Tony Allen: Waive, Work or Keep for Insurance?

for the Tony Allen experiment to end. I was a believer many moons ago, but I just don’t think he can put it all together, and now with a stacked Boston team, I can’t imagine he’ll find a way to break through. I would like to see him packaged with other players at the deadline to bring in what ever it is we’re lacking. I think by that point teams will be more willing to take on expiring contracts as they will all have a better idea as to whether they will be pushing for the playoffs or a better spot in the draft lottery.

“You can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy.”
This, above, revised “old wisdom” pretty much sums up the attitude towards Allen. There was a locker room incident before game 7 of the playoffs that pretty much sealed Allen’s fate.
I know you were there, “T,” because I was standing next to you…. no? LOl
As much as the Celtics will hate to eat a contract, it may happen that way.
One option would be to keep him around for a few months and feed him some minutes to enhance his trade value, but I don’t see it happening.
Doc/Danny put a lot of faith in Allen (including letting Posey walk) and defended him for a couple of years, but I believe they will “cut bait.”

It would be kind of strange, considering he could be traded at the deadline with Scal for example. Unless there is someone else coming that needs his spot I think Danny will keep him in the roster.

btw, what happened before game 7 in the locker room?? I am very curious to know!! :)

Tony is garbage, but his expiring contract could be useful in a mid-season trade. And also can we really trust JR or Bill in an emergency situation? No. Until they show Doc something besides garbage minutes, We’ll have to keep Tony. Then try package him with Scal for a mid-season trade. He is getting paid either way, so keep him.

Obviously, the first choice is to trade him. Before I waived him, I’d probably send him to a team under the cap (or with a trade exception), along with cash to pay his salary and a little extra.

If we waive him, we’re on the hook for a $5 million pay out ($2.5 million salary, $2.5 luxury tax). If we trade him, we’d only be paying whatever cash we sent (I’d say around $3 million or so.)

This is where I disagree with a lot of people. I believe Danny thought Posey would sign with the Cs. If Posey signs, than TA would never have been brought back. For me, TA was the default replacement for Posey. At that point then the propaganda machine went into effect. But after last season, if Posey would have resigned then the TA experiment would have been over.

I actually thought he could be integrated into the rotation. I thought Gabe, Eddie, and TA worked pretty well together (though Doc rarely used that lineup with the exception of preseason). But having Daniels, Eddie, and TA on the floor at the same time would require that Sheed and BBD be the outside shooters. I know Doc likes to spread the floor, but for me having Daniels and TA on the court at the same time is fruitless.

So to answer the question, I hate the thought of waiving players. If there’s no trade out there, I’d keep him on the bench for insurance, at least until either JR and/or Walker prove they’re better.

He is going to be a nice chip along with Scali. They should hold onto it unless they use him in a good trade now.

then they are definitely ready to cut bait on TA but that’s a lot more money to throw away so I’m guessing if they can’t package him now they’ll keep him as bench insurance and trade him at the deadline. If they dump him I’d think it would be then, not now.

Worse than worthless, actually, his value is negative. He hurts the team every time he’s on the floor, and I hope I never see him play another minute for the Celtics. I would rather have Walker or Giddens out there, because at least they are still learning and have potential. I would rather see the Celtics put 4 players on the floor than put Tony out there.

That being said, Tony shouldn’t be waived, because his expiring contract is valuable. He should be traded at the deadline, along with Scal and possibly Walker or Giddens, for someone like Posey or Nocioni. It doesn’t make sense to waive him now, although it would have made sense a couple years ago.

Ideally Tony Allen would just stay home and not even show up at practices or games this season, and we can forget all about him until the trade deadline comes along and we learn that he’s been traded for someone who can actually play 10 seconds of basketball without making a retarded mistake and hurting the team.

Frankly I had forgotten that he had good games this season, as I constantly see T.A as a terrible player since I saw him damage us in the playoffs against Chicago.

I’m in the “keep him while hoping you can trade him to acquire a good player before the trade deadline” camp, and I hope that his value rises when a team desperate for cap relief trades a good player to us for T.A expiring contract.

…except no team wants him.

they dont need a player that needs armed security every where he goes he is trouble and everybody thinks powe;s knees were jello his knees are just as bad as leons he is just a garbage time player at best get rid of him soon.i rather have marbury then him….

you guys are crazy. Injuries notwithstanding (because they happen to everyone), TA is one of the league’s least-productive players, committing turnovers at an alarming rate. The only reason we should keep him is to use him in a midseason trade. Bill Walker should be given a real chance on this team as the third-string SF, and TA — if he’s not going to be part of a trade — should be giving his walking papers. At this point, I’d rather see us pay his 09-10 salary and get absolutely nothing in return than have him step on the court one more time as a Celtic.

but I really can’t see why anyone would still hold out hope for TA. Seriously. Yeah, he’s had flashes of something good, but that’s it. He’s been in the league too long for any fan to be content with mere “flashes.” He played little in the playoffs, but when he did it was ugly. And if Tony Allen is an above-average NBA player, that’s an insult to all the other above-average NBA players. Come on, this guy has bricks for hands, turns the ball over way too much, and seems kinda dumb on the court, like he doesn’t know what to do.

I took another look at his numbers, from last year and for his career. On first look it appears that he’s a solid player — nearly 8 points a game last season, 7.4 for his career, 2 or 3 rebounds a game. But on closer look I saw that last season he averaged 1.4 assists … and 1.7 turnovers. I don’t expect a lot of assists from a SG/SF, but no way should anyone at that position average more TOs than assists. Furthermore, he shot 22.2% on 3s last season — as a shooting guard! And for his career he’s only a 30.2% shooter on 3s — not horrible … unless you’re a shooting guard. By comparison with some other bench-type shooting guards, Shannon Brown shot 37.8%, Anthony Parker 39%, Eddie House 44.4%, Kirk Hinrich 40.8%, Mickael Pietrus 35.9%, J.J. Redick 37.4%. If TA can’t do that — and he’s shown that he can’t (at least, not consistently), then he’s of no use, especially when you consider his assist-to-turnover ratio.

I always appreciate good writing!

 FWIW… I think TA would do well with more playing time as long as he stays healthy; however, he’s clearly not going to get it on this team. A trade to a team like OKC, as suggested by another poster, would be the ideal situation but what would we get in return? Roy’s suggestion of paying cash for TA’s contract would save the C’s money.

IMO TA’s real value is his expiring contract. If he’s able to contribute in the mean time, all the better. For the record, I was a TA supporter before he re-injured his knee on that silly dunk on a dead ball. The quote “all-star from the neck down” got a real laugh out of me, Title18. ;-)

As for TA’s off-the-court issues, they have gotten more press than they deserve. I don’t see them affecting anyone other than TA himself, with the exception of when the C’s play the Bulls.

and I can’t argue with raw numbers, so I won’t, though I’m surprised that those numbers are that good. At any rate, what it boils down to for me is that his presence on the court seems to so often carry with it a big black cloud. And maybe it just happens that he makes mistakes whenever I’m watching him, and I’m otherwise occupied during his good moments. But the amount of conversation about him on this site and others suggests that there is a lot of validity to the complaints about him. I just wish the entire TA saga was over, and that Doc and Danny would give Walker the green light this season.