Ray Allen to the Heat

[Andrew]

Day old news, but worth its own thread.

Ray Allen leaving Celtics to join Heat

Ray Allen is leaving the Boston Celtics to sign with the Miami Heat, Heat owner Micky Arison said on his Twitter account.

"Its 2:30 a.m. in London and I was just woken up with great news. Welcome to the family #20!!" Arison tweted, a reference to Allen's No. 20 jersey.

Multiple league sources confirmed to Yahoo! Sports that Allen has committed to joining the Heat.

Aside from the Heat being the defending champions, the Celtics' previous attempts to trade him, his benching for Avery Bradley and a rift with Rajon Rondo have been cited as the main reasons he was looking to move on despite the offer of more money in Boston. It's understandable that Celtics fans would be miffed about him jumping ship to a rival team, sports fanaticism pretty much runs on an "us and them" type of mentality. However, one can certainly see Allen's point of view in the whole matter; the Celtics somewhat alienate him, bringing it upon themselves.

As Bill Simmons put it:

(Good fan tweet) Thx to Ray for 5 fun years. Celts nearly dealt him 2x, demoted him to 6th man, then signed Jet. They weren't loyal

(And then the Masshole side of me says...) Ray spent 5 minutes after Game 7 shamelessly sucking up to Miami's entire team. Glad it paid off.

The situation with Rondo is intriguing though. Is it just an isolated incident, a disagreement and falling out between two teammates? Or is this something they're going to have to deal with as they presumably look to build around him moving forward?

[RedPhazon8]

The idea of the rift between Rondo and him is interesting, but it's tough to see something like this happen. I like Ray Allen as a player and I thought he'd end his career in Boston...

[NovU]

I have a feeling that everyone would have still liked him if it was any other team than the Heat. Funny this is a treason to many.

[Nick]

Jesus. Let the dynasty begin.

[RedPhazon8]

I have a feeling that everyone would have still liked him if it was any other team than the Heat. Funny this is a treason to many.

The other way to look at it is he left to join a team that has proved it's better then Boston over the past two years in the playoffs. Since Miami is in the center of it though there's bound to be some sort of backlash, and there was.

[Andrew]

I have a feeling that everyone would have still liked him if it was any other team than the Heat. Funny this is a treason to many.

The other way to look at it is he left to join a team that has proved it's better then Boston over the past two years in the playoffs. Since Miami is in the center of it though there's bound to be some sort of backlash, and there was.

Aside from the general lingering resentment a lot of fans have towards the Heat to begin with, from the perspective of many Celtics fans he's going to a team that has become something of a bitter rival to Boston. Not only that, they're a rival that they just had a very hard fought Eastern Conference Finals against and came reasonably close to beating. It's overlooking the fact that the Celtics didn't show him a lot of loyalty in recent years but that's kind of the way sports fanaticism works.

[shadowgrin]

I have a feeling that everyone would have still liked him if it was any other team than the Heat. Funny this is a treason to many.

Not that hard to imagine why. Udonis Haslem signs with the Celtics.

[Spree#8]

I have a feeling that everyone would have still liked him if it was any other team than the Heat. Funny this is a treason to many.

I can think of another team the Celtics fans would never want to see any of their players sign with.

[Andrew]

I have to imagine that there'd be similar feelings towards any key Celtic that signed with the Knicks, Sixers or Lakers during the peaks of those rivalries.

Woj's take: Heat gave Ray Allen reason to again feel wanted

For all the past indignities – real or imagined – Rondo was the issue that hadn’t gone away, that would still be there come training camp. They don’t like each other, and it had become a bigger and bigger drag on Allen, sources said. Each had culpability for why things had gone awry, and yet each was better on the court because he had played with the other.

Maybe it is just a clash between those two specifically, but it makes you wonder if it's an issue that'll present itself again as the Celtics look to rebuild in the coming years.

[NovU]

Great read, andrew. Something I would never thought that'd be that complicated and serious.

He's always been most likable player to me out of Celtics' big four. Allen's gonna get long due utmost respect from Riley and Heat players. We don't have Rondo/KG personality that's leading the team, but a phony and fun-loving minded Lebron and true great winner/friend in Wade, that will make Allen feel right at home and conflict free. And he's not gonna get picked on by likes of KG/Rondo. Instead we have Chalmers here that everyone seems to love beat up on, in no foul intentional ways. Certainly different atmosphere from where he comes from. I am just happy to see him with the Heat for now regardless what he'll bring to the team.

[shadowgrin]

"When it comes to basketball, Rondo is the smartest player on the team – one of the smartest players in the league," one locker-room source said. "And Ray considers himself a smart guy. But at some point, it became hard for Ray to be corrected by a guy so much younger than him."

Why can't old people accept that at some point there will be someone younger and better than them?

[RedPhazon8]

To many outside sources speculating on why this happened, would be nice to hear it from Ray Allen himself (or even Rondo for that matter if he's the main reason) so people could understand/get over it better.

