Comments on: Ben Wallace: Chemistry trumps talent

By: gmehl1977

gmehl1977 — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:54:38 +0000

Also i felt that the bench (Alternaterz) on that team was very underrated as well. Having Hunter and James come on in place of Billups and Hamilton used to put the other teams guards under enormous pressure. They would always extend leads that the starters used to put up. Know the pistons come out after halftime and give up 10 or 20 point leads in the blink of an eye. I will stop now cause i starting to get nostalgic!

By: JoshB

JoshB — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:05:58 +0000

@brgulker

I’m just going off the things I’ve read. Of course I don’t have any special access, but it’s not like there aren’t countless articles about these players, and when you see the same theme repeated you can usually believe there’s some truth to it.

By: Laser

Laser — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:51:48 +0000

i think there’s a bit of revisionist history going on here, guys. rip was the leading scorer, so it’s hard to avoid at least a nod. early on, sheed was a threat from everywhere, and he was always a defensive force down low. smart, passionate seven footer. 100 threes plus 100 blocks. come on. he was certainly the most talented piston, too. even if he squandered it and tarnished his legacy by becoming a deadbeat. if that team made ANYONE look better than they really were, it was ben wallace. not saying he wasn’t amazing, but without four credible offensive threats it’s not easy to win games playing offense 4-on-5. and look what happened to him once he didn’t have that team around him anymore. i know there were outside factors, like injury, but charles barkley said immediately that wallace made a mistake leaving detroit because the team covered up his flaws. and they did.

not saying there wasn’t some kind of pecking order, but that was a hell of a unit. it wouldn’t have been the same without any one of them. i think rip was probably the most replaceable, but the guy was always our leading scorer, and he ran defenders ragged. that’s just so hard to ignore.

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Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:46:09 +0000

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By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:57:04 +0000

@Ben:

Great point on how underrated Wallace and Billups were. In fact, they're so underrated, and the chemistry of that team so overrated when discussed as a major component of their success, that it has overrated the other three starters as a result.

Everything written about that team basically suggested that no one starter was more important than the others, when in reality, that wasn't the case. So that minimized Wallace and Billups and their contributions and maybe over stated what Hamilton, Prince and 'Sheed meant. Not that those guys were unimportant, but there was a definite pecking order when it came to who was most vital to that team.

By: Rodman4Life

Rodman4Life — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:15:47 +0000

It seems also that this year’s team is breaking off into groups: the old guard, the CV, BG, and Austin Daye group, and maybe they aren’t one cohesive group. Last year Jerebko seemed to be an extension of Wallace, almost like he was doing what Ben would have done if he had 20 year old legs. These separate entities move the ball well together on offense if you will notice (like Gordon and CV, Rip and Tay, etc) but outside of that, this year’s team doesn’t seem to be gelling very much.

By: brgulker

brgulker — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:42:52 +0000

JoshB,

Not to be a jerk, but how do you know that bit about the locker room? As fans, we know what happens on the floor. But unless you have some type of access the rest of us don’t, I think it’s pretty hard to say what the locker has to do with it.

By: Laser

Laser — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:40:31 +0000

i’m almost entirely with nuetes on this one, but the Goin’ to Work pistons really did “lead the league in familiarity,” which i thought was a very valuable trait. but chemistry isn’t JUST a byproduct of winning (and come on, ben, i that’s kind of a crazy way to figure causation here. which came first, the chicken or the egg?), and it’s isn’t JUST a byproduct of time spent together. there are factors like compatibility and roles that are essential factors, maybe the most important factors, and we’ve got neither.

and it wasn’t just chauncey and ben. they may have been leaders and co-captains; they may have been our best players. but guys like rip, tayshaun, sheed and dyess weren’t exactly “role players.” jon barry, scoreless williamson, lindsey hunter… sure. but i don’t think chauncey and body are perennial contenders with just an average supporting cast.

By: JoshB

JoshB — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:45:58 +0000

I have to agree with Ben on this one, and I don’t think his intention is to belittle how good those teams were, but I think chemistry is the difference maker a lot of times. A team has to have talent, but when it faces adversity it’s chemistry that allows you to trust that guy next to you when a play has to be made. As important as Chauncey’s play on the court was, his presence in the locker room was just as important.

By: brgulker

brgulker — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:34:05 +0000

I don’t think Ben Wallace is giving himself enough credit for how incredible a player he was (and remains). He and Billups were the two edges of the sword that drove Detroit’s success, and while I don’t mean to sound arrogant, I think it was the talent of those two players that pushed Detroit over the top.

Or in other words, I think “chemistry” is a byproduct of winning, not a cause.