Saturday, July 07, 2012

07/07 (Ray Allen) Quickie

Now, I'm no Heat fan, and the idea of a still-very-potent Ray Allen on that team -- destroying everyone with that beautiful 3-point-shot and helping the Heat to another title or two -- is brutal.

That said: Allen not only had every right to make the jump to the Heat, but good for him for snubbing the Celtics.

*The Celtics tried to trade him mid-season. The "Let's pry the window open for one more run!" was more of a function of Derrick Rose's injury and the temporary stand-off with the Heat -- in other words, a combination of luck and reductive hindsight -- than Grand Design. The reality is that Danny Ainge was willing to blow it up in March -- with Allen the first to be thrown overboard. Let's not listen to Boston sports fans talking about loyalty or "team." There is no moral high-ground there.

*Allen and Rondo had a terrible relationship, and it was clear to Allen (and everyone else) that the Celtics are fully committed to enabling Rondo's insanity -- however genius it may be. Why should Allen deal with that?

*Allen wants to win a championship. The Heat puts him in the best position to win one. I'm never going to begrudge a free agent for going to a team to help them win a title.

*He took less money to do it. I'm never going to begrudge a free agent for taking less money to join a winning team. (For what it's worth, LeBron and Wade did the same thing in Miami.)

I'm a huge Ray Allen fan -- somewhere in a moving box is a UConn shooting shirt I bought during Allen's magnificent junior year of college. His one-on-one with Allen Iverson in the Big East Tournament final in 1996 remains an indelible memory. I love that his skills are ageless, and I love that he has put himself in a position not just to contribute to a champ, but to be a major part -- he'll have more open looks in Miami than he ever did in the Big Three era in Boston.

Good for Ray. Bad for the rest of the league, but good for Ray.

-- D.S.

No comments: