The Rasheed Wallace issue.

by Zak B on Feb 7, 2010 5:44 PM EST

^ Rasheed just saw his numbers for this season ^

I've been hearing a lot about how people are mad about Rasheed's play. We all know the guy is a great player, he is a four time All-Star for goodness sake!

Sheed is most valuable when he put's his 6'11 self down on the post and shows off his ridiculous wingspan. He seems to know every trick in the book down low. He clears space with his hips, he gets guys guessing with pump fakes, and if a double team comes he can pass over about 90% of all players.

Wallace has been a legitimate 3 point threat, throughout his career he has been one of those guys who buries a 3 when you think your favorite team has come up with the game winning defensive stop. You'd say to yourself "We've got this in the bag! Wait why are they passing out there......CLOSE OUT CLOSE OUT CLOSE OUT!!!!!" *Rasheed knocks down a 3 and you punch a hole in your drywall while your team calls a timeout down by 3 with one second left.*

So that's what Rasheed can be, but I'm going to explain what he's been lately.

Although the crafty veteran has calmed down on the T's he is still not focused. You'll find Sheed in the paint about as much as you'll see Kwame Brown signing a new contract. He settles for 3's and a lot of the time rushes them. He is lackadaisical AT BEST on defense, when he needs to step up to be the 2nd or 3rd man on the rotation you'll see him staring as Dwight Howard slams down a dunk.

I'm not saying signing Sheed was a mistake but he needs to pick up his game. Someone needs to tell him, Doc, KG, Ray, I don't care it just needs to e said. The guy is a great player and would be a huge piece to getting that ever so desirable banner 18, he just needs to get him game face on.

Comment, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks. Please no crazy trade ideas though, I personally think this team has all the pieces they just need to focus.

Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.

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Comments

Here we go again....

I am working overtime defending Rasheed (he better start paying me for doing so …lol ).

I do not know why Rasheed is such a whipping boy considering he just a 35 year old backup?
We should be concerned with other players on this team, especially the younger bench players who have been struggling this year (e.g Big Baby, House) before being concerned about Rasheed

After all Rasheed is helping this team.

He is our best big man on the team behind KG and Perk and has played better off the bench than Baby, Williams and Scal this year.

For a 35 year old back up I think thats not to shabby and he is doing his job.
Can he play better, Yes he needs to step up his game, but do not all the C’s the way alot of them are playing this year?

Lets all remember as I keep saying:
Last year centers were on offense overpowering and dominating us in the low post when Perk would go out of the game since undersized Baby and Powe were our backup centers.
Last summer Rasheed was the best big man / center available that the C’s could sign to remedy this problem.

So far this year centers are no longer dominating us in the low post since Rasheed with his length and bulk is now overpowering most of his center counter parts.
He is doing a good defending the low post and is I think our best low post power defender (e.g. his recent defense in the post on Howard, Bynum, Gasol).
So lets give him some credit on defense.

His offense has not been too bad either as he is at least I think our best low post scorer and is our 2nd best outside shooting big behind KG (not counting Scal) and leading scorer off the bench.

Now his rebounding is poor but alot of that is due to being out of postion away from the basket since he hovers around the 3 point line so often.
The question is do we want him always to get in the low post to be in better rebound position, or do we want him to stay out in the perimeter (at times which is a big weapon) since he stretches the defense and pulls out opposing big guys like he did with Bynum and Howard in recent games which allows Rondo a clear path to penetrate to the basket?

Until Danny gets another big, which I hope he does come the trade deadline or through a buyout signing, though Rasheed is far from perfect he is the best we have for now and I am glad for all the above reasons that we have him.

by fordescort on Feb 7, 2010 9:45 PM EST reply actions

fordescort I agree

But Rasheed only shows these things sometimes, he needs to be consistent, I’m not saying he needs to be the 6th man of the year but he should be getting at least 10 and 5 every night.

by Zak B on Feb 7, 2010 9:53 PM EST reply actions

I Agree

by fordescort on Feb 7, 2010 10:02 PM EST up reply actions

I don't think its about any specific individual numbers

I think the best thing for making Sheed productive is to have a healthy KG.

The reason is that means that Sheed can come off the bench – and put more of his minutes backing up Perk as well. Sheed is more valuable by far to us as our first big off the bench – coming in at C for Perk and then moving to PF when KG goes to the bench.

In those rotations he’s generally facing second and third string bigs from the other team that he can dominate.

He HAS lost a step. He’s 35! He can play WITH but not dominate most starting PFs in this league. So ideally we don’t want him playing against the stud PFs.

Unfortunately, when KG got injured, that forced us to start ’Sheed – putting him (and the team) at a matchup disadvantage. Offensively, Sheed held his own just fine (our starting 5 works just as well offensively with Sheed as with KG). But defensively it suffers with him in that role.

by mmmmm on Feb 15, 2010 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

Some of this is blaming the tools and not the carpenter

What Rasheed is, is what he was in Detroit. Did Danny believe that a shot at another ring and being around KG would entice Sheed to man up more often and post up? Did Danny determine that it was unlikely Sheed would change his stripes and Doc gave him assurances that he would use him accordingly? As Zak points out, even a perimeter bound Rasheed can hold value if the players around him can utilize the space created.

Sheed is not to blame for the team’s struggles solely; it is often the starters who have let up in the 3rd quarter of these all too common collapses. But the bench has been abissmal. Why? I believe a big part of it is a lack of a penetrator to take advantage of the space that Sheed creates. Big Baby is not a post presense. Quis has been injured (until today). And there are infrequent opportunities for Tony Allen to drive or post up. Even today, the bench had a solid run in the 1st half with Quis, House, TA, Sheed, and Baby. So, what does Doc do in the second half? Plays TA only a couple of minutes before jumping back to his perimeter dominant tendancies by subbing Ray Allen for Tony.

by ddthinks on Feb 7, 2010 10:34 PM EST reply actions