<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>By week's end, the game of tug-of-war, the negotiations and rumors, and the courtship of unrestricted free agent Ben Wallace will begin.On Saturday, Wallace, a four-time defensive player of the year who has helped carry the Pistons to the NBA Finals twice and to a championship once, will become the most coveted player in a mostly mediocre free-agent market. And while for much of the past season it seemed a lock for Wallace, a blue-collar icon in Detroit, to remain a Piston, nothing, it seems, is certain anymore. It seems Wallace plans to explore his options around the league. "I was never supposed to leave Washington. I was supposed to retire in Orlando. Strange things happen. It's not automatic."In the same interview, he said, "it's not always just about the money. It's about having an opportunity to do what you're comfortable doing."Wallace's new, high-powered agent, Arn Tellum, did not return a call for comment, and the Pistons can't talk about Wallace before the free-agency period begins Saturday.One of his biggest bargaining chips might be offensive involvement.Wallace doesn't want to be a 20-point scorer, but he has stated many times that he doesn't appreciate being completely shut out of an offense. That's been a point of contention in Detroit. Pistons coach Flip Saunders rarely ran plays with Wallace as the main option.But money is no secondhand matter, either, not when this is the biggest and most lucrative contract of his career.Wallace earned $7.35 million last season, the last of a six-year, $30-million deal he signed in 2000.This time around, he will command at least $10 million a year for four seasons.A maximum contract would pay him upward of $14 million a year for five or six seasons (only the Pistons can offer Wallace a six-year deal).There is an assumption that Pistons owner Bill Davidson would never offer a post player more than four years.But those who work closely with him say that isn't so. They classify Davidson's thinking differently.They say the billionaire owner certainly has principles he prefers to live by, but that he'll toss them out the window in a heartbeat if people he trusts tell him there's a better way to build a winning team.That also means -- if team president Joe Dumars can convince Davidson that it's worth it -- the Pistons could wind up going over the salary cap and paying a luxury tax, which the team has long avoided.The Pistons won't know the tax threshold (or the salary cap, for that matter) when they begin negotiations with Wallace on Saturday, and Alan Ostfield, the team's chief operating officer and assistant general manager, prefers not to make educated guesses."I think some teams try to project based on truly complicated formulas," Ostfield said, "but I firmly believe that that's the kind of thing you spend 19 hours trying to project it and then you're wrong. It's not even worth it."Last season, the cap was $49.5 million, with the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax kicking it at $61.7 million.Those numbers will likely rise.The Pistons have already committed $49.07 million to their nine players under contract for next season, meaning the Pistons will go over the cap and approach the tax threshold if they give Wallace anything more than $10 million.Being so close to the cap means the Pistons should either retain Wallace or lose him only through a sign-and-trade.That's because if he signs with a team with cap space -- only Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte and Toronto have enough room to woo him without a sign-and-trade -- then the Pistons will be left with nothing in return and no cap space with which to work.Still, it's questionable how much interest there will be for Wallace around the league.With such limited offensive abilities and an especially bad reputation for free-throw shooting, his game is a unique one that wouldn't work well in every system.And Wallace did get some negative publicity this season for failing to re-enter a game in Orlando and speaking out against his coach in the playoffs.Regardless, people close to the team say rumors that they've grown sick of Wallace's act are baseless.As the biggest name on the market, Wallace will be the instigator in free-agent action, not only in Detroit but around the league as well.Once his status is settled, the Pistons have two exceptions to spend. The mid-level exception is worth $5 million and can go to one player in whole or can be split among multiple players. They also hold a $1-million biannual exception.Both those exceptions can be used despite a team's salary cap status, but they do contribute to total salary in terms of luxury tax.</div>http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.../606250663/1051
I was just thinking if Ben does leave(knocks on wood) would Sheed be moving to the 5? That would probably mean that McDyess would be a starter again, it is key that we keep Big Ben and just improve our bench. I read an article on hoopshype.com that the reason they traded Evans to give Delfino one more shot, now it is up to Flip to give him minutes to show what he is got. HoLLa baCk
