DETROIT, Mich.– The Detroit Pistons announced today that Ben Wallace will join the Pistons organization as a basketball operations and team engagement advisor. In this role, Wallace will assist Troy Weaver and the basketball operations staff, Dwane Casey and the coaching staff and serve as a mentor and development asset for players on the Pistons roster and those joining the Motor City Cruise. The former Pistons’ great will also engage on select organizational business initiatives and community efforts.
“Ben is a Hall of Famer and a Pistons legend who has continued to come back home and support our team and our organization,” said team owner Tom Gores. “He embodies everything we are building here and will be a real asset to Dwane, Troy and the rest of our staff. Ben helped set the standard for what it means to be a Piston and will be a tremendous influence for our young players.”
A September Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Wallace played 1,088 career NBA games over 16 seasons with Washington, Orlando, Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland. He was acquired by Detroit from the Orlando Magic in 2000, spent nine seasons with the Pistons collecting NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors four times (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) and was named an NBA All-Star four times (2003-06). Undrafted out of Virginia Union, Wallace was an All-NBA Second Team selection three times (2003, 2004, 2006), All-NBA Third Team selection twice (2002 and 2005), an NBA All-Defensive First Team selection five times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006), and an All-Defensive Second Team selection once (2007). During his first stint with Detroit (2000-06), the Pistons made the playoffs in five of seven years, winning Eastern Conference Championships in 2004 and 2005 and the NBA Championship in 2004. Wallace is the franchise’s all-time leader in regular-season and playoff blocks (1,486 and 215, respectively) and ranks first among Pistons’ all-time playoff leaders in rebounds (1,237). He holds franchise single-game records for blocks in a game (10 – twice), defensive rebounds in a quarter (10) and blocks in a quarter (6). In 655 games with the Pistons, Wallace averaged 6.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.4 steals and 1.5 assists in 32.6 minutes per game.
Wallace, a native of White Hall, AL, recorded 10,482 rebounds during his career, becoming one of only 40 players, and the only undrafted player (Moses Malone was drafted in the 1974 American Basketball Association Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers in the ABA Dispersal Draft in 1976) in NBA history to record 10,000 rebounds. He is also one of only 11 players in NBA history to record 10,000 rebounds and 2,000 blocks and is the shortest player at 6’9 to record 2,000 career blocks. Overall, Wallace averaged 5.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 1.3 steals and 1.3 assists in 29.5 minutes per game. His No. 3 jersey was retired by the Pistons in 2016.
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