by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Whether you choose to believe Tim Donaghy’s claims or not is a matter of personal preference. What is undeniable, however, is that the felonious ref has forced everyone to look at games and the men who police them with a much more critical (and at times, suspicious) eye.
Rasheed Wallace is one of those people; the difference between him and the majority of folks, is that ‘Sheed had been doing it since he first came into the League. He didn’t need Donaghy to tell him that something was amiss.
According to the always candid Wallace, this scandal will get a lot worse (and more embarrassing for the NBA) before it dies down.
From the Boston Herald:
“I always said to myself and had the thing that there’s no way that the things that he did he could do them by himself,” Wallace said. “I always said that. It’s virtually impossible. The things that he’s been accused of, there’s no way, to me, in my opinion, he could have done those things by himself.”
Asked if he thinks other officials were betting, Wallace said, “Possibly. “I mean, I’m not sure if they were betting or whatever. But I know it’s going to be, to me, once all this stuff comes out, it’s going to be like — what year was that? — I want to say, was it the ‘32 New York City basketball scandal?” Told it was the CCNY scandal of the ’50s that most closely matched, Wallace went on.
What’s most interesting about this, is that Donaghy himself — in one of his many, many interviews this week — cited Wallace as being a frequent target of the refs throughout his career, because he apparently saw through the charade:
“Rasheed Wallace was someone I don’t believe anyone cared for. Looking back, it’s probably because he’s one of the smartest players in the league. He was outspoken about how there were biases and how relationships affected the refereeing.”
“Ball don’t lie!”, ‘Sheed has frequently yelled out, and depending on who you choose to believe, neither does he.
