Ben Wallace May Miss the Entire Playoffs
April 13, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under NBA News, NBA Teams
The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten good play out of Ben Wallace this season. When he has been healthy, at least. Shortly after returning from a broken leg, Wallace is now suffering from a strain in his left knee that may sideline him for the entire 2009 postseason.
This would be a big blow to the Cavs. Wallace isn’t the dominant defensive force he used to be but he’s still a very good defender who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective. With LeBron James doing most of the offensive work, Wallace has been free to concentrate on defense and rebounding — a role he does very well.
Obviously, take Wallace out of your lineup for the rest of the regular season. If you are participating in playoffs fantasy basketball, even a healthy Wallace only holds a little bit amount of value. His inability to score and his low free throw shooting percentage negates a lot of his positives.
If Wallace is out for an extended amount of time, expect Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao to eat up most of the bigman minutes. Joe Smith will also see a healthy uptick in minutes.
Here is a Ben Wallace highlight reel video:
