Sports
Rasheed Wallace
born 1974 · basketball player and coach
Four-time All-Star power forward whose defense and clutch shooting anchored the Pistons' surprise 2004 NBA championship and five straight conference finals runs.
- Born
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
age 52- Birth name
- Rasheed Abdul Wallace
- Detroit years
- 2004–2009, 2013–2014
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rasheed Wallace arrived in Detroit in a February 2004 trade after stops in Washington, Portland and Atlanta, and the move transformed the Pistons. Alongside Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince, he helped forge a defense-first team that upset the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers four games to one in the 2004 NBA Finals, Detroit's first championship since 1990. His outside shooting and shot-blocking made the Pistons hard to game-plan against, and Detroit reached the Eastern Conference finals in five straight seasons with him in the lineup, including a return trip to the 2005 Finals that Detroit lost in seven games to San Antonio. Wallace, notorious for arguing with officials, still holds the NBA's single-season record for technical fouls. He left Detroit as a free agent in 2009, then returned in 2013 for one season as an assistant coach.
Highlights
- Traded to Detroit in February 2004; helped win the NBA title that June
- Reached five straight Eastern Conference finals with the Pistons, 2004–2008
- Four-time NBA All-Star (2000, 2001, 2006, 2008)
- Returned to the Pistons as an assistant coach in 2013–2014
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 2004–2009
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Demolished · 1988–2017
Where Wallace won the 2004 championship and anchored five conference-finals teams; the arena was demolished in 2020.