Rasheed Wallace in Retrospect

[Stevenson]

With the 2000 team getting honored, This seems apropos.

I don't think there has been a more divise player in Blazer history than Sheed, and opinions about him are kinda like politics today - heated and poles apart. So where do you stand on his tenure here?

To me, he's probably the worst Trailblazer ever. An asshole, disrespectful to teammates and fans, and a choker. CTC, "Both team played hard", the towel incident, Game 7, etc. It all adds up in my book. He set the team back a decade for sure. Good riddance.

 

[ant]

Put me in the “loved Sheed” camp. Fiery, competitive, dynamic, team-oriented. And from most accounts a great teammate. Of course, the Sabonis towel incident sucked, but that doesn’t define his Blazer career. I get that some people hated him, but I enjoyed his play, Ts and all.

 

[blazerkor]

I loved Sheed. I can't stand basketball fans that talk bad about him. The guy's game was ahead of its time. His defense was best against the best. I think we should have gotten more out of him.

He wasn't the guy you wanted to lead your team and probably would have been better suited around other PGs than what we had at the time. That being said he was the best player on two WCF teams and those were the defacto title series at the time.

 

[riverman]

The league always had a bad guy...Oakley, Rodman and then Sheed and now Dillon Brooks. I loved his game...a ton of his techs were from disgraced refTim Donaghy and Donaghy's buddy Scott Foster...factor that in. Sheed was right about Donaghy shaving pts and he paid the price for it. After a while he got calloused from it. Shaq would dunk on Sheed after grabbing his face with his hand and push off on him...Sheed complains and Shaq gets free throws. Sheed could be irritating and pranked teammates but almost everyone who played with him loved him...the towel wasn't indicative of his career but his confrontations with refs probably is what most folks focus on. I followed his career and was happy to see him win a chip in Detroit. I can't speak for other fans who had encounters with him but I loved watching him play basketball

 

[julius]

I don't dislike Sheed. To me, there are far worse Ex Blazers than Rasheed (Ruben Patterson wins that award daily, and Quintel Woods is the runner up).

 

[crandc]

I wrote an article about him back in the day for an on line site I titled Sweet and Sour Sheed, in which I said there were times when he had me cheering ecstatically and other times I wanted to wrong his neck.

Still think Blazers should have hired Pat Summitt. She turns her death state on him and Sheed meekly says "yes, ma'am".

 

[KingSpeed]

With the 2000 team getting honored, This seems apropos.

I don't think there has been a more divise player in Blazer history than Sheed, and opinions about him are kinda like politics today - heated and poles apart. So where do you stand on his tenure here?

To me, he's probably the worst Trailblazer ever. An asshole, disrespectful to teammates and fans, and a choker. CTC, "Both team played hard", the towel incident, Game 7, etc. It all adds up in my book. He set the team back a decade for sure. Good riddance.

Choker? Sheed was the only guy who showed up for Game 7. Sabonis was the guy who choked. And Sabonis deserved the towel. He flopped and elbowed Sheed in the head. Sheed knew Donaghy was a crook before anyone else did. Sheed knew it was smart to shoot threes when people complained he should always be in the post. As you can guess, I loved Sheed. Maybe my favorite Blazer ever in my 36 years of following the team. Dame was good too but Sheed got us closer to the title.

 

[BassPlaya]

 

[BBert]

I loved Sheed. That is all.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Choker? Sheed was the only guy who showed up for Game 7. Sabonis was the guy who choked. And Sabonis deserved the towel. He flopped and elbowed Sheed in the head. Sheed knew Donaghy was a crook before anyone else did. Sheed knew it was smart to shoot threes when people complained he should always be in the post. As you can guess, I loved Sheed. Maybe my favorite Blazer ever in my 36 years of following the team. Dame was good too but Sheed got us closer to the title.

A lot of Blazers showed up for at least 75% of Game 7. Sheed missed a LOT of shots in that 4th quarter (although maybe Steve Smith was a worse offender?) Sabonis didn't deserve that towel (and Sheed was lucky that Sabonis didn't snap him like a twig) it was just an accident that Sheed got caught in the flailing.

Came to love Sheed. Was VERY opposed to the trade (even though I wasn't a huge Strickland fan) because Sheed already as a rookie had a rep as a hothead loudmouth, but he played hard, unselfish and defended well. Quirky dude, but his heart is (and was) definitely in the right place.

 

[Phatguysrule]

With the 2000 team getting honored, This seems apropos.

