<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS - Two NBA officials confirmed Friday night that Detroit center Ben Wallace, considered by most to be the top free agent available this summer, is scheduled to meet with the Chicago Bulls in Chicago today. Teams can begin negotiating with free agents today, but they can not sign players to contracts until July 12. The Bulls are one of the few teams that will have enough salary cap space to sign Wallace, who as an unrestricted free agent can sign with any team he wants. While all indications have been that Wallace would re-sign with Detroit, several league officials contacted on Friday said that they're not surprised that the 31-year-old Wallace will consider all his options. "This is going to be the biggest contract of his career," said one Western Conference official. "He wants to come back to Detroit. Everybody knows that. But he wants to get the best deal he can, too. The only way to make sure that happens, is to see what other teams are willing to offer." Another factor in negotiations is Wallace's new agent, Arn Tellem, who represents some of the NBA's top players like Los Angeles Lakers' guard Kobe Bryant, Houston's Tracy McGrady, and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal. Tellem was instrumental in convincing the Bulls this past season to release one of his clients, Tim Thomas, in time for Thomas to be eligible for the playoffs. Thomas signed with the Phoenix Suns, and was a key performer in helping Phoenix advance to the Western Conference finals. That relationship, coupled with the Bulls likely to have $15-17 million available to offer Wallace, might be enough to entice the five-time All-star to leave a Pistons team that's expected to offer him a contract in that's expected to start in the $12-14 million range. Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations, has every intention of re-signing Wallace. However, earlier this week he mentioned that the team has a number of contingency plans they will consider if Wallace decides to play elsewhere. "You have to have an initial plan and you have to have contingencies in a situation like this," Dumars said following Wednesday night's NBA draft. "Because everything is not in your hands, so you better have contingencies. If this were like a restricted free agent, you could sit here and plot out, 'here's (plan) A and here's (plan) B.' But when it's someone else's call at the end of the day, it puts you in a position where you have to have one or two different plans." Among those options would be to work out a sign-and-trade, similar to what they did with Grant Hill in 2000 when they traded him to Orlando for Wallace and ex-Piston Chucky Atkins. If the Pistons were to pursue a sign-and-trade with the Bulls, they would probably ask for the deal to include Tyson Chandler who, like Wallace, is a defensive-minded shot blocking center.</div> http://www.mlive.com/pistons/stories/index...7030.xml&coll=1
Yeah the height of the team drops considerably. Nobody else is taller than 6'9, we'd need to acquire another 7 footer
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting I-Miss-MJ:</div><div class="quote_post">I wouldn't mind trading Chandler for Wallace, though the height of the team drops considerably.</div> No thanks. C - Ben Wallace PF - Tyrus Thomas / Tyson Chandler SF - Luol Deng / Andres Nocioni SG - Ben Gordon / Thabo Sefolosha PG - Kirk Hinrich / Chris Duhon I think the Eastern Conference should be getting worried, especially if Ben does decided to sign with the Bulls.
