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And just like that, the Pistons as we knew them--the team of teammates who never quit on each other--has apparently come to an end. Ben Wallace has reportedly told the Pistons he intends to sign with the Bulls.

The gauzy Mitch Albom retrospective is, no doubt, being written as we speak. And there's a lot of emotion behind a player move like this. That's legit. This is a big move.

But for the moment, let's be honest. This is a story about money. Chris McCosky reports in the Detroit News:

"I appreciate everything Detroit did for me and my family," Wallace said Monday night, confirming that he will sign a four-year deal with the Bulls on July 12, the first day free agents are able to sign contracts. "They gave me an opportunity to make a name for myself and we had an opportunity to win a championship together. This is always going to be a special place.

"This is just one of those things. When you get a chance to sign a deal of a lifetime, it's tough to let it go."

The Bulls, who initially made no offer when general manager John Paxson and coach Scott Skiles came to visit Wallace on Saturday, apparently upped the ante considerably Monday. They offered Wallace a four-year deal starting at $14 million, which would make the total value of the contract just under $60 million.

The Pistons' initial offer to Wallace was a four-year deal worth $49.6 million, starting at $11.5 million. Even though that offer would have made Wallace the highest-paid player on the team, Wallace was disappointed.

He was further disappointed when he was told the Pistons wouldn't raise their offer more than $12 million to start, which would have raised the overall value to $51.8 million.

In the same article, Flip Saunders says is had nothing to do with Flip Saunders:

Saunders made it clear that his relationship with Wallace had no impact on Wallace's decision to leave.

"No. What it had to do with was money, which is the case 99.9 percent of the time," Saunders said. "It has to do with finances.

Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune says the Bulls forced a quick decision:

Fortunately for the Bulls, Wallace accepted their deal Monday because they were about to impose a deadline and move on to other free agents. That field was hardly strong, with the likes of Joel Przybilla, Drew Gooden and Nazr Mohammed next in line.

Now what? Both teams have roster needs all of a sudden.

In a Detroit News survey, plenty of Piston fans still expect the Pistons to make the NBA Finals.

Marc Stein says P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith will likely come to Chicago for Tyson Chandler. Brown has an expiring deal, which is good for cap space next summer.

Chad Ford postulates:

Look for the Bulls to now explore trade scenarios involving Tyson Chandler.

One potential opportunity, according to sources, is New Orleans, which is mulling a Chandler-for-P. J. Brown swap. Brown is in the last year of his contract, which would give the Bulls even more cap relief next season.

The Bulls also have explored Chandler trade scenarios with the Hawks (via an Al Harrington sign-and-trade) and the Warriors.

The move puts the Pistons in a difficult position.

They lose Wallace for nothing and don't have anything more than the $5.1 million mid-level exception to offer to potential replacements.

There are a few starting center-caliber free agents out there, such as Joel Przybilla and Nazr Mohammed, but none who can give the Pistons what Wallace did.

Instead, the Pistons may opt to beef up their backcourt and to move to a more up-tempo style with Rasheed Wallace at five and Antonio McDyess at the four.

Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys is getting over the shock, and wondering if perhaps everything will be OK. An up-tempo team, with Tayshaun Prince rivalling Richard Hamilton as leading scorer, could have its merits.

Gone out the window is Detroit's Offseason Plan A, which involved re-signing Wallace and adding an athletic slasher (Bonzi Wells?) with the mid-level exception. Instead, it's on to Plan B. What's that? Apparently going after Joel Pryzbilla with the mid-level exception, and then quietly waiting for the season to start. Because unless I'm seriously under-estimating the amount of wiggle room Detroit has under the salary cap, the team's hands will be tied when it comes to adding another impact free agent.

Sure, Joe Dumars could always pull off a trade, but the team lacks any disposable salaries such as Kelvin Cato, meaning any meaningful trade most likely will have to involve moving one of Detroit's key players.

