Every time Gerald Wallace opens his mouth, it sounds to me like a guy bucking for a trade. He is trying to grease the skids out of town. It started in the preseason with his attempts at “leadership.”
However, with his contract, he may have no choice but to suck it up for a while.
Wallace was taken out of the starting rotation by coach Brad Stevens for Wednesday night’s game in Utah, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
But Wallace’s unhappiness goes back much father than that. Wallace’s latest comment was about his role in Boston and how he feels out of place, something he explained to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
Honestly, I get where Wallace is at here. He’s 31, been in the league 13 years now and has only seen the second round of the playoffs once (2003 with the Kings). He’s gotten paid, now he wants to win not be on a team that’s rebuilding, and not be with a college coach finding his way in the NBA as well. He wants to get moved to a team where he feels the games will matter this season. I appreciate that.
But he has two years and $20.2 million on his contract after this season — combine that with the new luxury tax and what Wallace brings to the table (9.2 points a game on 39.7 percent shooting last season with a PER of 11.6) and it will be tough to move him. It can be done, but Boston might have to throw in a sweetener of some kind. Which rebuilding teams are loath to do.
Wallace needs to be quiet. He doesn’t have the gravitas or style to pull off the Kevin Garnett style of leadership. He needs to lead by example, play well enough that a team will want to take on his contract, then hope for the best.