Duane Burleson / AP

At nearly 32 years of age, center Ben Wallace wasn't worth to the Detroit Pistons what he was demanding after winning his fourth award for NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Why it's good for Pistons
Five years is about all you get for a run in the NBA, or any sport, these days with free agency and escalating contracts. Ben spent six seasons in Detroit. They won the championship in 2004, lost in the seventh game of the Finals in 2005 and barely made it to the Eastern finals this season.

Despite their league-leading 64 wins, they clearly had grown too fat and happy. Ben was the team’s most decorated player, but third-highest paid. He was going for his big pay day, though he didn't match his previous seasons.

So, the Pistons can retool without the public outcry like that which assaulted the Bulls after their 1998 title or the Lakers after trading Shaquille O’Neal. The Pistons offered Wallace nearly nearly $50 million offer, and he turned it down. How much more could they do than offering to make him the highest-paid in franchise history?

It was clear their offense had bogged down, as coach Flip Saunders yearned to play more open style like more teams. You can’t do that with Wallace, even though he wants to be included in the offense. That was the genesis of some of his feuds with Saunders, including Wallace declining to re-enter a game in March.

The Pistons still have a solid core with Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince, and they can go smaller now with Rasheed in the middle and begin restyling their team for a new run.

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Why it's bad for Pistons
Losing Wallace will hurt when they get hammered by Ben and the Bulls in December. It will take time to put it back together, and Wallace is a man of deep pride. He’s spent his career proving teams wrong about him, being undrafted and traded twice.

The Bulls will be up for the Pistons, who could be looking up at them all season in the standings and on game nights. It’s one thing to say how this won’t work in two or three years, but you still have to get through the seasons before then, and that could be painful.

Despite his diminishing skills, Ben is still an All-Star and one of the top five or 10 defenders in the league. You don’t replace those guys easily. Plus, he was often the heart and soul of the rugged Pistons, demanding better effort and standing up to the best on the other team.

It was Wallace who got everything going in that brawl in 2004 when he went after Ron Artest, which few people do. The Pistons don’t have the guy to step into that role and players like that don’t come along often.

Bulls-Pistons. Get your tickets now.

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