Rumor Ben Wallace wants to come back

A rumor that I read a few minutes ago said this:

I thought that we could have a 15 player roster, wiht 12 active and 3 inactive players.

Knight - Bynum
Stuckey - English
Prince - Maggette - Singler
Maxiell - Jerebko - Daye - Villanueva
Monroe - Kravtsov - Drummond

That's 14.. Ben Wallace has a spot there.

What am I missing? Why they said that CV or Daye could be traded to make room?

Anyway, If Big Ben returns, that's great news for us.

Bette Middleton is the guy missing. I'd do a CV or Daye for Ben if he's getting less than 15 MPG, that's for sure. He would be a great sparring partner for Dre during practices.

Im not sure how to feel about this.

Part of me feels like; 'Heck yeah! Drummond can learn a lot about playing D in the NBA from this guy'.

...and then I'm all like; 'Man, let's just move on and remember Ben for what he was, not what he is now.'

I also don't want the situation to arise where it's a close game late in the 4th and Frank decides to put in Ben rather than allowing one of the youngsters to learn by doing in a pressure situation. I also think the idea that our young Pistons learn from the older Pistons is a bit overblown. When has this ever happened before?

I think it could be valuable, but what would be even more valuable than the presence of Wallace would be the absence of either Daye or Chaz. If motor is one of Drummonds main weaknesses then the difference between having Ben mentoring him for a year over those other two clowns teaching him how to plank could be the difference between total bust and Hall of Fame.

Also, I rate the roster something like this right now:

Like:
Knight, Ken, Singler, JJ, Monroe, Krava, Dre

Indifferent:
Stuck, Max, Middler, Bynum

Dislike:
Tay, Maggette, Daye, Chaz

This would mean one more Like and one less Dislike.

Go home Ben............unless you wanna coach.

I concur....I don't want him taking minutes from the youth....would love him to be there on the end of the bench coaching defense and the bigs

Exactly. He is not a vocal leader or a good communicator. He has said on several interviews that he has no interest in coaching.

Ok let him dress up in a uniform ...and then give some advise and cheer at the end of the bench...

Good thinking on this approach. Drummond needs a full time mentor that travels with the team and who is not an active member of the squad. This gives the tutor an objective pathway in developing a consistent plan on fundamentals that brings focus to his problem areas. Ben is not a coaching type and has said as much. Time for Gores and company to start taking a learning organizational approach toward it's younger players. This includes the very talented English (who is a one-two guard) and Singler (who would make a terrific 3-4 replacement and is a very tough kid). The latter could be another Barkley type, although lacking in the weight category, has a higher energy type of mixture. He's going to surprise a number of people.

Adding Ben is nothing but positive for us.

If he gets playing time, It means that neither Drummond nor Kravtsov can beat him up in the scrimmages.

I say: GET BEN.

If Drummond is getting more than 10-15 minutes a game it's because the team really sucks. Drummond appears to be an okay defender, but he's not at all polished offensively and having a guy like Wallace out there teaching the cub (and Monroe) all the tricks of the shot-blocking trade so that Andre can make himself useful until he learns how to shoot the basketball can only help the team. By all accounts Wallace was set to retire last year to spend time with his family, so I'm assuming here that he sees enough potential in the kid to want to come back to help him.

If it takes the Pistons amnestying Villanueva or cutting bait with Middleton in order to do it, so be it. Neither of those guys are the future of the team, and if Wallace can provide that vet leadership and the mentoring that the young bigs need, then I'm all for him coming back. As long as he's not doing it to limp around dreaming of his glory years (and it doesn't seem like that's the case), then he'll have more of a positive impact on the team - both in the short and in the long term - than CV or Middleton will. This seems like a bit of a no-brainer.

Can the Pistons strike an agreement with Middleton to have him go to Europe for a year?

Pay him to be a "special assistant" that just practices with the team and makes them feel like wussies in the weight room.

Lot of points I agree with on here.

Firstly, and most importantly, we need to move CV from the list. A young impressionable guy is going to be easily caught up in bad habits by CV and his sidekick Daye having "fun". I see this as one of the problems that has hit Daye. I can't see any other players on the list having this negative impact other than these two and Daye would benefit from not having that presence around too.

Secondly though, I wouldn't want Ben taking valuable live minutes from Drummond. Buuuuut.... on the flip side, it seems Drummond is carrying some weight that he won't shed that immediately and he is going to sit some games due to this and the length of the season anyway. Therefore there is more minutes for Max, Kravtsov and another big. I don't want this other big to be CV or Daye (please don't let it be them).

So I would want him back, even if it was just to move CV on.


On another point, people are saying Ben won't be a good coach - better then that he is on the roster playing practice minutes at least and showing Drummond how, or telling him when he comes to the bench what he did wrong. Then they should get a specialist big man coach for the guy as well.
I mean, how much would you have to pay a specialist coach? Maybe even part time? What are you paying Drummond the first few years? I think it is more than worth it to spend the money and give him the chance to be all he can when he will learn the most and cost the least.

The deadline has come and gone to use the amnesty for this season. CV is here to stay.

Whether the team sucks or not (I think it will.) shouldn't make a difference. I firmly believe that you have to go all-in with Drummond until he proves that he can't play in the league. A lottery pick playing for a lottery team shouldn't be limited to garbage time. Dude's gotta get minutes this year!

I'm not ready to give up of Middleton yet.
I'm totally down with retaining his rights if he wants to get some run in Europe for a year but I'm not ready to kick him to the curb just yet. I'd rather roll with a young dude who at least has the potential to be a solid piece in the future than an old dude who's in the twilight of his career.

The idea that "young guys learn from old guys" is way overblown.

If the Pistons had anything to actually play for this year I'd be totally down with resigning Ben Wallace.

Celebratory tweet forthcoming no doubt.

I can't think of one example of a big who had been mentored by Ben Wallace...............Help me here,

Who..........CV........Daye..........Darko.........don't remember any of them noting a Ben training session.

I'm sure Greg Monroe has been working with Ben on a daily basis.