The Untold Reason Ray Allen Left the Celtics
The Celtics 2008 Championship roster might be my favorite roster of all time, and what I personally believe is one of the best rosters of all time. Paul Pierce is debatably a top 10 Small Forward, Kevin Garnett is without a doubt a top 5 Power Forward and Rajon Rondo in his prime was an above average playmaker and solid defender. Add to this already stacked roster a player who is (at the time) regarded as the best shooter of all time in Ray Allen and you have a team destined to win at least one NBA Championship; that they did, beating the Lakers in 2008. After a team wins a Championship, they hold this special bond which is very hard to break, unfortunately, this wasn’t the case with the 2008 Celtics. The Celtics didn’t win again after 2008, only making it to the finals one time after in 2010, and losing to the Lakers in 7 this time. In 2012, the Celtics lost in the conference finals to the Heat, and that upcoming offseason, Ray Allen signed with the Miami Heat. Most people who don’t know the full story accuse Ray Allen of being “A Ring Chaser” or “Unloyal to the team”. Ever since this move, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo have not talked to Ray Allen, and have even planned a vacation for 2008 championship team, and didn’t invite him. Ray Allen did actually leave the Celtics for a reason that you really can’t blame him for, and in this article I’m going to tell you why.
While it may seem that Ray Allen left just because they lost to the Heat in 2012, this actually had much deeper roots. Ray Allen of course took the least amount of shots of the big three, and that was ok with him and they ended up winning the championship in 2008 so I bet Ray felt that it was worth it. But things only went down from there, In 2009 the Celtics offered Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo for Amar’e Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa. This deal was proposed mainly because the Celtics didn’t make the Finals that year with Garnett going out with a knee injury, and as any team would the Celtics looked to position themselves to compete better. Ray Allen called up Rondo and told him “Hey they’re supposedly trading us to Phoenix because you and Danny and Doc don’t get along…..So, whatever you can do, do it” Rajon took offense to this and before you know it Rondo and Ray have beef now. Ray Allen, when asked, said he didn’t feel like he said anything wrong, he just felt like he was giving Rondo a heads up. That same season Ray Allen was almost traded again, this time it was Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Rodney Stuckey, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Keep in mind that this is Rays second season playing for the Celtics and he’s already been trade bait twice; also keep in mind Ray Allen had also took a big cut in his amount of shots in an effort to help the Celtics win. The Celtics somehow pushed their way into the Finals in 2010 and as I said earlier barely lost to the Lakers in 7 games. 2011 rolls around and Ray is dealing with serious ankle injuries which caused him to miss 20 games, and Avery Bradley begins to take over his role. Ray Allen got really frustrated with this because he felt like he had just become a decoy on offense and that he already taken a big cut when he first joined. The final blow that really pushed Ray to the breaking point was the fact that he was almost traded to the Grizzlies for O.J. Mayo. The thing is, this trade was 99% done before it fell apart; Doc Rivers called Ray told him he was traded and Ray called Ainge and told him how frustrated he was. Of course, as I said earlier, the deal fell through and Ray stayed a Celtic. Ray was clearly frustrated with the fact that he’s now been nearly traded 3 times. The Celtics eventually lost in the Conference Finals to the Heat in 7, and then the offseason came around and the was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Ray was just about to come. Ray was talking to Miami and Boston, and as Ray Allen said himself, it felt like the Celtics were trying to push him out of Boston; They offered a contract he didn’t like, as well as telling that they were going to put him on the bench, reduce his role, and reduce his minutes. On the other hand, Miami told him how they were going to use him in the offense and how he would be a very important piece off the bench, and Miami did offer him less money, but that’s because they had to because they were already paying LeBron, Bosh and Wade near max deals. Ray Allen of course joined the Miami Heat that summer and pulled a move very similar to the one Durant did this offseason. Ray didn’t actually get as much heat as Durant because he was way older and wasn’t as big of piece to that team as Durant was to the Warriors. It was clear that Ray loved the city of Boston and was loyal to them, but the Celtics weren’t loyal to him; they tried to trade him three times and were constantly reducing his role. After hearing all this, what he did doesn’t seem so bad. The one mistake Ray really made was not calling Pierce and KG to tell them about it; Ray ignored their calls and texts, he just left them without saying a word and they haven’t talked since.
At this point, it doesn’t seem like the relationship between Ray and the Celtics will ever be repaired. Both sides could have handled this entire situation much better, the Celtics could have better respected a player who already gave up so much to play for them; and Ray could’ve been more respectful to Pierce and KG, who never turned their back on him and he could’ve at least called or texted them.
Thank You
