Today’s Sports Snob will take a look back at the career of Rasheed Wallace . He’ll reportedly announce his retirement from the NBA soon, even though he has two years and nearly $13 million left on his Boston Celtics contract.

Every time people talk about ‘Sheed, there’s a wide range of emotional replies. Some hate him and say he’s a bad seed, someone with no restraint who is a detriment to the teams he plays on. Or they say he’s lazy, shoots too many threes, and doesn’t play to his talent level.

Others love him and say he’s a great teammate who stretched the floor and was one of the best defenders at his size. His passion is well documented; a catch-22 that fueled his good plays and alternately hurt his teams and his reputation. He’ll retire with the most technical fouls in NBA history, something he did his fair share to earn, but a mark that also included bad calls based on who he was. Like the unacceptable ejection for STARING at the referees.

Nearly every team Wallace played for earned him a distinct line of staunch supporters on one side and furious anti-‘Sheed groups on the other. It made sense too, because for all his skills, he definitely didn’t always come into the season in shape, had poor shot selection and complained about whistles at the wrong times. He’s one of those guys who you love when he’s making shots or getting blocks, but hate when he throws up an air ball or loses his cool on a clear foul.

I’ve always been a fan. His defensive skills, long arms and flirtations with greatness always impressed me. Defense and passion are my favorite qualities in an NBA player, and Wallace showed both for long portions of his career. I’m not into positive revisionist history, so I would get equally disappointed during major parts of his last two seasons because you could tell he wasn’t fully engaged or giving it his all at times. For a guy making millions and with his gifts, failing to always go hard was unacceptable and a disservice to his teammates and fans.

But he always talked about showing up when it counts, and for the most part he always did. Just look at what he did in the postseason for the 2010 Celtics. Sure his numbers weren’t huge but he did almost all the right things. Clutch three-pointers, good defensive rotations and a superb job guarding/flustering the Los Angeles Lakers Pau Gasol during the NBA Finals.

He was roughly six minutes away from earning his second NBA championship in three trips to the Finals, which is no small feat. His 2000 Portland Trailblazers were also just one quarter away from reaching the Finals and likely winning a title too. He made seven straight Eastern Conference Finals with the Detroit Pistons as well as two Western Conference Finals with Portland, was on four All-Star reams and was on All-American teams in high school and college.

Of course you can’t discuss his career without mentioning referees, he famously coined the term “Ball Don’t Lie” to describe NBA karma causing players to miss free throws on bad calls, something that even gave a name to Yahoo Sports great NBA blog. But contrary to popular belief he had a fair right to criticize and dislike them. He’s been on the wrong end of some of the most one-sided and obviously bad calls in modern NBA history. As I’ve mentioned before, the referees gave blatant free throw advantages to the Lakers in close wins back in the 2000 West finals and most recently in the 21-6 fourth quarter disparity during game 7 of the NBA Finals in Los Angeles.

Both those games and series were incredibly close contests where every point was critical and both times Rasheed had to see his team fall painfully short in the end thanks to massive inequalities in the officiating. As a fan I get infuriated when bad calls happen, so I can only imagine the impact it would have on a guy who plays at the NBA level and with such high stakes attached.

The NBA referees sometimes had a bulls eye on Rasheed.
(Photo via CelticsBlog.com)

Championships define careers to most, so any time you see foul play (pun intended) possibly stealing what you’ve earned, you can’t help but be justified in your disgust. There’s a reason why I’m a sports snob, and it’s precisely because of the extra stories that go into legacies. I can see the difference between players who were all-timers in either talent or drive and those who just benefited from being around an all-timer or won without shame about the asterisks along the way.

Rasheed Wallace was one of the good guys, no matter what the refs or techs said. He cared about the game, his fans and most importantly, he cared about fairness in basketball. He didn’t seek the spotlight or adoration, he just wanted things to be done the right way, even if it meant pissing off the bandwagon fans or seeing small market teams upset the Hollywood star heavyweights.

He just wanted to see an NBA that let the best teams go out there and earn it on the court, not with whistles, reputation or whining. To have suffered through unfair breaks the way he did, it’s no wonder his love for the game died down along with his desire. In today’s NBA you see the celebration of a player previously charged with rape as some sort of exemplary role model. A guy who redefined the lengths we’d seen stars go to just to feed their egos and selfishness is being propped above a local hero like Magic Johnson.

It’s more evident than ever that the NBA, like its casual fans, only cares about winning and money, even if it’s tainted.

Today’s NBA just isn’t what it used to be, so as I tip my hat to him, I can’t blame Rasheed for wanting to leave. Because even though he loved to yell out how the Ball Don’t Lie, unfortunately for him, most of the time the Call’s Sure Do.

- Will.

The Sports Snob will be published once a week here on YouBeenBlinded.com. Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

One of the remaining big chips in NBA free-agency is off the board now that Rasheed Wallace has committed to signing with the Boston Celtics. ‘Sheed is expected to sign a two-year deal for the mid-level exception on July 8.

The move puts the Celtics back on top as the Eastern Conference favorite. Assuming Kevin Garnett is healthy, KG, Wallace, and Kendrick Perkins give Boston flexibility down low. The Cleveland Cavaliers have to respond by signing Lamar Odom or Shawn Marion, and it’s widely believed LO is returning to LA so that leaves Marion. And even then Boston is still slightly better.

Wallace commits to Celtics [Celtics Blog]

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