Rasheed Wallace's ankle will force him to sit out this week. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
Joe Dumars told WDFN this morning that Rasheed Wallace will be out for a week because of a sore ankle injury. Team officials said he suffers from bilateral ankle soreness.
Although they're still listing him as questionable for tonight's game, Wallace is not going to play until next week's game at Cleveland.
With so many teams in the East struggling just to stay around the .500 mark, this might be the best time to shut Wallace down for a couple of games. Also, the Pistons will benefit from playing teams that don't have a dominant, low-post scorer to go to late in games. That means the Pistons won't be so dependent on Wallace's usually stout defense down the stretch as they have been this season.
I'm not sure who steps into the starting lineup to replace Wallace. Antonio McDyess seems like the natural fit, but he passed on the chance to fill in for Sheed last year and seems comfortable coming off the bench. So maybe we'll see Dale Davis, though (as Ian just IM'd me) having Davis and Nazr on the court at the same time is a little redundant. Either way, Jason Maxiell should be assured of some extra playing time, as well.