Amidst our excitement of the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, we almost forgot (Okay, we did for a bit), the retirement of Rasheed Wallace, who is retiring for the second time after a comeback this season with the New York Knicks. The Knicks will be entering the playoffs as the second seed in the East, but injuries have taken Wallace out of the game, and he has chosen to retire instead of join New York as they go after an NBA Championship.
This brings us to our favourite question: Hall of Fame or Not?
For the record we actually thought Rasheed Wallace was a little underrated. He received the bulk of his attention for his negative attitude and ability to draw technical fouls (he has the most all time), but he was a very good two way player, who could score and rebound at a consistent rate. However, there are certain traits that we think a bona fide Basketball Hall of Fame candidate, and Wallace comes up short in our eyes.
Although the Power Forward was selected to four All Star Game appearances, he was never selected to an All NBA Team, nor was he selected to the Defensive Team. It was debatable whether he was ever the best player on his own team (likely for Portland, but a case could be made against it) and though he is an NBA Champion with the 2004 Detroit Pistons, it was not exactly his team, and it is more accepted that the Lakers imploded more than Detroit won the title.
Rasheed Wallace’s overall statistics were good, but other than two finishes in Field Goal Percentage, he never finished in the top five in any major statistic in a season, and was rarely in the top ten. He also does not have an outstanding college career that the Hall cannot overlook (ie: Ralph Sampson)
We believe that Wallace will be in our top 100, but Springfield bound? We don’t think so.
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