New York Knicks big man Rasheed Wallace was once a Washington Bullet. Not a Washington Wizard, but a Washington Bullet – drafted by the team in 1995 two years before the squad changed its name to the “Wizards.” Wallace’s tenure in Washington only lasted for a season, and not for the reasons you’d guess. He had bone to pick with referees and sometimes frustrated with his perimeter leanings – this was obvious even before the days of League Pass, back when every NBA team was given one or more mandated nationally televised appearances – but because the Bullets had a stacked frontcourt even before grabbing Wallace.
In the years since he was dealt from the team in 1996, Wallace has often taken several sly digs at the franchise and former GM John Nash for dealing him to Portland for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant. In retrospect, it appears like the classic big-for-small and young-for-old deal that Washington seems famous for, and Strickland is often thought of the guy wearing the backwards shorts while eating fast food before games.............
............The deal wasn’t about “business and money,” though that might seem cool to say and hear. Lee points out that Wallace “still blames” Nash for the deal, before Lee mentions the fact that John Nash wasn’t running the team at that point. Longtime Washington player, coach and executive Wes Unseld, not as easy a target as an executive type like John Nash for someone like Rasheed Wallace, was the one who put the deal together.
John Nash resigned from the Bullets just days after their season ended, two and a half months before Unseld dealt Wallace to Portland. Nash was anticipating acting as the NBA-level voice for the soon to be John Calipari-helmed New Jersey Nets, and ready to be frightened out of using his first draft pick with that team on a balking Kobe Bryant in the 1996 draft.
We’re not sure why Wallace keeps up the personal vendetta against Nash, the man who drafted him in spite of already having Juwan Howard and eventually Chris Webber on the roster, but it’s not going away.
And what also should go away is the shaming of Wes Unseld for making that deal.............
