Celtics Officially Re-Sign Ray Allen
by Jimmy Toscano on Jul 13, 2010 5:16 PM EDT
40 comments
From the Boston Celtics:
BOSTON, MA - The Boston Celtics announced today that they have re-signed guard Ray Allen. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Re-signing Ray has been a priority of ours this offseason and this move will allow us to stay at a championship level," said Danny Ainge, Celtics President of Basketball Operations.
..."I am ecstatic to be back in Boston," said Allen. "I cannot wait to get onto the court and get back to work with the rest of the team in pursuit of Banner 18."
Allen is currently ranked second all-time in three pointers made and attempted in NBA history. He also is currently ranked 28th in NBA history in total points scored with 20,965.
"Ray Allen represents class and excellence both on and off the court. We are thrilled he will help lead the team's quest for Banner 18," said Steve Pagiluca, Celtics Co-Owner.
The deal is reported to be for $20 million dollars over two years with the second year being a player option. You have to assume that Allen took a hometown discount to stay here, as there are definitely teams out there willing to give him a third year.
Allen has said throughout the course of his time as a member of the Celtics that he wanted to stay in Boston and retire here. His maturity and professionalism over his successful career is truly something that you really don't see a whole lot of in sports anymore. Not only is Allen still a great player in this league, he is a great role model for younger players who might take what they have for granted- and there are many out there.
You can't deny Allen's work ethic- the man shows up three hours before every game and takes his pregame shots from all over the court. His body, even at age 34 (35 on July 20th), is still in possibly the best shape of his life. He prides himself on being the best conditioned body on the court at all times, and that is something that you can expect to see until he retires (and maybe after that too- he plans on running the Boston Marathon after he retires).
Sure, he's up there in years, but jump shooters don't forget their stroke with age. Remember Reggie Miller? At age 38 Miller played 80 games and shot 40-percent from three-point territory. At age 39 Miller was still playing roughly 32 minutes a game, averaging about 15 points while reaching a career high in free throw percentage that year at 93-percent.
And Allen doesn't have to even touch the ball to help the Celtics win. The respect he gets from his jump shot opens up the court and enables players like Rajon Rondo to get to the basket. As good as Tony Allen was on defense, opponents cheated off him on the offensive end and had more success closing the gap in the paint when players like Paul Pierce or Rondo drove to the lane.
Jump-shooters like Ray Allen will have their good nights and their bad nights, and we've certainly seen both from Allen. The pros certainly outweigh the cons in this situation, and it will be great to have Allen back for the next two seasons.
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Didn’t I just bash you for spitting on ray ray in some other thread?
Yes, you did take a few harsh swipes at me.
But if you go back and reread my comments, you can see that I didn’t say anything about not valuing Ray Allen’s services, or not wanting him resigned. In fact, I went out of my way to sing his praises. But you seemed thrown by the fact that in terms of the love/hate thing, I noted where Ray Allen comes in for his fair share of criticism.
But don’t sweat it. We should all read with greater discernment.
Wonder if JO is backing off the deal.
Why would the Heat give up on JO? It costs about the same, if not less, to sign JO than Z. Is James already showing his influence by hand-picking the center?
by getthat18now on Jul 14, 2010 3:53 AM EDT up reply actions
keep those legs fresh Ray!
Make sure Danny gets you and Paul that off-the-bench wing defender to keep you guys fresh for offense. Banner 18 is there for the taking, get hot in the playoffs and history is yours.
glad to have you back, ray. and please doc, don’t over work the guy. part of his poor shooting in the finals was all the defensive work he had to do on wade, lebron, kobe, and the magic guy.
after rewatching a lot of the series again
(yeah, I’m a glutton for pain ….)
I’m thinking that the knee into his leg by Artest in Game 3 may have affected him more than we realized. From that point on, Ray’s shooting took a real dive and didn’t start to recover until the very waning moments of Game 7. No complaints from Camp Ray on this, but that looked like it had to have bruised his leg pretty bad.
I don’t really subscribe to the “playing defense takes away from your offense” theory. I’m thinking that more likely his shot was simply off, possibly because of a hurt leg.
I can't watch that series again
but I hate to admit it, Artest was a difference maker in that series, especially in the final game, we couldn’t stop his offense and he hurt us on defense. Seemed like every time the C’s got the ball in the back court, he was there hacking at the guy trying to outlet to Rondo with no one blocking him out. We needed an enforcer, someone to get in the way of Artest to take him off his game. Don’t know if we’ll find a big SG/SF to take on that role.
I agree that Artest had a big impact
but really, so did just about everybody. In a 7 game series where no single player has a dominant performance (No, Virginia, Kobe did NOT have an ‘MVP’ caliber performance) that carries a team, then just about everybody is a difference maker.
The real, true difference maker in the end was Perkins – his absence was THE biggest and most obvious ‘difference’ in those last 7 quarters. And not just his rebounding – almost more important was just the lack of his minutes in the rotation, leading to Sheed and KG getting so exhausted.
Two years...$20M...contract kicks in at age 35!
7/13/10 : Great Day for Celtic Haters!
How hard could it be....
To find someone born after the Gerald Ford administration, who could shoot better than .214% in Game 7 of the NBA Finals?
LOL
You’re funny! Gerald Ford administration…. :)
"You're about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse kicking contest." Rowan Atkinson
by The Village Idiot on Jul 13, 2010 10:30 PM EDT up reply actions
probably pretty hard
when this younger player you have your eye on has to be both better than Ray and willing to sign for virtually nothing for this to make sense. but keep trying, kid.
by Crushmaster on Jul 13, 2010 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions
you know what this means, Ray will be on fire next season
When he has doubts about his future, he goes on shooting droughts. After the trading deadline, he was on fire. I expect to see a secure and happy Ray light it up next season.
