The Bulls’ plan to sign free-agent All-Star Ben Wallace seemed like a good idea at the time.
It was a chance to get the four-time and reigning Defensive Player of the Year to help solidify the team’s defensive strength and take away a starter from the Bulls’ principal division rival, the Detroit Pistons, at a time when the alternate big-man free agent choices were Joel Przybilla and Nazr Mohammed. With contract extensions coming up, it would be the last summer the Bulls would have a major free agent cache of cash.
Sure, Wallace was 32, but the thinking was he’d give the Bulls two solid seasons on his four-year deal, perhaps step back some in a third season for the Bulls to go with a more versatile lineup with Tyrus Thomas ready to become a starter, and then perhaps have Wallace available in trade to a team in need of an expiring contract.
But as the Bulls rolled in to Los Angeles to play the Clippers on Saturday, some have begun to believe there was just one good year in Wallace.
In Thursday’s 112-102 loss at Phoenix, Wallace once again sat out the fourth quarter, in which the Bulls came back from 15 behind to lead by two with eight minutes left. But the Suns scored on six of the next seven possessions, eventually shooting 71.4 percent in the quarter, and the Bulls fell to 1-6 despite perhaps their best overall effort of the season.
Wallace clearly was upset following the game and laughed derisively when advised that coach Scott Skiles explained the matchups were bad for Wallace with the Suns playing Boris Diaw at center.
“Nah, nah,” he said. “I’m 6-6, 6-7. It was tough sitting on the sideline watching my teammates get beat up. We needed stops down the stretch. If I can’t go out and help this team get stops down the stretch, why am I here? Why don’t we just go on? Pack it up!”
Some would joke that Wallace may have already done that — he’s averaging career lows of 3.7 points and 5.6 rebounds after five points and a season-high 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes of Thursday’s loss. Having his best rebounding game of the season, Wallace was flummoxed about sitting out the crucial last defensive stretch.
Skiles denies losing confidence in Wallace, and after practice Friday he said he expects Wallace to be playing regularly in the fourth quarter, that the Suns game and some other recent games were aberrations. But with the Bulls often trailing in fourth quarters this season, Wallace’s lack of offense and poor free throw shooting have kept him on the bench.
“Each game has been unique,” Skiles said. “They played Boris Diaw [at center] the last five, six minutes. You either go small with them or if you’ve got a big who is versatile and can post up and play Diaw you go that route. I went to Joe Smith, which was a little unfair since he hadn’t played in the second half.
“I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in any of that. I expect Ben to be playing plenty of fourth quarters. It’s just the way things have been lately.”
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Skiles chose not to comment on Wallace’s postgame statements, and Wallace didn’t elaborate Friday.
“I said what I wanted to say. That’s it. We’re still together. As long as we stay together as a team, it will give us the opportunity to win. That’s all you can ask for.”
For the most part, the Bulls seemed to be in a relaxed mood at practice in the health club the Clippers use for practices. Afterward, Bulls players playfully tossed a football around the length of the floor with rookie Aaron Gray looking like an NFL quarterback.
But what the Bulls need most now is proficient NBA players.
Some of the Suns wondered why the Bulls didn’t use the lineup they came back with, one that had Thomas playing mostly center against the more athletic Suns interior players. The thinking was with Thomas at center and Andres Nocioni at power forward, the Bulls would be quicker, more athletic and better able to score and switch defenders.
Skiles agreed Thomas had an excellent stretch on Amare Stoudemire, forcing him out of the game with three quick fourth-quarter fouls, but added, “I don’t know if that’s something that holds over time. Tyrus played well, [but] we were awful small with that lineup.”
Skiles said he’d “probably” stick with the new starters with Nocioni for Thomas as Ben Gordon and Luol Deng combined for 47 points and Kirk Hinrich shot 6-for-8 after halftime.
The Suns invite a more open game, but the Bulls still played too much one-on-one, committed costly turnovers and had defensive breakdowns. Skiles singled out Gordon after Leandro Barbosa scored 25 off the bench with five threes that kept the Suns just out of reach.
“We had some pretty good stretches,” Skiles said. “But at key moments we fell asleep. We cannot get caught up in [saying] we played a little bit better, yippee. Sure, there are things to build on. The Detroit game was something to build on and the next game was no carryover.
“Oftentimes teams in this league with the worst records are reduced to [saying] we played well for a half. We certainly don’t want to be one of those teams. We were right there to win a game against a team we beat in that building last year. We need guys to focus on why that is and correct it.”
One and done for Wallace?
Ben Wallace’s numbers have taken a huge dip from his last season with the Pistons and first with the Bulls to this season.
%% PISTONS BULLS BULLS
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
MINS/GAME 35.2 35.0 26.1
REBS/GAME 11.3 10.7 5.6
PTS/GAME 7.3 6.4 3.7
BLKS/GAME 2.2 2.0 1.1 %%
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