Monday, October 31, 2005

It might be a bull market for Wallace

Chicago will have the money and could target Pistons' burly center as free-agent acquisition.

By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News Ben Wallace, the Pistons' big man in the middle, could be at the center of some intense free-agent bidding next summer. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

Keep your eyes on the Chicago Bulls.

Not so much during the season, because they are going to struggle. Losing Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis has left them barren in the middle, and that's death in the newly fortified Central Division.

But keep your eyes on them next July, when they take the $20 million in cap space they will have and start wooing free agent Ben Wallace.

The Bulls were a playoff team with Eddy Curry in the middle. With Wallace, they could be a title contender.

That's how intense things are getting in the Central Division these days. Maybe it's not quite as loaded as the Southwest Division, where the Spurs, Rockets, Mavericks and Grizzlies reside, but the Central has to be considered a close second.

What used to be a two-team race between the Pistons and Pacers has a couple of formidable new entries -- the Cavaliers and Bucks.

And Chicago, as the fifth team, even this year, isn't exactly a cupcake.

What other division can boast three all-star centers? Residing in the Central Division now are Wallace (Detroit), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Cleveland) and Jamaal Magloire (Milwaukee).

"I think it's great," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said of the beefed-up division. "I think what it shows is that a lot of teams have made changes to their rosters to try and catch us."

The addition of Donyell Marshall certainly helps the Cavaliers deal with the presence of Rasheed Wallace, and the acquisition of Magloire makes the Bucks a playoff contender, assuming he is properly motivated to play.

That brings us to the Bulls, who are desperately trying to get back to the top of the NBA world. And with $20 million to play with, and Wallace an unrestricted free agent in July, they could do it.

The Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks, the franchise closest to Wallace's home in Alabama, will be the two teams that come after Wallace the hardest.

But rest easy for now. The Pistons aren't going to let their foundation, the face of their organization, simply walk out of the door.

The Pistons have been prudently preparing for Wallace's eventual free agency the past few years. They should be in a position to reward him with the most lucrative contract offer in Pistons history.

Call it a year

It's too early to make any binding conclusions, but insiders in Phoenix are betting that Amare Stoudemire won't play at all this season. For one thing, the micro-fracture surgery is serious, even for a strong and healthy 22-year-old. Second, Stoudemire is in no mood to rush back.

"Four months is the minimum time frame," he said. "But in my mind, I want to make sure I'm 115 percent before I'm looking to get out there. It's all about the healing process. I want to come back healthy and better than ever. No matter how long it takes, that's what we're going to do."

When pressed on whether he expects to play this season, he said, "It's possible. If I can heal up the way we're expecting, then I probably will play this year. If not, then probably not. I want to make sure I'm me before I play."

But even as he's waving off some of the doomsday prognostications, he keeps extending the time frame on his return.

He was told that Chris Webber, a micro-fracture returnee, warned that it would take two full years before the knee felt normal again.

"I don't listen to that stuff," Stoudemire said. "My body is totally different than everyone else's. Webber and those other guys had surgery later in their careers. It was more intense because of the area the lesion was in. My problem wasn't that bad, but it was something we wanted to take care of and come back in four to six months."

Do the math: The 2006 NBA playoffs begin six months from this week.

London calling

Great Britain is not what you would consider a world power in the game of basketball. In fact, the nation has fielded just one Olympic men's basketball team. That was in 1948 and it didn't win a game.

But the Brits will be back in 2012. London will play host to the Games and its basketball team, which gets an automatic spot, could be led by a pair of Chicago Bulls.

Luol Deng, who considers London his hometown, is now the unofficial ambassador to English basketball. His first recruit will be his teammate Ben Gordon. Gordon was born in Jamaica and he lived for a year in London with his mother Yvonne. He didn't become a U.S. citizen until he was in high school.

"Me and Lu were talking about it the other day," Gordon said of the 2012 Olympics. "He's trying to recruit me right now. We were saying, 'If I don't make that American team...'"

Said Deng: "I'm going to try to get him. Hopefully, he'll play with me, but we'll see."

Deng, who was born in the Sudan and lived in Egypt before relocating in London, has hosted Nike basketball clinics in camps in London, Manchester and Birmingham to help jump-start a talent drive.

"I was real excited when London was awarded the Olympics," he said. "I look forward to it. Just from a basketball point of view, there are a lot of players now from England. I think that's going to be a good look for our country."

Sound bytes

• Jeanie Buss, Lakers executive and girlfriend of Lakers coach Phil Jackson on whether a marriage might be forthcoming: "There's nothing on the horizon. It's probably never going to happen. But if Phil said to me, 'Jeanie, you can have one of two things: One, we can get married, or two, I'll come back and coach the Lakers,' I would say my wish is for you to come back and coach the Lakers. I've gotten my wish to come true. Hopefully, he'll be giving me another championship ring."

• Rockets David Wesley, praising (sort of) teammate Jon Barry for his unselfish play: "For the most part, he's a (jerk). But he plays the game the right way."

In the bonus

Jalen Rose tried to shrug it off, but the criticism stung him. He was named to the Sports Illustrated all-poison team. "Lies don't matter," Rose said. "There's no merit to it. It's kind of hard to entertain foolishness when it has no merit." The more he thought about it, the more it rankled him. "What I saw that was said about me (in the article) really had nothing to do with basketball," he said. "You can ask any of the coaches I played for (if he was poison). And ironically, three of the four teams I've been on, I actually was the captain on the team."

You can reach Chris McCosky at (313) 222-1489 or chris.mccosky@detnews.com.