All he's getting is $1 million more a Year than the Pistons offered him? Why would he leave?
BREAKING NEWS
Source: Big Ben Heading To Bulls
The biggest free-agent prize of the NBA offseason appears to be off the market. Ben Wallace has informed the Pistons he will sign with the Bulls, Insider Chad Ford reports. The deal is believed to be $52M for four years.
All he's getting is $1 million more a Year than the Pistons offered him? Why would he leave?
Sucks for the Pistons.
Off the map they go.
Detroit went from pretty good to pretty average.
Source: Ben Wallace leaving Pistons to sign with BullsBy Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
Ben Wallace has been the face of the Detroit Pistons the last five years. No more.
Ben Wallace
Center
Detroit Pistons
Profile
2006 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
82 7.3 11.3 1.9 .510 .416
A league source told ESPN.com Monday night that Wallace has told the Pistons he has accepted an offer from the Chicago Bulls.
While exact details are unavailable, the offer is thought to be a four-year, $52 million dollar deal.
A deal can't become official until July 12, when the salary cap is set for the 2006-07 season and exact contract values can be computed.
The move will come as a shock to Pistons fans who thought that chances Wallace would bolt from Detroit were slim to none.
The Pistons came out of the gate Saturday offering Wallace a whopping four-year, $48 million dollar deal, but they told the four-time defensive player of the year that it was their final offer.
The signing clearly upgrades' the Bulls front court, albeit at an exorbiant price. The Bulls will have to use roughly $13.5 million of their projected $16.7 million in cap space to secure Wallace.
However, Wallace adds the veteran toughness and defensive presence the Bulls felt they lacked up front.
Look for the Bulls to now explore trade scenarios involving Tyson Chandler.
One potential opportunity, according to sources, is New Orleans, which is mulling a Chandler-for-P. J. Brown swap. Brown is in the last year of his contract, which would give the Bulls even more cap relief next season.
The Bulls also have explored Chandler trade scenarios with the Hawks (via an Al Harrington sign-and-trade) and the Warriors.
The move puts the Pistons in a difficult position.
They loss Wallace for nothing and don't have anything more than the $5.1 million mid-level exception to offer to potential replacements.
There are a few starting center-caliber free agents out there, such as Joel Przybilla and Nazr Mohammed, but none who can give the Pistons what Wallace did.
Instead, the Pistons may opt to beef up their backcourt and to move to a more up-tempo style with Rasheed Wallace at five and Antonio McDyess at
Well, on the bright side, I think Flip will be much more successful without the pressure of winning on him.
Man thats gotta hurt.
The Cavs are now the favorite to win the division.
Ben Wallace=Tool. What a dumbass.
Hey P<S
You have a link to that story?
And are you in mourning?
Better yet, ready to be a full fledged Spurs fan?
I hope for Detroit that they get PJ Brown + JR smith and that's it's not just a FA signing.
If Detroit get nothing back, they are in deep .
The Cavs?The Cavs are ing mediocre, man.
The Bulls are easily the best team in the East.
Wait - my Bulls are easily the best team in the East.
So Nazr going to Detroit then, huh?
You can write in the Heat as the 2007 Eastern Conference Champions.
That's all it takes to win the east....The Cavs are ing mediocre, man.
^^Hahahaha look at Lanier's team
Lol@Bob Lanier
Here's the link
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2508742
Actually the Pistons offered 49.6 million. Ben just really ruined my day.
thanks for link
*ahem*The Cavs?
The Bulls are easily the best team in the East.
Wait - my Bulls are easily the best team in the East.
What about this?
Hmm...1 million more per year? Uhh..I'd leave too. Thats a lot of coin.
On a personal level, I feel bad for the few Piston fans that post on Spurstalk, even though most of you had a bad feeling that Ben was going to leave. However, I'm sure the Spurs are now looking at Detroit as less of a threat for the le than before.
Pistons be screwed, watch out for the Bulls next year!
2006-2007 Pistons
Starter :
PG : Billups
SG :Hamilton
SF : Prince
PF : McDyess
C : Rasheed Wallace
Bench :
PG : Alex Acker
SG : Carlos Delfino
SF : Amir Johnson
PF : Jason Maxiel
C : Dale Davis
That's quite weak and Detroit has only the MLE to sign FAs.
Dumars will need to be a genious to build a contender for next year.
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