Slight Chance of Glowers

Contrary to what some Oregonians might believe, not everybody dislikes Rasheed Wallace.

In fact, it might be difficult to find anybody in Michigan who has an unkind word to say about him, who does not appreciate the competitive fire he brings to the court or the playful, lighthearted mood he fosters in the locker room.

“Playful” and “lighthearted” were words rarely associated with the mercurial Wallace during his 7 1/2 seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. But winning has a way of brightening moods and burnishing unsavory reputations, and Wallace’s image has benefited from 15 months with the Detroit Pistons.

Team President Joe Dumars, who made the trade that brought Wallace to Detroit in February 2004, has stated flatly that the Pistons would not have won the NBA championship last season without him.

“Rasheed,” Dumars said, “brings great talent, toughness, smarts and swagger -- all the things you need to be a champion in this league.”

Once called incorrigible, Wallace is now called fiery.

Once a cancer, he’s now a champion.

“I’m the megaphone on the team,” Wallace said. “I’ll say what other people feel.”

One knock against him is that he is sometimes lazy on offense, drifting outside rather than posting up, an opinion that has dogged him for years. And the forward’s infamous temper still flares brightly at times -- his 27 technical fouls led the league this season.

Nor is the impetuous Wallace above his “nah-nah, nah-nah-nah” moments, such as when he returned to Portland in March, stroking his beard throughout a postgame interview to make sure his championship ring shone brightly in the television lights. He refused to take questions from Portland reporters, which actually was an improvement over his initial return with the Pistons.

Last season, he walked through a media horde as if it weren’t there, acknowledging reporters’ presence only with a middle finger raised above his shoulder.

The Pistons, though, seem not to regard these transgressions as particularly troubling, Dumars opining that “you don’t want to stifle Rasheed’s emotions [because] that’s a huge part of what makes him great.”

They love his edginess and see him as the ultimate compatriot, a two-time All-Star willingly sacrificing his own interests for the greater good and far from “a blight on the organization,” as Wallace was once described by a team official in Portland.

They love the way he yells, after an opponent’s missed free throw, “Ball don’t lie.” They love the boxing-style championship belts he had made for his teammates, the funny nicknames he gives them. And they love it when he says of those doubting the Pistons’ chances of repeating their title run, “When it comes down to it, we’ll smack ‘em in the mouth with the trophy again.”

Said reserve guard Lindsey Hunter: “He brings a cocky confidence that kind of puts us over the edge.”

Nobody has ever doubted Wallace’s confidence, or his ability. Athletic and fundamentally sound at 6 feet 11 and 230 pounds, he also has what coaches call a high IQ for the game. His high-arching shot, delivered from long arms stretched far above his head, is almost impossible to block and his willingness to share the ball was evident even when he played at Simon Gratz High in Philadelphia, where he was the national player of the year but the No. 2 scorer on his team.

Quick and versatile enough to guard centers or forwards, he also is “as good a defender as I’ve coached,” Piston Coach Larry Brown said.

His passion is noteworthy too. The Pistons nodded their approval last week when he guaranteed a crucial playoff victory over the Indiana Pacers.

“I knew once he did that he was going to put pressure on himself to be at his best,” teammate Chauncey Billups told reporters after Wallace contributed 17 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots in a Game 4 victory that turned the tide for the Pistons in the second-round series. “I love it when he does that.”

Wallace dismissed his guarantee, however, as “just part of the sideshow.”

His act wasn’t always such a hit.

Most infamous are his foul-mouthed meltdowns resulting in technical fouls, a record 41 in the 2000-01 season, which even his mother won’t abide.

“I don’t cringe,” Jackie Wallace said last week. “I’m [mad] at him, telling him to shut up. That’s what I’m doing, either at the game or at home. I’m fussing with him fussing at them, but I’ve come to understand why he wants to argue. Nine times out of 10, if he’s arguing the call it’s a bad call; I will give him that.

“But I also understand that he cannot referee the game and play the game. And once he realizes that, then we’ll be straight.”

Two seasons ago, Wallace allegedly threatened referee Tim Donaghy on the loading dock at Portland’s Rose Garden arena, drawing a seven-game suspension, the longest in NBA history not involving drugs or violence.

And that was after a game in which he scored 38 points, made 16 of 20 shots and helped the Trail Blazers to a 100-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

His glowering mug was the face of a team that, through its frequent misdeeds, came to be known as the “Jail Blazers,” his own personal history including an assault allegation by a former girlfriend, a 2002 arrest for marijuana possession, multiple fines for misbehavior and a stormy relationship with the media.

