I would still like to see someone provide me with stats backing up Ainge's claims that Tony Allen was efficient as a point guard. However, the little research I did was somewhat inconclusive. Here's the best I came up with (so far):
When did Tony play point guard? My foggy recollection seems to point to the end of the 2005-2006 season. And sure enough, I found an archive game story that mentioned Tony Allen filling in as the only backup point guard when Orien Greene was suspended for speeding. The game was on March 29, 2006 against the New York Knicks.
Here are the stats from that game.
Allen got one assist to go with 4 turnovers and 14 points in 22 minutes. We did win the game 123 - 98, but it was Delonte that had the better statistical game (with 6 ast., 4 TOs, and 21 pts. in 39 min).
However, I don't think Ainge was talking about just one game. He made it sound like there was a stretch of games where he filled in at the point. If we give him the benefit of the doubt and say that stretch was April of 2006, then you could make the case that Allen had some of his best stats over that period.
Here are the game logs from that period.
Playing over 29 minutes a game, he averaged 14.1 points, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals, and only 2.4 turnovers. He even recorded a 7 assist night against the Raptors. Of course the team went 4-7 over that stretch, but I don't have the numbers that tell me how "efficient" they were.
So did he play well over that timeframe? Yes. Did he play efficiently? I don't know. Did he play the point guard position well? I don't remember him looking very comfortable out there. Is he a viable backup point guard option? Who knows? Who knows if he will even be able to play at full speed this year?
Sorry to keep hammering home this point. I just want to see these numbers that Ainge is quoting.
Update: Some nice research done here.