He will be on fire NEXT year?
Say, this is just me, but if you’re a player who can catch fire, wouldn’t you wanna be doing that in your contract year, and especially when you’re playing for the NBA championship? I just didn’t see this fire in Ray during game 7, and this was when he was auditioning for a new contract too.
I just hope he has something more left.
"You're about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse kicking contest." Rowan Atkinson
by The Village Idiot on Jul 13, 2010 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions
would you prefer
vet min SG? Like finley last year? or maybe re sign TA and let Ray ray go? Or use our mid lvl on some good shooting guard and wach teams kill us inside paint all year long (well until perk gets back)?
Even if it is not Ray we re talking here, there simple wasn’t too many options for us, if that was some middle range SG we would have to sign him none the less. And this is freaking RAY ALLEN we re talking about.. You know that HoFer that will become most succesfull 3pt shooter in the history of the league during this 2 yrs contract he signed.
He does not have to “prove” that he deserves new contract, but he do need clear head to focus just on his part.
Hope
Ray can play 45 minutes a game, same as PP and KG, cause they’ll have to with no bench what so ever!
Ray
I’ve been a Celtic fan a long time. Except for a prolonged period of, let’s say questionable ownership, the C’s have been known for the principles developed by Red Auerbach and Walter Brown. These principles are about family, loyalty and class and team.
Now these things don’t always win games or championships, but certain players deserve the name of Celtic, even if they are not on the team.
Ray Allen is certainly a Celtic in everyway and I’m glad he’s back. Fans should not let his age get in the way of us thinking he can’t play. Ray can play. KG can play. Age was not his downfall last year. It was recovering from knee surgery and a few injuries added on.
Hopefully KG can get his physical problems straightened out this summer. Leg injuries are tough because you can’t rehab immediately and you lose muscle strength and mass. Remember Larry after his double achilles tendon surgery. Despite his back problems he was never the same, but he was still a very effective player.
This Heat debacle has overcome us, but I remain a Celtic fan no matter what. Let’s see what happens when they toss up the ball.
"I don't come to play, I come to WIN"--Larry Bird
"Criminally Negligent Officiating"--Tommy Heinsohn
Just like Doc kept saying last year
“I like this team”!
3 Pointers?
How many more 3’s does Ray need to make to be #1 of all time? I’m guessing that is Reggie Miller’s record of 2560? Not sure though
116 to tie, 117 to beat
Reggie’s got 2,560 3 pointers made, Ray’s got 2,444,
simple math, Ray’s got to average about 1.43 3-pointers made per game for 82 games to beat Reggie and take the number one spot, he’ll do that in two years if not sooner.
We Lost The Rebound War in Game 7
Ray played good D on Kobe. We would have never made it to the finals without Ray Ray.C mon man!
by Rebound Machine on Jul 13, 2010 10:20 PM EDT reply actions
Which NBA games were you watching?
Saying we would have never made it to the finals without Ray is a bit of a stretch. What about the year before when we lost to Miami? We had Ray and still didn’t make it anywhere close to the finals. There needs to be balance in how we view these things. We need all of them to be healthy and play well. Problem was Ray as a shooter could shoot a lick when it was really critical in game 7. Yes, his D on Kobe was good, but that’s not what we depend on him for.
"You're about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse kicking contest." Rowan Atkinson
by The Village Idiot on Jul 13, 2010 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions
WE lost to miami last year?
Thanks for proving how much you know about this franchise.
I feel you brother.
Lets put it this way. We need home court advantage this year so our role players can go craaazy lol. Ron Artest did a number on us too. Any way, its gonna be real interesting this year. Yes I remember when we lost to Orlando in game 7 last year,it sucked, however we didnt have the Big Ticket.
by Rebound Machine on Jul 13, 2010 10:50 PM EDT reply actions
I LOVE RAY!!!!
Ray Allen is a CLASS ACT and his type are rare now-a-days – physically, mentally, and attitude-wise. His professionalism reminds me of Jordan’s and his game reminds me of Reggie’s, two of my favorite players growing up. Admired Ray since he played for UCONN. Love it that he loves Boston, and I’m glad and excited that he’s coming back to give the Celtics another shot at the title. I hope that he wins atleast one more w/ us! THANKS FOR YOUR LOYALTY RAY AND FOR COMING BACK TO THE CELTS!
When ever Ray takes a shot.. It looks like its going in. You gotta Luv it!
Now thats what I call having game.
by Rebound Machine on Jul 13, 2010 11:34 PM EDT reply actions
Good Job Ray!, We love you.
You are a true pro. Thank you for what you bring to this team. Now lets get # 18.
by Rebound Machine on Jul 14, 2010 12:12 AM EDT reply actions
Hate Ray Allen
He can go to hell. Actually he can go to Cleveland. Screw Ray…
Still reliable
Ray defines Celtic pride so well and you are right about great shooters: they never forget their stroke. Yeah, so he might have had a terrible Finals series when we needed him, but you can’t put all the blame on his shoulders. We got out rebounded and just flat out ran out of gas in the fourth. You can’t use Ray as a scapegoat for the whole team’s performance. I love Ray and I have confidence that he will still be a reliable piece to this franchise.
by Grand Theft Rondo on Jul 14, 2010 10:33 AM EDT reply actions
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