Ben Wallace Says How Thing REALLY Were With Coach Flip

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Big Ben won't bite lip about Flip

Ex-Piston says he has no relationship with Saunders, decries what his role was in offense … and lots more.

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News
AUBURN HILLS -- More than three months after he left the Pistons and took a four-year, $60 million deal to play in Chicago, Ben Wallace has had his say.

In an interview with Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com that was a mixture of old grievances, revisionist history and overreaction to statements he's only heard bits and pieces of, Wallace made it clear he did not like or respect Pistons coach Flip Saunders.

"I have no relationship with him," he told ESPN.

"He's a coach, and I'm a player, and that's as far as it went. If you say your door is always open, and we can always talk about things, and you'll be willing to listen, and when I come to him and talk about something that's bothering me that I think is hurting the team, if you don't do anything to change it, then that's the last time I need to talk to you."

Wallace complained Saunders was unresponsive when he offered suggestions. He complained he wasn't given more of a role in the offense. He was and still is bitter about being sat out the entire fourth quarter of the season-ending Game 6 loss to the Heat. And he's been bemused by Saunders' comments this season about the offense being better without him.

But everything Wallace had to say to ESPN has its roots in the same basic conflict -- the same conflict cited throughout last season and certainly reiterated in July when Wallace signed with the Bulls. The Pistons, like the NBA itself, were and are moving away from a defensive style and toward a freer-flowing style of offense, and Wallace didn't like it.

"Ben is the best defensive player in the world," Chauncey Billups said Friday. "You would like to have it where the things you do best is what the coach believes in most. Flip came in last season and was in a tough situation. He came here to jump-start our offense.

"I guess Ben didn't like that. But at the time, it made us better, I thought."

Wallace first complained about the Pistons getting away from their defensive principles after a victory last season against the Jazz, which made them 8-0.

"The first thing we talked about was him getting the ball more," Saunders said Friday. "That's where it usually initiated from. … Everything Ben said, he has said before. It's over with."

Wallace said he never spoke to Saunders again after that meeting. Saunders, though, said he and Wallace had at least three other similar meetings. Saunders said he tried to accommodate Wallace's wishes to a point, but the team was reeling off a franchise-best 64 victories.

Saunders didn't think too much change was in order.

"You do what's right for the team," Saunders said. "You listen to players, but ultimately, somebody has to make the decision. That's what my job is."

What hurt Wallace the most, apparently, was Saunders' decision to keep him on the bench in the final quarter of Game 6 against the Heat.

"From here on out, I'm going to remember that 12 minutes on that bench," Wallace said. "I had been there through thick and thin with those guys, and I hated to watch my teammates out there put up a fight, and there was nothing I could do to help them. … It was a helpless feeling, man."

Saunders' response: "I will put it this way: That was the only quarter we outscored Miami."

The Pistons trailed by 19 points going into the final quarter of a win-or-go-home game. Wallace had seven points at the time but had missed 16 of 24 free throws in the series, and the Heat kept fouling him intentionally.

Shaquille O'Neal, who also struggled from the line, played five minutes in that quarter for the Heat. And the Pistons did score 25 points, their largest in a quarter that game.

"I don't fault him for wanting to be out there," Saunders said of Wallace. "But it wasn't done as a slap in his face. It was done because we were trying to do what we could to win. I will not look back on that and say it was a mistake."

Good for a laugh

Wallace has been fuming the last couple of days over comments he's been fed which, taken out of context, might have led him to believe the Pistons are rejoicing in his absence.

"I hear him saying now that I'm gone he can open up his playbook," Wallace told ESPN. "I laugh at it. Everyone's looking for something, and for him to say that, he's fishing for getting a reaction out of me. … I never thought you could win when you've got five guys on the floor looking for the ball and no one out there doing the little things. So that's on him."

Saunders is flabbergasted by the comments.

"When I told people that we could run more plays and do more things in the post with Nazr (Mohammed, Wallace's replacement), before that I said there were things we weren't going to be able to replace, things that Ben did so well," Saunders said. "Now that Nazr's here, there are things Nazr does better than Ben. Let's give Nazr some credit, too. Our job is to maximize the players we have. It was not a knock on Ben. It was the opposite.

"What frustrates me is to have Ben say some things and not know the compliments that were given to him here. He was the heart and soul of this franchise, and we wanted him back."

The oddest thing Wallace said to ESPN was that he liked Rick Carlisle.

"Carlisle was cool," Wallace said.

Billups and Lindsey Hunter rolled their eyes at that one. Wallace and Carlisle barely spoke during the 2002-03 season. Wallace also had issues with Larry Brown and George Irvine.

"I didn't think he was that much different toward Flip than he was toward Larry or Rick," Billups said.

No big deal

Billups stressed that whatever was going on between Saunders and Wallace had no impact on the chemistry of the team on or off the court last season.

"It wasn't that big," Billups said. "We were winning, and everything was good. It wasn't like we would win 10 straight games and everybody was in the locker room mad, or that Ben was in there mad. It was never like that."

Billups acknowledged things got a little uglier during the Cleveland series, especially when Detroit was on the brink of elimination. That's when Wallace went public with some of his frustrations with Saunders.

"That was a tough situation," Billups said. "We're in Cleveland, and we're playing bad. When you get in a desperate situation, man, some people lash out in different ways. His frustration just built up over some time. He's an emotional guy. That's how he's been. That's who he is, and that's why he's great."

[1Parker1]

Billups seems like a smart guy. His responses were pretty neutral.

As for the Wallace vs Flip thing, I think both are at fault here a little. It sounds like Wallace was being a bit of a control-freak and childish when he didn't get his way and Flip was being a little stubborn and didn't handle the situation as diplomaticaly as he could have. Either way, Billups will be a great leader for the Pistons...though they may not win the championship next season without Wallace, they're still easily the top 2 or 3 team in the East.