Like I siad regarding Ben Wallace in another thread... The pros on getting Ben Wallace far out weigh the negatives. First Big Ben is at the peak of his game, coming off a year in which he gathered his fourth defensive player of the year trophy Wallace is set to make a big splash for whatever squad signs him next year. We ranked first in opponents field goal percentage last year without a true force inside to anchor our defense, let’s face it Chandler is a good shot blocker, but not a defensive stopper. Most of his blocks come from his athleticism and leaping ability more than instincts for the ball. Ben Wallace could come into our team next year, and make us instant contenders, yeah I said it. Although, we still lack an offensive superstar, at least according the media. I think our defense would be enough to get use to at least the eastern conference finals next season. Ben Gordon, Deng, Nocioni, and Hinrich together give us a lot more offense then one single superstar would. By bringing in Big Ben we also get the best mentor we possibly could for our rookie sensation Tyrus Thomas. Can you imagine Tyrus Thomas learning from Big Ben? Better yet Big Ben and Tyrus playing together down low? It would be one big squat party. Although, Wallace is getting up there in age he keeps his body in top physical condition so he is a young 30 ish year old guy. Now the negatives. If we where to acquire Ben we would be left with no other choice, but to trade Chandler. Chandler is making too much money, money we will need to resign Gordon, Hinrich, and Deng should we sign Wallace. Now finding a trade for Chandler is easier said then done. Although, still a young seven footer with a lot of potential, Chandler’s contract and lack of production on the offensive end make him less attractive to other teams. But hey if all else fails there is always the Knicks right? Another negative would be our low post scoring. Unless Thomas can come in, and produce at least 13-15 points his rookie season we will have absolutely no offense coming from the low post. We will be relying on our guard play, and defense more than ever. That is unless we some how manage to also acquire Al Harrington from the Hawks. I can see us being able to work out a sign and trade for him involving Chris Duhon, or maybe just sign him straight up depending how much money we spend on Wallace. At the end of the day adding a four time defensive player of the year can only improve our team, and we will still have enough room to sign our young talents by shipping off Chandler. I would be just as satisfied signing two solid centers in Pryzbella and Mohammad though. Either way we are in perfect position for a big, and I mean big 2006-07 season.
I'm ok with signing Wallace, but we have to unload Tyson to do it. If we don't do that, we'll be running low on cap space come time to sign back Gordon, Deng, and Hinrich. The other reason we unload Tyson is because of the Tyrus Thomas acquisition. I think it's much better for him to start immediately and get used to playing NBA ball as opposed to sitting around and developing. To put it simply, if we get Big Ben, Thomas himself makes Chandler dispensable. They each play the same spot (or can at least) and Chandler was a huge diasppointment last year. I think Thomas will come in and have a larger impact than some might expect, especially on offense. The kids got a nice stroke from about 19' and he's got some explosive athleticism that makes me compare him a lot to Josh Smith. Chandler on the other hand, has already proven that his offense is nil. He doesn't have a go-to move in the post yet, despite being in the league for a few years now. He doesn't have much of a jumper. His defense is purely based on his atheltic skills instead of instinct. And, if we keep him, not only will we be in cap hell (pending how much Ben costs), you can also pencil us in for having the lowest scoring front court in all of basketball. And not only will taht be bad for the frontcourt, it's also bad for the backcourt. If we have no type of offense down in the post, the perimeter players will have to work that much harder to get open because no one is attracting a double team down low. So, all in all, while getting Big Ben sounds good, the only way we get him is if we unload Chandler somehow. If we keep both, the cap space will be tight, our offense in the frontcourt will be lacking, and it affects Thomas' playing time a lot.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">1st July, 2006 - 5:34 am [imgl]http://realgm.com/images/nba/4.2/profiles/photos/2006/Wallace_Ben_det.jpg[/imgl]Michigan Live - On the first day that teams can meet with free agents, center Ben Wallace has a meeting with the Bulls in Chicago, two sources have revealed to Michigan Live. "This is going to be the biggest contract of his career," said one Western Conference official. "He wants to come back to Detroit. Everybody knows that. But he wants to get the best deal he can, too. The only way to make sure that happens, is to see what other teams are willing to offer." Another factor in negotiations is Wallace's new agent, Arn Tellem, who represents some of the NBA's top players like Los Angeles Lakers ' guard Kobe Bryant, Houston's Tracy McGrady, and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal. Tellem was instrumental in convincing the Bulls this past season to release one of his clients, Tim Thomas, in time for Thomas to be eligible for the playoffs. Thomas signed with the Phoenix Suns , and was a key performer in helping Phoenix advance to the Western Conference finals. That relationship, coupled with the Bulls likely to have $15-17 million available to offer Wallace, might be enough to entice the five-time All-star to leave a Pistons team that's expected to offer him a contract in that's expected to start in the $12-14 million range. [READ]</div> Source
