When Ben Wallace appeared on Madison Square Garden on November 25th with a red headband — a pure violation of team rules, he apparently checked the authority of the Bulls coach Scott Skiles. When Wallace, whom Skiles put on the bench as soon as he noticed the blindfold, and didn’t let out until Ben removed it, walked to the site in the blindfold at the start of the second half, it seemed that the experienced center had violated subordination. And many began to wonder: whether the conclusion of a contract with him was a mistake worth $ 60 million?
In the end, the Chicagoans came out on that match with the New York Knicks with a score of 3-9, and Wallace did not play at the level of the All-Star Game participant, whom the Bulls were supposed to get, grabbing the main prize in the July market for free agents . Moreover, the veteran who was expected to teach Chicago youth how to win brought problems. And that wasn’t exactly what Skiles and the basketball club chief John Paxon had hoped for when they went to Wallace’s Detroit home on the first day of the summer transfer period with plans to explain to Wallace why he should leave the Pistons and go to the Bulls "
But six weeks passed, and the situation turned upside down, and the problems, including potential ones that were coming up after the evening in New York, remained in the background. Wallace plays better, “Bulls” win and fight with “Pistons” and “Cavaliers” for first place in the Central Division, and the relationship between Wallace and Skills proved to be strong.
Preparing for the first meeting with Detroit on Saturday at the United Center, Wallace is much better adapted to the new environment. “He seems to have become more comfortable,” Skiles suggests. “Obviously, over the past month we have felt the influence of his personality much better. And this is the main thing you look at when you want to understand whether a person is comfortable. Does he look like himself? are comrades better to know themselves? " In the first month this did not happen.
"In fact, he remained quiet," Skiles says. "But after a period of time, you notice that he is moving away from normal behavior, and you assume that he has become more comfortable."
Wallace, who spent six years at Pistons, agrees that his getting used to playing at the Bulls was not as smooth as many suggested: “Yes, it took a while. There’s a new system, a new city, a new group of guys with which you play. "
Wallace's level of comfort becomes apparent when asked to compare the feel of the game in both teams. He speaks lovingly of Skyles and his system, and rewards the Detroit coach Flip Saunders with “stilettos” without naming them. When he is forced to highlight the main difference, Wallace says: “You can go out and play basketball freely. I think Scott and his assistants gave me great freedom, allowing me not to worry about the need to do this and that, but letting you do a little bit of everything. "
Wallace also interestingly answered the question of whether he would help the Bulls coaches make a plan for the game: “I would be happy to help them a little, but they look at a lot more records and probably know more than I try to remember about the system.”
His problems with Saunders were a major factor in leaving the Pistons, but Wallace insists that he was fascinated by the Bulls promises: “Looking at the guys on our team, I always thought that we could be representatives of the league elite. And I I remain with this opinion. And the Pistons ... They are where we are aiming. Definitely, a serious battle is planned in the Central Division. "
Wallace insists that after winning the 2004 championship he has a special bond with the Pistons: “This will not disappear. Even when we put the balls aside, we will still talk to each other, remain friends and remember the good old days or something else. "
As for his new partners, they quickly became friends with Wallace and do not find him alienated. "I think Ben is only for the press," his namesake Gordon suggests. Gordon is convinced that the adaptation period for Wallace is not yet over: "Yes, he is in a new situation. We will see his best basketball, and I think he is more and more comfortable with his teammates."
Translation by Nikolai TSYNKEVICH