Wayback Wednesday: Ben Wallace & NBA Live 07

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at Ben Wallace and his short stint with the Chicago Bulls, and how I associate it with NBA Live 07.

I had to check the archives to see if I’ve ever listed my favourite players in any of my articles. The closest I’ve come was naming my All-Time Starting Five in The Friday Five back in 2014, though I’m not sure I’d still choose that lineup today! One of those players definitely isn’t a favourite of mine, while another one is rapidly becoming a former favourite (seriously, Pip: stop it, get some help!). In any event, while my favourites have come up on the NLSC Podcast and I’ve alluded to them in various articles over the years, I haven’t yet dedicated an entire feature to discussing them.

By the same token, I haven’t ever discussed my least favourite players, except in passing. One name that you may have heard me mention on our podcast is Ben Wallace. Although I acknowledge his talent and importance as a member of the 2004 Detroit Pistons, I’m absolutely not a fan of Big Ben. That’s not to cast aspersions on him personally, as I obviously don’t know him. We all have our sporting villains though, and ironically, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year was solidified as one of mine after playing for my favourite team. It’s a stint that’s represented in one of my all-time least favourite games, NBA Live 07. Let’s take a look back…way back…

As you may recall, Ben Wallace was the cover player for ESPN NBA 2K5. While it may seem like a drastic change after featuring Allen Iverson on the cover of the first five games, as Dee pointed out to me on our podcast, it made a lot of sense. Detroit had just stunned a Los Angeles Lakers superteam in the NBA Finals, with Wallace playing a huge role in the Pistons’ victory. He was popular and relevant, and in the midst of a run of four All-Star appearances. It was cool to see a defensive player getting recognition as an All-Star, and the Finals win undoubtedly earned support from fans that won’t usually cheer for the Pistons, but will cheer against the Lakers!

After all, the Cinderella tale wrote itself. The 2004 Lakers were the team that was “bought”, snatching up future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton at a bargain price and teaming them up with prime Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Conversely, the Pistons were the team that was shrewdly put together without the glamour and lure of LA; talented players that other teams gave up on too soon, coming together. Ben Wallace embodied that blue collar, underdog spirit. From undrafted free agent reportedly given number 30 to reuse Rasheed Wallace’s Bullets jerseys, to winning a title alongside Sheed, Big Ben was an inspiring success story.

Despite the Chicago Bulls’ rivalry with the Detroit Pistons, I appreciated that tale, and was happy to see them prevail against the favoured Lakers. I likened Ben Wallace to Dennis Rodman. They were very different players outside of dominating the boards, but both helped their teams win without scoring in bunches. I wouldn’t say Wallace was ever a favourite, but I enjoyed him. And then, the Malice at The Palace went down. I’ve always felt that Wallace shared much of the responsibility for the situation escalating, yet he was lightly punished. It soured me on him, and that Pistons team. As a result, I enjoyed seeing them lose to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2005 Finals.

Jumping ahead to the 2006 offseason, Ben Wallace was a free agent. He’d had a falling out with coach Flip Saunders, who benched him for the fourth quarter in Game 6 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals. It spelled the end of his tenure in Detroit, making him one of the top names in free agency that year. The Bulls had cap space to spend, and they ended up signing him to a four-year, $60 million deal. That number is burned into my memory, for reasons that I’ll get into shortly. I wasn’t thrilled about the signing, but I recognised Wallace’s talent and the value in bringing in a veteran to anchor the defense and provide steady leadership. I decided I’d have to learn to like it.

My first glimpse of Ben Wallace in a Bulls uniform came courtesy of another major moment during the 2006 offseason: my first NBA Live community event. I had an opportunity to play both versions of NBA Live 07 at the event, though knowing we wouldn’t be getting a Next Gen port on PC, I spent most of my time checking out the original Xbox version. Needless to say, despite having some misgivings about their big acquisition, I was eager to run with the Bulls on the virtual hardwood. We didn’t have nearly enough hands-on time – later events I attended were much better about that – but I was able get some off-screen snaps, including the above shot of Big Ben.

