afarmenian wrote:That holds true of anybody that guards Draymond so what does it matter in the context of how great a defender he is?

The_Hater wrote:

Lakerfan17 wrote:Ben didn't strike me as a particularly great man defender, more so a great team defender.

Declining, fat Shaq shot 60% against him in the Finals.

You're not talking about the 2004 finals are you? A point of time when 31 year old Shaq was the best player in the NBA?

Lakerfan17 wrote:

The_Hater wrote:

Lakerfan17 wrote:Ben didn't strike me as a particularly great man defender, more so a great team defender.

Declining, fat Shaq shot 60% against him in the Finals.

You're not talking about the 2004 finals are you? A point of time when 31 year old Shaq was the best player in the NBA?

Shaq was not the best in the NBA at that point. He started declining the previous year and it became noticeable in 2004.

His lack of discipline with conditioning had become really evident and he had started losing mobility and explosiveness. You see him miss a lot of the "chippies" which used to be his bread and butter.

dhsilv2 wrote:

jamaalstar21 wrote:

dhsilv2 wrote:I'm not seeing it. I don't recall him spending time guarding people out to the 3 point line in his day. He was mobile and should be fine doing that, but his strength was on the glass and inside.

early 2000s Pistons was my favourite team and I watched 90% of their games. Big Ben was absolutely quick enough to shut down the perimeter. Everytime he had to switch a pick & roll you felt excited as a Pistons fan because you knew the opposing guard was in for it. It just wasn't celebrated as much back then. 2011 Dallas Mavericks with Tyson Chandler really popularized the pick & roll defending big to the media and fans. Ben was the NBA's best rebounder and rim protector, which were the celebrated defensive metrics of his time, but I think he was way quicker than Draymond Green and 5x as explosive. I've often thought watching Draymond is like watching Ben if Ben wasn't that athletic but had good hands and could shoot.

Well, I said he'd be fine doing it. So I don't think we disagree that much, but remember it is harder to guard the ball now. It would be harder for him now than then and he'd be doing it a LOT more.

jamaalstar21 wrote:

dhsilv2 wrote:

jamaalstar21 wrote:
early 2000s Pistons was my favourite team and I watched 90% of their games. Big Ben was absolutely quick enough to shut down the perimeter. Everytime he had to switch a pick & roll you felt excited as a Pistons fan because you knew the opposing guard was in for it. It just wasn't celebrated as much back then. 2011 Dallas Mavericks with Tyson Chandler really popularized the pick & roll defending big to the media and fans. Ben was the NBA's best rebounder and rim protector, which were the celebrated defensive metrics of his time, but I think he was way quicker than Draymond Green and 5x as explosive. I've often thought watching Draymond is like watching Ben if Ben wasn't that athletic but had good hands and could shoot.

Well, I said he'd be fine doing it. So I don't think we disagree that much, but remember it is harder to guard the ball now. It would be harder for him now than then and he'd be doing it a LOT more.

I honestly think he'd be even more celebrated defensively in today's game. No one talked about his quicks and his ability to move laterally and get his hands on balls. That being said... his offensive limitations would be even more problematic nowadays so overall he's probably lucky to have played in an era where teams were ok playing multiple non-shooters in lineups.