The only thing undrafted Ben Wallace was really known for after his first three seasons in the NBA was getting posterized by a young Kobe Bryant.
The Washington Wizards reserve then spent a season in Orlando before they traded him to Detroit for Grant Hill. And while Grant spent much of the next five years injured, Ben Wallace turned into a star — a four-time All-Star and NBA champion. He was also a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year award winner and made an All-NBA (2nd & 3rd) team five times, while averaging less than 10 points a game for the Pistons.
Some of his games:
- 13 PTS, 28 REB, 6 BLK
- 10 PTS, 27 REB, 6 AST
- 12 PTS, 24 REB, 7 STL
- 8 PTS, 22 REB, 9 BLK
- 12 PTS, 20 REB, 8 BLK
- 12 PTS, 19 REB, 10 BLK
- 10 PTS, 17 REB, 10 BLK
He would play six more productive seasons in the NBA with the Bulls, Cavs, and Pistons, who retired his number in 2016.
Five years later, he became the first undrafted player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
I just want to say thanks to basketball. I just want to be honest with basketball. Basketball was not my life plans. Basketball was just in my life path. I took basketball, and I created a path for those who helped me. I took, I receive, I gave back.
I laid a path, I laid a track. It should be easy to find. I was stuck in it for quite some time. When I move forward, ‘no’ is not an option. I keep marching. Lions fight. Dogs fight. The Virginia Union University Panthers we march. And if you follow I lead if you lead I’ll follow. You guide me and I will finish when I get there.
Life is not all about basketball. My life path has not always been about basketball. As a young kid, not having the ability to speak and express myself but having a lot to say, I was proud of myself.
Well, life didn’t give me a chance from the start. I kept fighting. I kept winning. I kept succeeding. I kept teaching. I kept giving back. Life is not all about taking. Life is not all about conquering. Life is about competing. Life is precious. Have fun, enjoy, let’s uplift kids. Be strong, be motivated. Stand tall. This is what my mama told me. ‘Stand tall, stick your chest out. Do it again. Stand tall, stick your chest out, keep your head up.’
BEN WALLACE VS CHARLES OAKLEY
One of my Ben Wallace stories is about him attending a Charles Oakley camp, which he paid for by charging neighbors $3 a haircut. At the camp, the 17-year-old got to play Oakley 1-on-1, ended up with a busted lip, and a mentor.
“I was impressed,” Oakley said of Wallace via Bulls.com. “Here I thought this group was soft, unmotivated, unwilling to work. Then Ben stood up. He didn’t even want to play me at first. He showed me a good game. I could see a real fire in him.”
This is what Ben Wallace remembered from that game:
“He hit me with the ball, hit me hard, and said, ‘OK, let’s go.’”
This wasn’t going to be a check-ball, pop-a-trey game of one-on-one. The game quickly evolved into one of life or death.”
So, who won the game?
“Me, I won,” Said a smiling Ben. “He couldn’t get a jumper over me. If he couldn’t later on in the NBA, he certainly couldn’t when I was 17.”
Wallace went on to play two years of community college before transferring to Oakley’s alma mater, Virginia Union.
PISTONS MIXTAPE
“In today’s game, not only would I be able to play, I would average 50 rebounds like Wilt.”
WORKOUTS
KOBE’S DUNK (SORRY BEN!)
This is actually from my private VHS collection.