Okay, you're turning blue — you forgot to inhale again!

Everyone should relax, because I think Detroit's situation looks more precarious at first glance than it really is, and I seriously doubt it will result in Dumars moving any of the other starters.

Here's what I'd do: move Rasheed Wallace to center and install Antonio McDyess as the new starting power forward. Sign Przybilla to come off the bench, take that sandwich out of Jason Maxiell's hands and mail it to Cheick Samb. With Wallace, McDyess and Pryzbilla getting most of the minutes and Maxiell given a real honest chance to earn more minutes as the season progresses, Detroit should be able to put some points on the board without completely sacrificing on the defensive end.

If Przybilla does in fact sign, I could see him starting over McDyess, perhaps out of concern about McDyess's durability. Personally, I'm no longer worried about Antonio's knees falling off — he didn't miss a single game last season and played in 77 games the year before. Plus, he's only 31 years old, which puts him a year younger than Ben Wallace. We don't want to ride him too hard, but I'd be surprised if he can't handle 30 minutes a game.

In another article, Chad Ford theorizes that perhaps change was inevitable for Detroit, a team that was not built to take advantage of recent rule changes.

"No one was hurt more by the new rules changes and emphases than the Pistons," one prominent NBA general manager told ESPN Insider. "The league decided they wanted to encourage more scoring and allow quick perimeter players to penetrate at will. It ripped the heart out of what made Detroit so special. Eventually, we knew this would catch up with them."

The Pistons brass slowly began realizing it, too, during the playoffs. Teams with players such as Dwyane Wade were thriving. The Ben Wallaces of the world were often sitting on the sideline waving towels thanks to foul trouble and bad matchups.

So, the question Pistons officials had to ask themselves July 1 was this: Did they continue down the same road, or did they change direction before it was too late?

There is a lot of talk of moving Rasheed Wallace to center, starting Antonio McDyess, and being more up-tempo. In that scenario, Jason Maxiell better be ready to play some serious minutes off the bench.

Chris Broussard says this move makes Chicago one of the best defensive teams in the league, with Wallace, Tyru
s Thomas, Andres Nocioni, and Kirk Hinrich set to bother opponents to distraction.

If this works out for the Bulls, this could turn Ben into a Hall of Famer. Some may think he's already one. Regardless, if he turns Chicago into a contender there will be no denying, no downplaying and no underrating his significance. He will have to be given his props. He'll be viewed as the Wes Unseld of this era.

I know there's the issue of his age. He'll turn 32 in September, and he certainly looked older in the playoffs. But I'm willing to bet he's got at least two great years left and two good ones after that.

To me, Ben's age is not the question. The question is, what does this do to Detroit?

The Pistons might look to fill the void left by Wallace with either Pryzbilla or Nazr Mohammed. If they can land one of those guys -- my preference would be Pryzbilla -- as well as Bonzi Wells (that's probably doubtful), they could be nearly as good, albeit with a different style.

But right now, I'm ranking the Pistons fifth in the East behind Miami, Cleveland, Chicago and New Jersey. I was hyped for next season as it was, what with Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, the L.A. Clippers and Sacramento, not to mention a healthy Houston team, fighting it out in the West, and Wade and LeBron ready to battle for supremacy in the East.

One new worry for Detroit, that Portland fans can tell you all about: what's it going to be like counting on Rasheed Wallace to produce at both ends of the floor every night? Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press says not matching Chicago's offer was the right move, but leaves problems:

Wallace left because he knew that the team wasn't interested in playing a defensive-oriented style. That was always his M.O. But it became evident throughout their startling slide out of the playoffs that the new personality of this team would fall along the side of coach Flip Saunders and his principal on-court surrogate, Chauncey Billups.

It's a mess now because the Pistons can't count on Rasheed Wallace to provide the main defensive presence. He possesses the offensive diversity to build around, but can anyone trust him to show up every night, especially when it appeared late in the playoffs that he had some issues with Saunders as well?