As much as I hoped Rasheed Wallace would go out west it’s not going to happen. Rasheed is going green but not in the sense he’s helping the planet. Actually he’s making the planet worse by crossing over to the dark side and signing a two-year deal with the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics pulled out all the stops when their campaign to sign free agent forward Rasheed Wallace started last week. And the tactics paid off as Wallace committed to sign with the Celtics, a league source said yesterday.
Wallace is expected to receive a two-year deal at the midlevel exception (approximately $5.6 million to $5.8 million). -Boston Globe
Rasheed wanting $8 mill a year or he’d retire turned out to be not true. J. Gamble of SLAM doesn’t have the best track record so far with his rumors.
If you thought the Celtics talked a lot of smack the past two seasons, then just you wait and see the colorfulness Rasheed will add to the mix. I’d like to formally call the headline “Boston T Party” for when Rasheed is nearing the one game automatic suspension mark for excessive technical fouls.
Times they are a changin’. It’s kind of sad that just Rip and Prince are the only remaining members of the ‘04 core. I miss my Interplanetary Pistons.
“Once [Wallace] had a chance to reflect on everything, and realizing what his objectives are, he just decided this was the best fit for him, all the way around,’’ said Bill Strickland, Wallace’s agent. “He has always wanted to be on a team that plays with a team effort, and Boston won the championship with a team like that. Boston has three potential Hall of Famers – Rasheed has played with a lot of talent, but not with a concentration of talent like this.
Two things I’d like to address from this quote from Rasheed’s agent:
#1) Plays with team effort = Sheed does not want to be the man. One reason we struggled this past season is because Michael Curry was leaning too much on Rasheed to be a leader and a beast down low. That’s just not Sheed. He prefers to chill out beyond the arc and let the game come to him.
#2) I’d beg to differ about Rasheed not playing with an equaled amount of talent as he’ll be playing with in Boston. Weren’t they calling our starter the “Best Five Alive” a couple seasons back? Not only that if you look at the Portland teams he played on in the late 90’s early 00’s you’d see a rosters absolutely stacked with talented ball players. So that sentence was kind of like salt in the wound, for me at least.
Props to Natalie from Need4Sheed for letting her loyalties be known. I too am thankful all the Rasheed memories. There’s no doubt that his acquisition from Atlanta — facilitated by Boston’s ironically enough — put us over the hump in 2004. But That was then, this is now (big shout out to S.E. Hinton). You’re now the enemy Mr. Roscoe Wallace. You’ve done done it now.

No more being ashamed of their love
ALSO SEE: Celtics pursuing another former Piston all-star, Grant Hill [FanHouse]