Also, in a rare extended interview published two months before he was traded, Wallace took on the NBA, telling the Portland Oregonian that the league deliberately exploited African American players and wanted them “dumb and dumber.”

“The Pistons are a team that prides itself on selfless, blue-collar behavior,” wrote Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press when Wallace joined them last season. “Wallace fits that bill the way Janet Jackson fits ‘overdressed.’ ”

Dumars believed otherwise.

He’d done his homework and found there was more to Wallace than met the eye, that Wallace had never had a problem with coaches or teammates.

Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy, who was Wallace’s coach with the Trail Blazers for four seasons, said several teams inquired about Wallace after Dunleavy was fired by the Trail Blazers after the 2000-01 season. “They would ask me, ‘Would you trade for him?’ ” Dunleavy said. “And I would say, ‘Absolutely.’ ”

Dean Smith, who had Wallace for two years at North Carolina, told Sports Illustrated that he was “a joy to coach” and praised his knowledge of the game, his only complaint being that Wallace could be too unselfish.

The Pistons could live with that.

In Portland, Wallace’s hair-trigger temper had overshadowed his more redeeming qualities, which Detroit reporters uncovered for their readers.

A budding artist in high school, he often visited art museums on the road. He designed the elaborate tattoo on his right shoulder, depicting his immediate family, based on the ancient Egyptian art that interested him. He collected Japanese figurines. His charitable foundation organized coat drives in Philadelphia, collected Christmas ornaments for needy families in Portland. Every summer he ran a free basketball camp for underprivileged kids in Philadelphia.

This season, Wallace switched uniform numbers from 30 to 36 in homage to his older brother, Malcolm, who was 36 when he died two years ago -- of natural causes, his mother said. He bought 25 season tickets to be distributed to charitable groups throughout Michigan. He adopted the freshman class at Kettering High on the gritty east side of Detroit, challenging the school’s 450 ninth-graders to improve their grades and citizenship and promising to host a banquet for those who did.

“This is a godsend,” Principal Willie Howard said of the program, which she and others hope will stem the school’s high dropout rate.

Wallace, 30, and his wife, Fatima, are raising four children, ranging in age from 14 months to 17 years, and Wallace has been known to counsel teammates with children out of wedlock to own up to their parental responsibilities.

“His true character is coming out,” said reserve forward Darvin Ham, perhaps his closest friend on the team. “All his positives have been shining through.”

Bill Schonely, a longtime Trail Blazer announcer and now something of a goodwill ambassador for the team, last year told the Free Press that Wallace had been “a blight on the organization,” adding, “They almost had a parade downtown when they made that deal.”

Two months later, Wallace was part of a championship parade.

George Blaha, the Pistons’ longtime announcer, said Wallace has been an “awesome” addition to the team. “Whatever happened in Portland probably had a lot to do with them wanting him to put the team on his shoulders all by himself,” Blaha said, “and that’s never been the way he wanted to play.”

Ham called his teammate a “chameleon,” most comfortable blending into his surroundings without calling attention to himself, and Dumars said, “We have a culture and an environment that has brought out the best in Rasheed.”

But Wallace, Dumars added, played a large part too.

“There are certain guys that are just tremendous, tremendous teammates,” Dumars said. “He gives so much more than just what you see on the floor.”

Wallace’s scoring average has dipped since he joined the Pistons -- he averaged 14.5 points and 8.2 rebounds this season -- but his priority is winning.

“If he’s open, he’s going to shoot it,” said Piston assistant Pat Sullivan, who played with Wallace at North Carolina and roomed with him on the road. “But if someone else has a better shot he’s going to throw it to him.

“In some ways, you could say he’s almost the quintessential player.”

Who thought anyone would ever say that about Rasheed Wallace?

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Playoff payoff

Rasheed Wallace’s playoff statistics:

*--* Year Team Points Reb Blocks 2005 Detroit 14.9 7.7 1.91 2004 Detroit 13.0 7.8 1.96 2003 Portland 17.4 5.1 0.71 2002 Portland 25.3 12.3 0.67 2001 Portland 16.7 8.0 1.0 2000 Portland 17.9 6.4 1.25 1999 Portland 14.8 4.8 0.85 1998 Portland 14.5 4.8 0.50 1997 Portland 19.8 6.0 0.50

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