Bravo, Big Ben

Pistons' Wallace a welcome relief from NBA hype

My favorite player of the NBA playoff spring is Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons. Just when you think you've been hyped to an early death, Shaq-ed up, Kobe-ed out, beaten into submission by that bubblegum song from that bubblegum woman Pink, here comes this certified basketball wildman.

His hair is puffed out, conked up, put into some unusual arrangement for every game. His style is straight from the playground, a frenzy of Tazmanian devil energy. Every rebound seems to belong to him. Every opponent's shot is a potential block. He is a bounding, jumping machine. This brother -- excuse the expression -- is bad.

He reminds you of the first, long-ago sighting of James Brown. Or maybe a first listen to Robert Johnson. Wow. He reminds you of Jimi Hendrix in mid flight. You can't keep your eyes off him. Undrafted when he came out of Virginia Union, he has figured out whatever has to be figured out after bouncing around for a half-dozen years.

Tops in rebounds and blocks this past season, he has made himself into a bonafide star. This is a rarity these days in the NBA, a league that always starts the press-release engines moving early, the buzz created before the Ping Pong balls even start whirring for draft day. Ben Wallace, by himself, has made us watch.

Good work, Ben. Keep going. Don't be compromised by success. Don't be gentle.

Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.

 

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