Jason died in 2005 at 28 years old, four months before Ella’s second birthday. Jason, whose 7-foot frame allowed him to go toe-to-toe with NBA greats such as Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Wallace, died of an enlarged heart. “I would have been 2 that January,” Ella said. “I was young, so I don’t remember anything, but I have my whole family to tell me memories and stuff.”
Ben Wallace Rumors
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Ben Wallace
Position: -
Born: 09/10/74
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight:240 lbs. / 108.9 kg.
Earnings: $87,800,795 ($113,441,378*)
Born: 09/10/74
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight:240 lbs. / 108.9 kg.
Earnings: $87,800,795 ($113,441,378*)
Jonathan Feigen: As much attention is paid to the Rockets’ move to small ball, more should go to the guy they got in the deal. Robert Covington is 1st player with at least 21 steals and 12 block shots in first 8 games of a postseason since Ben Wallace in 2004, also making 51 % of his 3s.
Growing up in White Hall, Alabama, the 45-year-old former Piston saw firsthand what racism and inequality look like. More importantly, he also remembers how it made him feel. “There was a swimming pool in our community, that we as black kids weren’t allowed to swim in,” he remembers. “I know how it can affect not only one race but all races.”
Wallace knows we’re still a long way from figuring it all out. However, he’s confident that as long as people are willing to listen and work together, racial injustice will be a thing of the past and full equality in the United States will be here to stay. “We’ve got to pull together and show our people as a whole, we can put aside our differences, and come together, and work together as one unit and as a team,” Wallace says.
Kareem Rush on his thoughts on the 2004 Pistons in the Finals and Tayshaun Prince: “I mean, they simply outplayed us. Karl [Malone] was hurt in that series. And I think Kobe selfishly wanted MVP. I think that we were favored by everybody to win the series you know, and at the time Shaq had the first three Finals MVP’s. So I think Kobe had the mindset with that as the primary focus, but I think he was really itching to get that MVP – and we got caught off guard by a better team. The Pistons were — they went on to do seven straight in the Conference Finals so that team was a winning team for the ages and they had a starting five that was very formidable. Those were all All Star caliber. They had a couple of Hall of Famers in Ben Wallace and Chauncey – and maybe even Rip. So they were definitely a formidable team and they were BETTER than us at the time.”
While Milicic wasn’t the right fit for the Pistons in the end, Brown doesn’t hold the decision against those who made it, including then general manager Joe Dumars. “It is what it is because the same people that drafted Darko were smart enough to trade for Ben Wallace,” he said. “Smart enough to draft Tayshaun Prince, smart enough to trade for Rip Hamilton, smart enough to trade for Chauncey Billups, smart enough to trade for and believe in Rasheed (Wallace). So you know, it is what it is.”
