Rasheed Wallace

Rasheed Abdul Wallace (born September 17, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former professional player.

Wallace, along with Randy Livingston and Jerry Stackhouse, were considered the top three players in the 1993 class.

University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith recruited Wallace to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for his college years.

Smith was a revered mentor both to Wallace and Wallace's eventual Detroit coach Larry Brown.

Wallace has indicated that this North Carolina bond with Brown helped him adjust quickly to the Pistons system.

During his two years at North Carolina, Wallace had success in the national spotlight.

He was named a second-team All-American by the AP his second year at UNC.

A native of Philadelphia, Wallace played college basketball at the University of North Carolina before declaring for the draft in 1995.

He played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Originally selected by the Washington Bullets (now known as the Washington Wizards) as the fourth pick in the 1995 NBA draft, Wallace was named to the All-Rookie second team following his first season.

He was then traded to the Portland Trail Blazers after the season.

Wallace and fellow future NBA player Jerry Stackhouse helped lead the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four in 1995.

He left North Carolina to enter the 1995 NBA draft after his sophomore season, being selected with the fourth pick overall by the Washington Bullets.

As a rookie with the Bullets, Wallace played in 65 games, of which he started 51 for the injured Chris Webber.

Wallace was selected to the rookie team for the All-Star Weekend.

Late that year, he fractured his left thumb during a game against Orlando and did not return until the following season.

En route to being named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, Wallace averaged 10.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists.

In total, Wallace scored 655 points and played 1,788 minutes during his rookie season in Washington.

After the season, Wallace was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, along with Mitchell Butler in exchange for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant.

This move proved beneficial for both sides: Strickland averaged 17.2 ppg and 8.9 apg after the trade, helping the Bullets make the playoffs in 1997 for the first time in eight seasons, and upped those stats to 17.8 ppg and a league-leading 10.5 apg the following year.

Meanwhile, Wallace ranked third in the league in field goal percentage.

However, just as his season was gaining momentum, Wallace again broke his left thumb and was forced to miss the next month of the season, but he returned in time for a strong performance in the first round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, which the Trail Blazers lost.

He was a key member of the Trail Blazers team that made it to the Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, and he was an NBA All-Star in 2000 and 2001.

In the 2000–01 season, Wallace received 41 technical fouls over 80 games.

Wallace was born and raised as the youngest of three sons of a single-mother household in the neighborhood of Germantown, Philadelphia.

His mother worked in the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare; Wallace, his mother, and his brothers Malcolm and Muhammed lived in Germantown

Wallace began his basketball career while attending Simon Gratz High School.

He was named USA Today's High School Player of the Year after his senior season and was selected first-team All America by Basketball Times.

Wallace was also a two-time Parade All-American first teamer.

Despite playing just 19 minutes per game, Wallace averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks his senior year.

In addition to basketball, Wallace played baseball, ran track and high jumped as a teenager.

He played in the Roundball Classic, scoring 30 points in a losing effort.

Wallace averaged a career best 19.4 points per game in 2002 for the Trail Blazers.

During the 2003–04 season Portland traded him to the Atlanta Hawks where he played one game before he was traded to the Detroit Pistons.

With the Pistons, Wallace won the NBA championship in 2004 and reached the NBA Finals in the following season before losing to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games.

Individually, Wallace was an NBA All-Star in 2006 and 2008.

After the 2008–09 season, Wallace left the Pistons as a free agent and signed with the Boston Celtics, where he played until retiring in 2010.

He returned to sign a one-year deal to play for the New York Knicks in 2012.

On April 17, 2013, Wallace announced his second retirement.

Wallace holds the single-season record for technical fouls.