Clearly, Ben Wallace’s Bulls stint was always going to be associated with NBA Live 07 – and other 2007 season games – because that’s where it would be preserved. No matter what happened from there on out, no matter how we’d update the game with mods in the years to come, Big Ben would be a Bull in the default rosters. For me however, the connection would go beyond that. It began with that first glimpse at the NBA Live 07 community event, but by the end of the year, the game and the stint felt like perfect metaphors for each other. Ultimately, neither lived up to my expectations, and undermined the optimism that NBA Live 06 and previous seasons had inspired.

On the surface, there were improvements. The Bulls went 49-33, but were the fifth seed in the East, thanks to an outdated format. They shocked the defending champion Miami Heat with a sweep, and although Wallace’s numbers had dipped slightly, he’d seemingly had a positive impact. The second round saw a showdown with the Pistons however, where Wallace wasn’t much help as they went down 0-3, and ultimately fell in six. Upon being eliminated, Big Ben greeted Sheed warmly at midcourt. It was understandable given their history, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. It felt more like he was celebrating with a teammate, rather than congratulating a former one.

Likewise, NBA Live 07 made some strides, but fell short of expectations. The PC and prior gen version was riddled with issues, from fatigue and substitution bugs to a poorly-implemented rotation screen that replaced the traditional roster re-ordering function. There have been worse games mechanically, but its gameplay was still subpar. It blew away the Next Gen version though, which still ranks as one of the worst Triple-A basketball games from an experienced developer. The addition of Freestyle Superstars, Dynasty mode, and All-Star Weekend, couldn’t compensate for the sheer amount of clunkiness. On the bright side, at least there was no fatigue bug!

While I’d easily give the nod to NBA Live 07 as the bigger disappointment of the two, the ending of Ben Wallace’s first year with the Bulls still left a bad taste in my mouth. His moment with Sheed gave me the impression that his heart was still in Detroit and he only signed with Chicago because they were willing to pay him $15 million a year, which was probably true. I can’t blame him for taking the money, as the blunder is on John Paxson and Gar Forman. However, I was already a reluctant supporter due to his role in that infamous brawl, and the idea that he wasn’t “all-in” now that he was a Bull didn’t sit well at all. I felt burned for having trusted in him as a marquee signing.

Similarly, I was disappointed in and felt somewhat betrayed by NBA Live 07, too. Not only was it inferior to NBA Live 06, but in reporting back on the game after the community event, I’d put my credibility on the line. I was honest in the impressions I shared with the community and in my feedback to the developers, but in hindsight, the limited amount of hands-on time was likely by design. As much as we appreciated the opportunity and had a good time at the event, I think most of us felt that we’d been used to some extent. None of us were milked for $60 million, but we copped some of the blame for a title that disappointed us just as much as our fellow basketball gamers.

The Bulls regressed in 2008, flipping their 2007 record to finish 33-49. Wallace was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in February, after posting his worst numbers since his fourth season. In all fairness, he was battling knee problems, but his signing had been a bust. Unlike former Piston Dennis Rodman, I never truly warmed up to Ben Wallace despite him becoming a Bull. On the bright side, the Bulls won the lottery and landed Derrick Rose, renewing my optimism and leading to their best years since the glory days. NBA Live 08 was also a marked improvement over NBA Live 07, and like the Bulls, the series rebounded promisingly with their 2009 and 2010 outings.

Just as I don’t blame the development team for what happened at the NBA Live 07 community event – they wanted to make a great game, and I’d say it was the suits that were keen to deceive us when it didn’t pan out – I can’t entirely blame Ben Wallace for his Bulls stint being a bust. He was aging, banged up, and they needed more scoring than he was ever going to provide. As for that massive contract, GarPax were foolish enough to offer it, and he’d have been a fool not to sign it. If I hadn’t soured on him due to the Malice at The Palace, I may not feel as strongly about it. If NBA Live 06 PC hadn’t been so great, NBA Live 07 wouldn’t feel like such a blown opportunity.

Even though nostalgia is usually all about fond memories, there’s something oddly nostalgic about things that weren’t so positive, but were nevertheless memorable. The excitement of travelling to Canada for an early glimpse of NBA Live 07, and the intrigue of signing an All-Star like Ben Wallace, are enjoyable memories; albeit in a bittersweet way, given how both situations turned out. Once again, they go hand-in-hand for me, beyond the obvious interactive almanac aspect. Despite it flaws, or indeed because of them, NBA Live 07 is fascinating to look back at. As for Ben Wallace, he’ll never be a personal favourite, but he did earn that Hall of Fame nod.