Won a ring, came within one game of another. He was all-NBA five times to Melo's six despite starting his NBA career at 26 when Melo started at 19. Melo has zero awards (MVP, DPOY, etc), while Wallace has a fistful of DPOY awards. Prime for prime, anyone who wanted to win would take Wallace even though longevity and college performance will get Melo into the HOVG, er, HOF, while Wallace will have to rely on a player X player Y comparison with Mutombo (which Wallace wins) to possibly get in. But if we're just looking at their best, give me Wallace, easily, he carried defenses in ways that Melo never carried offenses.