Yes, because the centers were really bad during wallaces time. I'm positive wallace would not have 4 dpoy awards if he played in the 90s. In fact, he wouldn't have any.
We can back and forth about this all day. Show me some cold hard facts that support your claim that wallace was a better defender than rodman.
I've already dispelled the multiple dpoy awards argument.
Wallace has more blocks. And was definatley a better shotblocker. But rodman was much better at taking charges. Id say he avg at least 2-3 charges a game. And charges are much more valuable to a defense than blocking shots. Cuz its an automatoc TO, and it counts as a personal foul.
Understand I'm not saying wallace was a bad defender, but I do feel he was a product of his time and thus overrated.
lol the thing about defense is its harder to support with cold hard facts other than defensive rating,blocks,etc. and those are all flawed..simply showing how a player did against a great big man in,like one, series means jackshit
Ben Wallace has 64.6 DWS in his career compared to Rodman's 52.9. Rodman played 8 more career games than Wallace, and still has 11.7 less DWS than Wallace!(of course that was in 09, i found this on another site and i found it interesting)
im not going to make the argument that ben wallace was better than rodman if we look at their primes, because i think rodman was slightly better(versatile,unbelievable rebounder).
but i think that rodman,by the time he got to chicago, was certainly a good defender, but not on the level that he used to be
you have to remember rodman was 34 when he joined the bulls, and not to mention in the late 90s some of the great big men of the era were aging(not going to make the argument that they still did not dominate in some regard..but i think by the late 90s we started seeing a transition)
rodman was more versatile and arguably the better rebounder
wallace was a much better blocker and had more length inside...you have to also remember that its not always about individual matchups..but units vs. units..for example post vs post...or even in the sense of guards who make a living getting to the basket...
these slashing guards are partly the assignment of the corresponding defender, but also the assignment of the post defender who tries to make sure that the guard does not finish the play..
if i'm looking at wallace in his prime in detroit vs. rodman in chicago...i'll take wallace..although both arent bad options defensively
wallace did play against some good big men in his time(mourning,shaq,duncan,garnett)
and you cant definitively say "oh well he didnt defend him because he's a center"...you have to consider, again, its not always about individual matchups...
i think its also hard to say that if rodman were the same age that he was when he joined the bulls and played in the 2000s he would have won as many DPOYs as wallace..maybe so maybe not...on the flip side...hard to say if ben wallace would have won any DPOYs from 95-98..although the 3 DPOYs in that time were Payton,Mutombo, and Mutombo again
