Penny Hardaway adding Rasheed Wallace to Memphis coaching staff

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How much help does Penny Hardaway need???

Earlier on Wednesday, it was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic that the Memphis Tigers will be adding former NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace as an assistant to the coaching staff. Wallace, 46, spent 16 years in the NBA after being drafted No. 4 overall in the 1995 Draft. He was named a four-time All-Star and helped lead the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 NBA Championship.

16-year NBA veteran Rasheed Wallace – a 2004 champion and four-time All-Star – has agreed to a deal to become a new assistant coach at University of Memphis under Penny Hardaway, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 18, 2021

During his impressive NBA career, Wallace made a name for himself in Portland and Detroit, making two All-Star appearances for each franchise. For his career, the 6-foot-10 big man averaged 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per outing while shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 33.6 percent from deep. As his career moved along, he became one of the first true stretch-shooting bigs that eventually revolutionized the game of basketball into what it is today.

Wallace was also well-known for his penchant of picking up technical fouls while playing in the NBA.

This will be Wallace’s first stint coaching at the college level after spending the previous two seasons as the head coach at Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina. He also spent one season as an assistant on the Pistons staff during 2013-14 but took a five-year break before jumping into the high school ranks. Wallace was expected to take a head coaching job at NC Good Better Best Academy for the upcoming season but will now join Memphis instead.

Penny Hardaway, the head coach at Memphis, has now added Wallace and Hall of Famer Larry Brown to his staff this offseason, along with the top-ranked recruit from the class of 2022 in Jalen Duren, who recently reclassified to 2021 and will play college basketball this season. Memphis is also rumored as the current leader for five-star class of 2021 forward Emoni Bates.

Through his first three seasons as a head coach with the Tigers, Hardaway has failed to make an NCAA Tournament appearance. Memphis did win the 2021 NIT Championship, but the program is still waiting for a breakthrough postseason run under Hardaway. He sure is surrounding himself with big-name pieces.