It is Time to Forgive Ray Allen
It is Time to Forgive Ray Allen
After leaving the Celtics to join LeBron and the Heat, Ray Allen became known as a traitor in Boston. In this piece, I explain why it is time to forgive him.
After leaving the Celtics to join LeBron and the Heat, Ray Allen became known as a traitor in Boston. In this piece, I explain why it is time to forgive him.
June 8, 2012 is an important date in Celtics history.
On this date, the Celtics lost to the Heat in game seven of the Eastern Conference finals. This loss would mark the last game that Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce would ever play together again.
Just one month later, Ray Allen signed with the Celtics’ enemy and rival who had just taken them down in seven games, the Miami Heat.
As news broke out that Allen took less money to join LeBron and company, you could say that people were not thrilled.
Not only did Ray decide to go to the team that had just defeated the Celtics, but he decided to go to LeBron’s team.
That hurt.
LeBron is the enemy of Celtics nation. Everything about him drives Celtics fans crazy. His arrogance, his whining, his flopping, his complaining, his narcissism, and most importantly, that he beats the Celtics.
He was the perfect villain, and Ray Allen joined him.
Any other team and any other player and Celtics fans would have been disappointed, but not mad.
But Ray chose to go to the dark side and was, therefore, a traitor.
After Allen signed with the Heat, he then went on to help them win a title with his famous game-tying three-pointer in the corner against the Spurs in game six of the 2012 NBA finals.
Celtics fans could only watch in despair.
When Ray came back to play against the C’s, he was of course booed. Despite giving the Celtics a championship in 2008, fans were angry.
Now fast forward to February 11, the day of Paul Pierce’s jersey retirement ceremony. Not only did Ray Allen not show up, but he posted a picture of himself golfing in LA on Instagram the same day.
Again, the public was not happy:
How can you not show up for Pierce’s retirement ceremony???? It was a bad look.
Although Allen was known a classy player his entire career, he is now being characterized by the Celtics organization, the fans, and the media as a selfish, traitor.
My opinion of Ray was no different.
I may not have booed Allen if he came back to Boston, but the fact that he went to join LeBron, of all people, for less money stung. The fact that he didn’t support Pierce on his jersey retirement night bothered me.
However, since Ray Allen came out with his new book, From the Outside, we have started to hear his side of the story.
Allen has been all over the place, from ESPN First take to Barstool Sports, and we have finally heard his perspective on why he chose to go to Miami.
“My tenure was over with in Boston,” Allen said on First Take. “By the time the year came, they had signed everyone else contractually and when it came time to me, it was like, this is all we have left for you… We realized, hey, the relationship seemed like its over.”
Because Ray didn’t feel wanted or valued anymore, he started to look into other places. Ray said that he looked at the Clippers seriously, but they signed Jamal Crawford instead. His last three options were Minnesota, Miami, and Memphis. He said that he picked Miami because that was the best of the three options.
In short, Ray didn’t choose LeBron and Miami instead of Boston. He was already leaving Boston and Miami happened to be the best situation.
That is a big difference.
Allen also explained on First Take that he didn’t know about the jersey retirement ceremony.
“At no point did anybody reach out to me and say that we would love for you to be there,” Allen said. “I knew nothing about his jersey retirement… I didn’t even know it was happening at the time it was happening…. I knew nothing of it.”
First of all, in terms of the Pierce retirement night, this just doesn’t seem true. According to Doc Rivers, Doc told Ray that he should come to Paul’s night.
“I knew [Ray] thought about coming, I can tell you that, because I talked to him personally,” Doc told the Boston Globe. “He didn’t know if he should. He didn’t know if it was the right time.”
If Doc told Ray this, then Ray had to know about the ceremony.
However, just focusing on why Ray left Boston, I hate to say it, but I believe him. Not only do I believe him, but I understand his point of view and I am sympathetic towards his position.
Ray explained that he left Boston because the organization was not valuing him. All of the other players were under contract except for him. He wanted to retire as a Celtic with Paul and KG, but he was the only player who was not signed yet. Once the other players were signed, the Celtics would only offer Ray less than what his position should earn.
If Ray didn’t feel valued by the Celtics, then that is on Doc Rivers and that is on Danny Ainge. Was Ray oversensitive and entitled? Probably. But what athlete isn’t? If you are working somewhere, and you don’t feel valued, why would you stay?
If you remember back to the 2011-2012 season, Avery Bradley was starting to emerge as the starting shooting guard on the team. Ray was coming off the bench and the focus was beginning to change.
Not only that but can you imagine dealing with Rondo’s nonsense on a day-to-day basis? Ray said that Rondo wouldn’t pass him the ball, which is entirely believable.
You add up all of those things, and I no longer blame Ray Allen anymore for leaving the Boston Celtics. Am I annoyed he went to the Heat and LeBron?
Absolutely.
However, the Celtics messed up the free agent situation with Allen, and if they really wanted to keep him in the first place, he probably would have stayed with Boston.
Allen does deserve some blame for his situation. He should have been at Paul’s retirement ceremony. I simply don’t believe him that he didn’t know about it. Seriously? In this age of social media and the internet, you didn’t know it was that day.
Come on Ray. That is hard to believe. But besides the ceremony, it looks like the Celtics were more in the wrong than Ray Allen was.
Celtics fans still have a right to be annoyed with Allen for joining LeBron. However, it is time to forgive and forget and appreciate what he did for Boston.