I don't think there has been a more divise player in Blazer history than Sheed, and opinions about him are kinda like politics today - heated and poles apart. So where do you stand on his tenure here?

To me, he's probably the worst Trailblazer ever. An asshole, disrespectful to teammates and fans, and a choker. CTC, "Both team played hard", the towel incident, Game 7, etc. It all adds up in my book. He set the team back a decade for sure. Good riddance.

Well said. I couldn't agree more.

 

[BlazerBeav]

When he was focused, he was a joy to watch play. But knowing that it was beyond irritating him so often not that way.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Choker? Sheed was the only guy who showed up for Game 7. Sabonis was the guy who choked.

Sabonis choked? We were plus 10 with Sabonis in the game. 15 points better than Sheed.

If Sabonis didn't get in foul trouble we would have won.

2000 NBA Western Conference Finals Game 7: Trail Blazers vs Lakers, June 4, 2000 | Basketball-Reference.com

POR (84) vs LAL (89). Get the box score, shot charts and play by play summary of the Trail Blazers vs Lakers Game 7, June 4, 2000.

www.basketball-reference.com

And Sabonis deserved the towel. He flopped and elbowed Sheed in the head.

Sabonis was run over by Shaq. He threw his arms as you're supposed to do when you get hit by an offensive player.

Sheed knew Donaghy was a crook before anyone else did.

True dat

Sheed knew it was smart to shoot threes when people complained he should always be in the post.

Sheed didn't make enough threes for it to be smart for him to shoot them. He was a bad three-point shooter and he should have been inside (or mid range).

As you can guess, I loved Sheed. Maybe my favorite Blazer ever in my 36 years of following the team. Dame was good too but Sheed got us closer to the title.

 

[wizenheimer]

I like Sheed for quite a while....but....ended up at 'fuck him' and his deranged official baiting and record breaking T's. It was one the most selfish things I've watched an NBA player do, and he did it over and over and over

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Results matter. He was amazing.

 

[kjironman1]

Nope! Sheed was and still is a LOSER!

 

[crandc]

Speaking of the 2000 team, any word on Brian Grant? Is he even alive still?

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

I loved Sheed, hated Sheed, was frustrated by Sheed, but mostly loved him. I stood next to him at Game Stop or whatever at Lloyd Center once and was afraid to talk to him. It's complicated.

 

[kjironman1]

I loved Sheed, hated Sheed, was frustrated by Sheed, but mostly loved him. I stood next to him at Game Stop or whatever at Lloyd Center once and was afraid to talk to him. It's complicated.

What? You forgot how to speak Clownese.

 

[SharpeScooterShooter]

Loved Sheed overall and his bad boy mentality is what our current team is missing.

 

[STOMP]

If Sabonis didn't get in foul trouble we would have won.

That was on Sabas for continually throwing his neck into Shaq's elbows

Some fans want to scapegoat a player and love to get their hate on, but Stern's NBA had a well established pattern when a small market team met up with a marque market in the playoffs.

STOMP

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Speaking of the 2000 team, any word on Brian Grant? Is he even alive still?

He is alive and working for the Blazers.

 

[BassPlaya]

Perhaps the title of "Rasheed Wallace in Disrespect" would be an apt dalliance?

 

[Hoopguru]

Lost any respect I had when crybaby sheed, threw the towel at Sabonis face. The man nevrb realize his own potential a he was his own worst enemy and certainly lacked any leader ship qualities.

 

[PDXFonz]

I ever tell Yall about that time I saw Sheed make a kid cry at toys r us at Christmas time?

Of course I have

Kid walks up “Can I have your autograph?”

Sheed “Come on Kid, can’t you see I’m busy?”

It could have been me… Thank God that kid took that one instead of me. That and the fact I already had his autograph (Dad ran into him at a gas station)

Dudes a legend though. I still maintain that he would dominate in today’s league.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

I mean Dame had a bad fan interaction he felt bad about and tried to make it up. Social media wasn't as big of a thing back then so Sheed could have felt bad and wanted to make it up but couldn't. He is human after all, and when people get stressed and burnt out they just want to be left alone sometimes.

I liked Sheed and the passion he had. Love listening to him on podcasts. He generally speaks fondly of his Blazers time. He was easily our best player for many years even though he didnt want to be. I was happy when he won a title.

 

[Chris Craig]

Loved Sheed. It was good to see someone care about the fairness of the game as much as he did. He let the refs have it. Much respect.

My parents were friends with his wife's mom and stepdad. Good people. Got to go to the mansion after he was traded to Detroit.