VUU's Ben Wallace wins fourth NBA Player of the Year Award
May 8, 2006
The NBA announced on Monday that Ben Wallace of the Detroit
Pistons, out of Virginia Union University, has won the 2005-06 NBA
Defensive Player of the Year Award, marking the fourth time in his
career that he has captured the trophy as the league's best
defender.
With this year's honor, Wallace becomes the only player in NBA
history to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award four times in
five years and joins Dikembe Mutombo as the only players to earn
the award in four separate seasons.
The 6-9 center averaged 11.3 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and a
career-high 1.8 steals to anchor a defense which ranked third in
the league for fewest points allowed per game (90.2). Wallace was
the only player in the league to rank in the top 10 in rebounds per
game (fourth), blocks per game (ninth) and steals per game (10th).
He became only the fifth player in league history to record 100
blocks and 100 steals in six consecutive seasons.
The four-time Defensive Player of the Year led all NBA centers in
rebounding and steals, guiding the Pistons to a Central Division
crown and the best record in franchise history (64-18). Wallace
collected his 7,000th career rebound this season and became one of
only 24 players in league history to record 1,600 blocks. Wallace,
the all-time Pistons franchise leader in blocks, has finished in
the NBA Top 10 in blocks for six consecutive seasons.
Wallace received 420 points, including 58 first-place votes, from
a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United
States and Canada. Players were awarded five points for each
first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one
point for each third-place vote received. San Antonio's Bruce Bowen
finished second with 308 points and Utah's Andrei Kirilenko
finished third with 121 points.
Wallace played at VUU from 1994-1996 and still holds the school
record with 114 blocks in a single season. He was named to
the CIAA 60th Anniversary All-Tournament Team in 2005.