Nate McMillan believes he has now learned the best way to use Gerald Wallace, who is known for having one of the best blends of toughness and athleticism in the NBA.
"You just have to let him go, you have to just let him play," McMillan said. "I don't think you put a lot of rules and restrictions on him. He plays fearless basketball ... Sometimes you can over-coach. If he is out there thinking, should I do this or should I do that, you can take away his strength, which is the ability to anticipate and create opportunities. So you just let him go."
Wallace excels most when he's allowed to roam free, when his basketball instincts and intuition take over and his mind rests.
Wallace is the great unknown for the Blazers in terms of how he can impact the team.
"That's my thing -- I just go out and play," Wallace said. "I'm not a big fan of trying to think and trying to comprehend what I've got do out on the court; worry about where I'm supposed to be. My thing is just go out and play, use my instincts, react and try to cause havoc."
"You just have to let Gerald play his game," center Marcus Camby said. "You see him out there all over the basketball court, trapping the basketball, being aggressive and that leads to a lot of easy buckets for us. Gerald really can't define his game by position, he' just a player. He goes out there, he's very scrappy ... he gives up his body. He only knows how to play one way, which is all out."