[air gordon]

Too bad you won't get an honest answer from either publicly. Maybe when kg retires he might elaborate on it. Sounds like Allen is acting like a diva. Should fit right in

[shadowgrin]

so people could understand/get over it better.

Why? Do we really need to? Isn't Ray Allen wanting to win another ring reason enough to not speculate why he signed with the Heat?
It's just Woj doing his pseudo-journalism thing when he needs to release a piece.

[RedPhazon8]

so people could understand/get over it better.

Why? Do we really need to? Isn't Ray Allen wanting to win another ring reason enough to not speculate why he signed with the Heat?
It's just Woj doing his pseudo-journalism thing when he needs to release a piece.

Personally I like hearing the truth about players I follow within sports, but I can't get everything I want so I guess I'll have to take it.

[shadowgrin]

Personally I like hearing the truth about players I follow within sports

I understand if such truth is related or affect their performance in the game (e.g. Emo Pau Gasol stinking up against the Mavs when his wife left him) but the personal relationship of one player to another, I disagree on that. As Woj's piece said, it didn't affect their game on the court. It's something that should be between Ray and Rajon and not for them sports 'journalist' to go TMZ on it.

[air gordon]

you have it the other way around. Pau Gasol has always stinked. he went emo.

[Sauru]

so people could understand/get over it better.

Why? Do we really need to? Isn't Ray Allen wanting to win another ring reason enough to not speculate why he signed with the Heat?
It's just Woj doing his pseudo-journalism thing when he needs to release a piece.

Personally I like hearing the truth about players I follow within sports, but I can't get everything I want so I guess I'll have to take it.

If you want truth about players then you might want to listen to anyone but the players. You think either allen or rondo is gonna come out and tell us all exactly what happened? Hell no. they would both spew some rehearsed garbage for everyone and many people would think it’s the truth even though its probably as far from the truth as you can get


Also lots of talk about no loyalty to allen. The Celtics tried to trade rondo twice and I am sure it will to make players in the locker room happy. However ainge finally realized that rondo is far more valuable than allen now and allen is the one that needed to go if anyone. Of the so called big 4 he was the bottom guy. Would I like him on my team? Sure would but not if it cost me rondo, garnett, or pierce. Also he would need to be happy playing behind Bradley which its clear he was not.


People being mad about him going to Miami is no surprise. When big names jump on an already stacked team just to try and nab a cheap and easy ring no one likes it. add to it that the team is a rival and it just makes things much worse. I remember when payton and Malone joined the lakers. I had liked both those players but the fact that they jumped on board just to try and get a easy ring made me no longer care for them. Then they of course lost and it was the greatest thing ever


I just hope allen stays healthy otherwise he is going to have to go through what mike miller has gone through. would hate to see all that happen to a guy like ray

[benji]

If you want truth about players then you might want to listen to anyone but the players. You think either allen or rondo is gonna come out and tell us all exactly what happened? Hell no. they would both spew some rehearsed garbage for everyone and many people would think it’s the truth even though its probably as far from the truth as you can get


Also lots of talk about no loyalty to allen. The Celtics tried to trade rondo twice and I am sure it will to make players in the locker room happy. However ainge finally realized that rondo is far more valuable than allen now and allen is the one that needed to go if anyone. Of the so called big 4 he was the bottom guy. Would I like him on my team? Sure would but not if it cost me rondo, garnett, or pierce. Also he would need to be happy playing behind Bradley which its clear he was not.


People being mad about him going to Miami is no surprise. When big names jump on an already stacked team just to try and nab a cheap and easy ring no one likes it. add to it that the team is a rival and it just makes things much worse. I remember when payton and Malone joined the lakers. I had liked both those players but the fact that they jumped on board just to try and get a easy ring made me no longer care for them. Then they of course lost and it was the greatest thing ever


I just hope allen stays healthy otherwise he is going to have to go through what mike miller has gone through. would hate to see all that happen to a guy like ray

[Sauru]

hey i much rather him go to miami than that other team.

over all i am not concerned about allen leaving i was more worried about howards landing in LA with nash and kobe

[shadowgrin]

howards landing in LA with nash and kobe

[NovU]

Would the fans in Celtics fans boo him when the Heat play there? I guess there'll be more boos but some fans I think will still appreciate his 5 years as a Celtic.

[Sauru]

i am pretty sure he will get lots of boo's but he shouldnt. he helped bring us a ring after so long without one. man deserves his respect

[RedPhazon8]

There might be, but Boston as a franchise has been way more successful then Cleveland since I've seen some articles call this "the decision 2.0". I don't think Boston fans would show that much disrespect, but you never know.

[Andrew]

Any article calling it that is grossly exaggerating the situation. If there's a situation right now where a player isn't handling their exit as gracefully as they could and twisting the knife in their soon-to-be former team, it's Dwight Howard in Orlando. As bad an idea as "The Decision" was, Howard's "Indecision" is arguably shaping up to be worse.