As we wind down this decade, I wanted to write a column on an athlete that was my personal favorite these past 10 years. There is one player in the NBA that I have enjoyed watching, really since he entered the league back in 1996 - his name is 'Walter' Ray Allen.
You must be saying to yourself....why?!? There is no flash, no fancy dunks, no tattoos, no exotic Sportscenter highlights. Well, there you have it...you probably just answered the question, why? For more than a decade, Ray Allen has represented the game of basketball and the NBA with style and class. It's no surprise that David Stern has more often than not used Ray Allen for the league's public service announcement spots on television. You won't find Ray Allen's name in the police blotter or on TMZ. You will find Ray Allen in Springfield, MA when he decides to retire.
For a guy who dabbled in Hollywood himself, with a starring role in He Got Game, he'll still tell you his favorite movie is Schindler's List. Back in 2008, before a game vs. the Washington Wizards, Ray Allen insisted some of his teammates join him on a field trip he has taken many times before...a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. He first did it when he was in Milwaukee when the Bucks' owner Herb Kohl was a donator to the Museum. After one of his trips, one of his friends, as they were walking out, said, 'Well, what about slavery?' To which Allen replied, 'That was slavery. This Museum is a lesson for all of us.'"
Without waxing too poetic about how "perfect" Ray Allen is off the court, let's talk about what the quiet superstar has achieved on the court. First some background: my interest in Ray Allen started when he was at UCONN. I was fascinated at this small-framed, 6-5 shooting guard who had a jump shot that was carved out from the heavens above. It was smooth and silky and perfect enough to land him BigEast Player of the Year and All American status. He landed in my hometown of Milwaukee in 1996 as a rookie and I knew then, this was going to be 'my guy.' While everyone else was claiming Jordan, Karl Malone, Pippen, or Iverson, I choose Ray.
This decade started off with a bang for Ray Allen. Aside from being part of Olympic Gold in the 2000 Games in Sydney, in the 2000-01 season, Ray Allen helped lead the Milwaukee Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals. Although the Bucks lost a heartbreaking Game 7, I was happy 'my guy' in the small market, finally had his chance to shine on center stage. Yet, midway through the 2002-03 season, something terrible happened to me. It's one of those painful moments in sports that many of us go through --- 'my guy' got traded. It was like a kick to stomach. I remember it happened during All-Star Weekend and to this day, I'll never understand why. Ray Allen was not just shipped out of town, but he was exiled to the Pacific Northwest, to the Seattle Supersonics. This meant I now had to stay up until 10:30pm (Eastern) to watch the smoothest jump shot in the league. No way would I be able to keep this up. They say time heals all wounds...and eventually I stopped staying up late watching Sonics games. It was too much effort and more frustrating than anything to see him playing for another team.
Flash forward to the final 'trimester' of this decade and Ray Allen was freed of the small market doldrums when he was traded to the storied Boston Celtic franchise in 2007. His time had come, his chance was now and Ray took advantage of this opportunity immediately. Surrounded with two future Hall of Famers (Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce), Ray Allen and the Boston Celtics achieved greatness by winning an NBA title in the 2007-08 season. How fitting that in the clinching Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Ray tied an NBA record with 7 three-pointers. Arguably the greatest 3-point shooter the game has seen, took center stage and let fans outside of Milwaukee and Seattle witness just how smooth he was and under appreciated he'd been for most of his career.
Ray Allen. He's a gold medalist, a 9-time all-star, and an NBA champion. Over the past decade, his game and his personality have been as consistent and stoic as his jump shot. You won't find too many kids on the playgrounds today or in the high school gyms trying to be "the next Ray Allen" but that's OK. He's been my guy and when youngsters today ask why, I'll probably just give a simple answer: Why not?
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