Skiles downplays rift with forward Wallace

DEERFIELD, Ill. -- No headbands, no problems.\nThat was the message the Chicago Bulls sent Monday afternoon, two days after new high-priced center Ben Wallace caused a stir when he flouted team rules by wearing a headband during a game.\nWallace, who signed a four-year, $60 million contract in the off-season, was benched for wearing a red headband during Saturday's 106-95 victory against the New York Knicks. For the Bulls, the win ended a six-game losing streak and closed out a disappointing 1-6 road trip.\nThe team had a long meeting after the game, and on Monday, Bulls coach Scott Skiles and the team's executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson both reiterated that this issue will be resolved quickly.\n"I look at it like these things are, most times, inevitable," Skiles said. "This happens in pro sports; these things come up. ... I can't predict what's going to happen with certainty, but I don't think there's going to be any long-term ramifications from it."\nWallace did not practice Monday after getting an MRI on his right wrist, banged up in the Knicks game -- the results were negative, Paxson said -- but came to the team's suburban complex after practice. He declined to comment to the media through a team spokesman.\nThe no-headband rule came from Paxson who said he didn't like the cavalier way Bulls wore headbands when he took over for Jerry Krause in April 2003.\n"It's not meant in any way to stifle anybody's individuality or creativity," Paxson said. "It was just simply part of a structure we were trying to create."\nWallace, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, has had a tough time fitting in on the court with his new team after leaving the Detroit Pistons.\nThe 32-year-old center is averaging 5.5 points and 9.2 rebounds a game -- he picked up zeroes in both categories in almost 20 minutes in a loss to Philadelphia last week -- and the team's defense looks worse than last season.\n"We still think it's just a comfort level thing," Skiles said of Wallace's play. "We think it'll come."\nMedia reports in Chicago have indicated Wallace is unhappy. He has reportedly butted heads with the team on other issues, like playing music in the locker room before games.\nHe has had problems with other coaches in the past. Last season he once refused to re-enter a game in Detroit after arguing with Pistons coach Flip Saunders. Skiles didn't think the headband incident was a rebellion against him, and neither did Paxson after he talked with Wallace Sunday by telephone.\n"I'm going to talk to Ben again and see if there's more to this than the headband issue," Paxson said.\nPaxson thinks the change in settings has stifled Wallace's game.\n"Ben was larger than life in Detroit," Paxson said. "He created an image and persona there that people really gravitated toward. It's one of the reasons we went to get him because he's a good basketball player. His strengths are real strengths in this league."\nSkiles said he didn't discuss the headband issue with Wallace until right before his first press conference in Chicago.\n"I didn't want him to be caught off-guard, and he said, 'no problem,'" Skiles said.\nWhile Wallace has struggled, so have the Bulls, picked by many to challenge the Miami Heat and others in the Eastern Division. Skiles hopes the conflict wakes up his young 4-9 team that hosts the Knicks on Tuesday.\n"These are, in general, not confrontation-type people," Skiles said. "That's good on one hand but also bad. You want some confrontation out there, for guys to make a stand. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world for them to see some confrontation like that, as long as it gets resolved. I think it's something we can all learn from"