Has there ever been a player like Tony Allen?

He is easily the most inconsistent player in recent Celtics history. No player (in my recollection) encounters swings of extremes like T.A. It only takes a week for T. Allen to go from "valued asset" to "15th man/doesn't belong in NBA." Even this season, people didn't see the point of having Tony on our roster unless his contact would later be inserted in a trade for a bigger named player.

This inconsistency mind you, dates back to his rookie year, when he surprised Celtic-nation with how athletic he was and how effective he was at defending the opponent's best player. And with good comes the bad, because when you least needed careless turnovers, poor shooting, and boneheaded plays, TA would find himself at the wrong place in the wrong time (on and off the court).

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Despite various injuries over the years, he's enjoyed peaks of play (notably the '06-'07 season after Pierce went down with the foot injury) where he demonstrated terrific potential. He looked to be a future all star to some, perhaps a "mini Ron Artest." But the comparisons quickly stopped after he returned from his torn ACL injury and (despite a few good games, like the road game during '07-'08 season in LA where they beat the Lakers) played less than desirably.

Essentially. When you feel like you've had it up to here with TA, he finds a way to change your mind. And he's done this at least 3 or 4 times, maybe more. I just wonder, has there ever been a player in our team's history whom fans were perpetually ready to give up on, only to correct themselves days later due to sporadic play? We've had cases like Vin Baker, who showed promise one night and made us depressed the next, but Baker didn't spend much time here. Tony's remarkably been one of the longest tenured Celtics, after Pierce and Perkins. What was Greg Kite like? LOL