The five worst free agent signings in Boston Celtics history

No. 5 Rasheed Wallace

All-Star, champion, and one of the best competitors in league history, Rasheed Wallace was nothing short of an icon in the sport of basketball. In the years following the 2004 championship, the Detriot Pistons slowly unraveled their squad. Ben Wallace left for the Chicago Bulls, Chauncey Billups was traded to Denver, and Wallace walked away from the city in free agency. Eventually, he signed with the Boston Celtics, in the hopes of another title under his resumé.

At the time, the Celtics were a top-three team in the East, who lost in the Eastern Conference Finals a year prior, due to a number of injuries. General manager Danny Ainge hoped, with Wallace, they would get the big man depth needed so they could possibly beat the Lakers. In a heartbeat, the Celtics offered Wallace a three-year, $19 million deal. He expected to play in a backup role, but still a valuable piece due to his passionate play and dominant post scoring game.

The tempestuous game Rasheed Wallace played, never left him, though the same guy who advised his teammates to drink beer in the effort of gaining weight, quickly started picking up bad habits. That season, Wallace came to training camp, in what Bill Simmons called a ‘fat suit’. While Wallace, confident as ever, proclaimed that the Celtics were going to break the 72-10 Bulls record.

Wallace’s weight issues carried into the season, as he learned that the ‘play my way into shape’ method was not very effective as a 35-year-old. Wallace was regularly forgetting to box out, going from a constant six-to-eight rebound guy to averaging 4.1 a night. He also shot a much higher percentage of threes (while making 28 percent of them) and was unable to bully his way in the post like in the past.

The big man became one of the team’s favorites internally, yet, as a fan, it was frustrating to watch the paunchy attempts of running back and forth. And although he was only playing 22 minutes a game, Wallace was able to keep up his technical foul count. By the end of the season, Wallace’s plus/minus was exactly 0 on a championship contender, his on/off rating was -5, and he was yet to address his weight issues.

Wallace was still as ingenious of a player as he was during his prime, if not more so, but he was not always able to give his complete attention towards the game. The uninspiring Wallace carried practices, of taking ill-advised shots and neglecting to defend, into the playoffs.

Nevertheless, the Boston Celtics got to the finals, facing off against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, not thanks to Wallace. Where Wallace faced the possibility of suspension, nearly exceeding the technical foul limit. Likely due to the warning, Wallace hinted that it would be his last season in the NBA. Conclusively, the Celtics lost to the Lakers in an invigorating game seven, and the career of Sheed was over.

Actually that is a lie, it was not. After the game, Wallace decided to storm to the referee’s locker room, attempting to get in, until the Celtics dragged him on the team bus. Just like that he was gone, in the most Rasheed Wallace fashion possible.

Wallace’s short stay with the Celtics was unceremonious, if not aggravating, but the next guy on the list somehow managed to care less about basketball, get paid more, and torment more fans. As the Celtics entered the dark ages – Welcome to the disreputable era of Rick Pitino.