What is the Deal with Rasheed Wallace?
By Jan A. Larson Rasheed Wallace, the Portland Trail Blazers’ volatile power forward expressed his displeasure with the administration of the National Basketball Association in a recent epithet-laced interview[1] with Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian. Wallace, 29 years of age in his ninth season in the NBA, is the fourth highest paid player in the league. He is also the main target of the Portland fans’ ire on a team that hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1977. Some fans, tired of his inconsistent play and propensity for garnering technical fouls (he holds the NBA single-season record of 41) have vowed to give up their season tickets if Wallace is not traded. Wallace, known as much for his garish tattoos and fiery temper as for his basketball prowess, charges that the NBA exploits young black players for the enrichment of the predominantly (all except one) white ownership, ” they just want to draft
