NBA Top 50: Gerald Wallace (No. 47)

FanHouse's Tom Ziller argues his ranking of the top 50 players in the NBA.

The next player on the list is a special case for me, in that for several years I spent garbage time at ARCO Arena chanting his name. (Also, his decision to retire from the Slam Dunk Contest at age 19 after being jobbed by the judges also earns points. That was a political statement.) But even if you're aren't a mark like me, you can easily appreciate the game of Gerald Wallace.

His two common nicknames make more sense than peanut butter and jelly: "Crash" and "Multiplicity." The latter comes from the surreal box scores Wallace collects: he has 18 career 4x4s -- games in which you tally at least 4 points, rebounds, assists and either blocks or steals. (All these plus two others with 4 blocks and fewer steals.) Maybe the perfect example of Wallace's explosive versatility is legendary January 13, 2006, game against Milwaukee: 21 points, 15 rebounds, 8 steals, 4 assists, 4 blocks.

That other nickname -- "Crash" -- comes from Wallace's propensity to bash himself head-first into any center or crowd of men or tall building he comes about. It's a trait which has earned him several concussions, the last of which last season forced Wallace to retire from the power forward position. That relates to this next note, which is that in 2007-08, Crash changed completely.

Wallace has a number of numbing talents which escape mainstream priority: he's a master thief, always near the top of the league in steal rate; he's a wild shotblocker from the SF position; he's smart with the ball, whether creating for himself or finding an open teammate. Among the basketball characteristics considered most important -- rebounding and scoring -- Wallace has always been an oddity. He can score, but it almost has to come within three inches of the rim. And he get three inches from the rim whenever he wants -- his dangerous first step and carefree spirit make him one of the more intimidating slashers in the game. He can rebound ... but he does much of his damage there on the offensive glass, collecting caroms three inches from the rim and thundering them home.

So: he's good at the weird things, but he can score if he's driving and he can rebound on offense ... until last year, when for some reason his offense moved out 22 feet and his offensive rebounds disappeared, as this graph will show.



From 2004-05 to 2006-07, his first three years as a starter in Charlotte, more than 25% of Wallace's rebounds came on the offensive end. Last season, his offensive boards accounted for only 15% of his total rebounds. (Also, his total rebounds fell quite a bit: you don't make up for lost o-boards by collecting more d-boards.)

Wallace had never taken more than 13% of his field goal attempts from behind the arc ... until last season, when 25% of his shots were threes. Wallace is not a good shooter (understatement), and every threeball launched is one less dunk attempt in a defender's face. Every threeball is also one less chance to get knocked about the head and suffer a concussion. Did the head injuries send Wallace backtracking? Or was it Sam Vincent's woeful offensive system, which happened to be in place as both Wallace and Emeka Okafor had their worst seasons?

Wallace got knocked out by Mikki Moore's elbow in February. By January he was already launching more threes than ever. It's not the head which pushed Crash out of the paint -- it was the Charlotte offense, organized by the deposed Vincent.

With Larry Brown on the bench, will Wallace now regain his rightful throne at the rim? Doubtful; if I thought so, Wallace would appear much higher on this list. If you listened to what Crash said after the latest concussion, and saw how he played in March, you'll agree he's a more tentative, less bombastic player. His lack of slow-mo, his shrieking banshee attitude of play ... those things made him a great player. Without them, he'll still be quite good and exciting as heck, a real unique weapon. But the luster has dulled -- it has to, if Wallace wants to keep playing.