We at the Sermon have a new favorite basketball player. Say hello to five-year veteran and Virginia Union graduate, Ben Wallace. The soft-spoken Wallace, once considered salary cap fodder in the trade from Orlando to Detroit for achy-breaky Grant Hill, currently leads the NBA in rebounds and blocked shots and has been one of the primary reasons for the Pistons’ surprising run to the Central Division title this season. Aside from simply putting up consistently high rebounding and blocked shot numbers, Wallace’s rebounding has simply dominated games. Two weeks ago in a game against the Celtics, Wallace collected a Chamberlain-like 28 rebounds in a Pistons’ win over Boston. Also, Wallace has shown that he is willing to work to improve his game; this season Wallace is averaging a career-high 7.4 points per game and ranks first in the league in steal-to-turnover ratio, even though last year he was near the bottom in the same category.
Furthermore, Wallace’s willingness to do the dirty work under the boards even though he is undersized for an NBA center reminds the Sermon of our playing days in a Philadelphia-area rec league and stealing rebounds from taller, bigger and better basketball players. We could only wish that we had Wallace’s trademark humility.
Like many of the players in the NBA, Wallace sports cornrows on a regular basis. However, unlike many players, Wallace at times, de-cornrows himself and sports a mad, mane-like, mangy Afro that would put Roots’ drummer ?uestlove to shame. Then, to complete the look, he tops it off with a sensible headband. Wallace is Dennis Rodman sans insanity and with much better fashion sense. We urge you to cheer for this man in the playoffs, even as the Pistons get whupped on by the Sixers in the second round ?
Still, even with the emergence of Wallace, all is not right in the basketball world. Pat Ewing, who has done more for this university then probably any of us will ever do, is on his last legs. At this point, even his coach with the Orlando Magic, Doc Rivers, is suggesting that Ewing give it up. Truth be told, Ewing should have retired long ago and joined the growing list of superstars in the Jordan-era never to win a title (see Barkley, Charles). However, we do give Ewing some credit for holding on to that NBA title dream even as his legs continue to fail him. We hope someone at the end of the year reminds him that he did win a title once, even if it was in the NCAA. Hopefully, that fact will allow him to leave basketball as gracefully as he would have liked even if he had an NBA championship to his name.
Now, however, is the time for Ewing to step aside and let the Ben Wallaces of the NBA take his place. Besides, Wallace’s Afro beats Ewing’s box-like haircut any day of the week.