He helped give the Celtics its first championship since 1986. That 2008 team was a special group and he should be remembered as an integral part of the big three and not a traitor.
June 8, 2012 is an important date in Celtics history.
On this date, the Celtics lost to the Heat in game seven of the Eastern Conference finals. This loss would mark the last game that Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce would ever play together again.
Just one month later, Ray Allen signed with the Celtics’ enemy and rival who had just taken them down in seven games, the Miami Heat.
As news broke out that Allen took less money to join LeBron and company, you could say that people were not thrilled.
Not only did Ray decide to go to the team that had just defeated the Celtics, but he decided to go to LeBron’s team.
That hurt.
LeBron is the enemy of Celtics nation. Everything about him drives Celtics fans crazy. His arrogance, his whining, his flopping, his complaining, his narcissism, and most importantly, that he beats the Celtics.
He was the perfect villain, and Ray Allen joined him.
Any other team and any other player and Celtics fans would have been disappointed, but not mad.
But Ray chose to go to the dark side and was, therefore, a traitor.
After Allen signed with the Heat, he then went on to help them win a title with his famous game-tying three-pointer in the corner against the Spurs in game six of the 2012 NBA finals.
Celtics fans could only watch in despair.
When Ray came back to play against the C’s, he was of course booed. Despite giving the Celtics a championship in 2008, fans were angry.
Now fast forward to February 11, the day of Paul Pierce’s jersey retirement ceremony. Not only did Ray Allen not show up, but he posted a picture of himself golfing in LA on Instagram the same day.
Again, the public was not happy:
How can you not show up for Pierce’s retirement ceremony???? It was a bad look.
Although Allen was known a classy player his entire career, he is now being characterized by the Celtics organization, the fans, and the media as a selfish, traitor.
My opinion of Ray was no different.
I may not have booed Allen if he came back to Boston, but the fact that he went to join LeBron, of all people, for less money stung. The fact that he didn’t support Pierce on his jersey retirement night bothered me.
However, since Ray Allen came out with his new book, From the Outside, we have started to hear his side of the story.
Allen has been all over the place, from ESPN First take to Barstool Sports, and we have finally heard his perspective on why he chose to go to Miami.
“My tenure was over with in Boston,” Allen said on First Take. “By the time the year came, they had signed everyone else contractually and when it came time to me, it was like, this is all we have left for you… We realized, hey, the relationship seemed like its over.”
Because Ray didn’t feel wanted or valued anymore, he started to look into other places. Ray said that he looked at the Clippers seriously, but they signed Jamal Crawford instead. His last three options were Minnesota, Miami, and Memphis. He said that he picked Miami because that was the best of the three options.
In short, Ray didn’t choose LeBron and Miami instead of Boston. He was already leaving Boston and Miami happened to be the best situation.
That is a big difference.
Allen also explained on First Take that he didn’t know about the jersey retirement ceremony.
“At no point did anybody reach out to me and say that we would love for you to be there,” Allen said. “I knew nothing about his jersey retirement… I didn’t even know it was happening at the time it was happening…. I knew nothing of it.”
First of all, in terms of the Pierce retirement night, this just doesn’t seem true. According to Doc Rivers, Doc told Ray that he should come to Paul’s night.
“I knew [Ray] thought about coming, I can tell you that, because I talked to him personally,” Doc told the Boston Globe. “He didn’t know if he should. He didn’t know if it was the right time.”
If Doc told Ray this, then Ray had to know about the ceremony.
However, just focusing on why Ray left Boston, I hate to say it, but I believe him. Not only do I believe him, but I understand his point of view and I am sympathetic towards his position.
Ray explained that he left Boston because the organization was not valuing him. All of the other players were under contract except for him. He wanted to retire as a Celtic with Paul and KG, but he was the only player who was not signed yet. Once the other players were signed, the Celtics would only offer Ray less than what his position should earn.
If Ray didn’t feel valued by the Celtics, then that is on Doc Rivers and that is on Danny Ainge. Was Ray oversensitive and entitled? Probably. But what athlete isn’t? If you are working somewhere, and you don’t feel valued, why would you stay?
If you remember back to the 2011-2012 season, Avery Bradley was starting to emerge as the starting shooting guard on the team. Ray was coming off the bench and the focus was beginning to change.
Not only that but can you imagine dealing with Rondo’s nonsense on a day-to-day basis? Ray said that Rondo wouldn’t pass him the ball, which is entirely believable.
You add up all of those things, and I no longer blame Ray Allen anymore for leaving the Boston Celtics. Am I annoyed he went to the Heat and LeBron?
Absolutely.
However, the Celtics messed up the free agent situation with Allen, and if they really wanted to keep him in the first place, he probably would have stayed with Boston.
Allen does deserve some blame for his situation. He should have been at Paul’s retirement ceremony. I simply don’t believe him that he didn’t know about it. Seriously? In this age of social media and the internet, you didn’t know it was that day.
Come on Ray. That is hard to believe. But besides the ceremony, it looks like the Celtics were more in the wrong than Ray Allen was.
Celtics fans still have a right to be annoyed with Allen for joining LeBron. However, it is time to forgive and forget and appreciate what he did for Boston.
He helped give the Celtics its first championship since 1986. That 2008 team was a special group and he should be remembered as an integral part of the big three and not a traitor.