Ray Allen says Celtics forced move to Heat in confusing interview
Ray Allen wants you to know that he's thrilled to be on the Miami Heat. He also wants you to know that the Boston Celtics forced his hand in leaving.
That doesn't make sense? In this rivalry, few things do.
In an interview with South Florida radio station WMEN, Allen discussed leaving the Celtics. Here's the key part of the interview, via Sports Radio Interviews (bold is ours):
Well it was just really a shame because on one hand you could say so many great things about me as a player and my impact on the floor, and not only on the floor but off the floor, like we did so many great things in the community — not only as a team, but as individuals — and that was my community and I support it as much as I could. We had some foundation initiatives that we still continue to do, so that doesn't change me. It was a business decision and the team put me in the position where we had to move. We had to go. Miami was a better choice for us based on what the team was doing, so it wasn't, don't boo me, boo the team in a sense. Now it's out of my control. … When this contract situation came down, everybody in my circle — mom, family, brother, sister, friends from college, people who watched me since I was in high school and since I was in college — nobody wanted me to resign in that situation because they thought, 'There [is] so much left in you and this team isn't taking care of you or treating you right.' That's the way I felt and it was like, if you are going to come and not put out a good contract on the table then, hey, we gotta think about going somewhere else.
OK, here's what makes sense: Allen had been reduced to a reserve role late last season until Avery Bradley was injured early in the playoffs. Allen averaged 14.2 points a game in the regular season despite playing injured. The Celtics were bringing back Bradley and added Jason Terry to play shooting guard, and Allen was worried he might lose minutes.
All that makes sense.
But the Celtics reportedly offered Allen a two-year, $12 million contract. He ended up taking a three-year, $9 million deal from the Heat, who have Dwyane Wade playing shooting guard and a bunch of other marksmen to choose from.
You do the math.
(H/T CelticsBlog)