Rasheed Wallace: From hothead to mentor

Rasheed Wallace – From player to mentor

Wallace has now entered the second phase of life as the Assistant Coach for the Detroit Pistons. He’s an assistant to his former coach and mentor Maurice “Mo” Cheeks. Cheeks coached the big man from 2001-2003 while they were both at Portland Trail Blazers. So, it’s a reunion of sorts. Cheeks had this to say on Wallace suiting up as a coach:

“He can make that transition. A lot of us, we didn’t start out being a certain way we are right now. But change evolves you, and he’s evolved. He realizes he’s in the second phase of his life now. And now he’s a coach. He has to make that transition, and I think he’ll be fine.”

Wallace is one of the most experienced player turned coach in the recent past, alongwith Jason Kidd. Having been a player until recently, Wallace has an unparalleled understanding of how the game is played these days. He’ll be able to impart his experience to the Pistons now, provided he’s able to keep his temper under check.

He has played under a lot of great coaches during his 16-year-career at the NBA. He has played under Larry Brown, Hall of Famer and the coach he won his championship title with. Wallace has also played under Mo Cheeks and Flip Saunders, two great head coaches. During his stint at the Celtics, he played under Championship winning Doc Rivers. They made it to the NBA finals in 2010. Wallace would definitely have been able to pick their brains during these periods of time.

He has also played with a wide range of players during his career. He even made it to the All-Star team four times. Factor in his 1100+ games played and you have got a guy with incredible basketball knowledge. We have to wait for his first game as assistant coach to see whether he can put all his knowledge into good use.

Pistons is one team which has a very little chance of making it to the playoffs. However, the newly signed Mo Cheeks might turn that around in a couple of years. If that does happen, that’s when the true worth of the big man Wallace will come into the picture.

He’s one player who truly stepped his game up at the playoffs. He knew when to exercise his full potential (this might be one reason why he survived in the NBA for this long despite being 6′ 11″). If the Pistons can somehow sneak into the playoffs, the Cheeks-Wallace duo might be able to carry them a little further than they had dared to dream of.

Overall, things are changing for Wallace. The uniform has been replaced with a baggy suit. The headband with a tie. The court with the sidelines. But I do know one thing for sure. This is not a guy whose presence in the game will diminish just because he’s stepped off the court. I am pretty sure there’s lots of rantings at referees left for us to watch and I don’t hear any of the fans complaining.