Ray Ray getting no love?

[RAcker]

Ray Ray will make the All-Star team this year without having to be a last minute replacement.  I cannot be happier to have him.  I'll leave it at that.

[TrueGreen]

Not only is Ray a great player, he's a great human being. I think he goes unnoticed because of his quiet demeanor on and off the court. Off the court he is very introspective when doing interviews. He doesn't have the craziness of a KG. On the court his game is so smooth that it can go unnoticed. People who know basketball and people who love the Celtics know that Ray Allen is present and accounted for. You can also make a bit of a case that Paul Pierce is going unnoticed. Even Perk is getting more print because people are beginning to understand what he means to this team. KG is a great advocate for Perk.

[silvershamrocker]

31 points in 26 minutes. 

[Birdbrain]

Ray is my favorite of the Big 3. I've said it before, but for some years for whatever reason I always felt it was specifically Ray Allen the player that we needed in Paul Pierce's side in order to win a championship. The results speak for themselves. When we signed Ray Allen, it was a sign from God, or whomever, for me that *this* was going to be the year where we go all the way.

Good call.  I always envisioned a great low post player with Pierce being very successful.  Somehow Danny got them both.  I had Ray with a big >>> this season and he is not disappointing me.  I even luckily got Rondo and Allen on my fantasy team which is all the better.  I just hope fans really enjoy it.  84-18 since the beginning of last season.

[bucknersrevenge]

I love Ray, and I agree with the sentiment of the original poster:  it seems that Ray is the least popular member of the starting lineup, for whatever reason, and many on the site don't sing his praises to the same extent that they do for others.  For that reason, Ray has become one of my "binkies" on the team.

I really hope the team can find a way to keep him.  I know his expiring contract is the biggest "chip" the team has to improve in the near future, but I'd love to see Ray end his career (and break Reggie Miller's all-time three point record) while in green.

Agreed and Ray stays in phenomenal shape with his almost "OCD-esque" conditioning and practicing routines. There is no doubt in my mind that Ray can be an effective player on this team for another 3 years after this one.

[drza44]

I love Ray, and I agree with the sentiment of the original poster:  it seems that Ray is the least popular member of the starting lineup, for whatever reason, and many on the site don't sing his praises to the same extent that they do for others.  For that reason, Ray has become one of my "binkies" on the team.

I agree with this.  Before last season, I thought of Ray and Pierce on the same level, and I couldn't have said for sure which was better.  I was surprised with how much of a distant third option Ray was, and I chalked it up to age deterioration.

But it's become increasingly clear that it really was the ankles that were bothering him, and that Ray is just now showing who he really is.  Actually, to me, the most under-reported aspect in all this isn't necessarily that Ray isn't getting individual love...it's that nobody is really pointing out how ridiculous that potentially makes this Cs team.

Think about it: when the Cs went 7 games with the Cavs, Ray was outproduced by Wally Szcerbiak.  Everyone is pointing out that the Lakers lacked Andrew Bynum last year, so they are much improved this year.  I say that going from hurt Ray to "real" Ray, and going from "Redshirt freshman" Rondo to "Magical 3rd year" Rondo are just as big of gains as adding Bynum and Ariza.

[Casperian]

Ray Allen has always been my favorite non-celtic, since the first time I saw him play. There is nothing not to love about his game, imo. I think he´s at least the second best SG of this decade, and I wished to see him in green 10 years ago.

I love you, Ray.

What about Rondo?

The whole team is pretty flippin lovable right now.

I love you, Rajon.
Good enough? 

There's plenty of love for everyone 

Seriously, what's not to love?

http://newengland.comcastsportsnet.com/wickedgoodsports/celtics/nitpicking-101-how-to-properly-criticize-a-team-with-a-record-of-17-2/

[kw10]

I love Ray Allen! better? lol

[thecaptain34]

I find it funny how people say Ray was garbage last year...um then is Pierce garbage this year? I mean, hes shooting below 40%... Ray Allen was good last year minus the first 2 rounds of the playoffs



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[Redz]

I find it funny how people say Ray was garbage last year...um then is Pierce garbage this year? I mean, hes shooting below 40%... Ray Allen was good last year minus the first 2 rounds of the playoffs

It's not so much that he was "awful" as much as he wasn't great -like he had been for the rest of his career.  That goes beyond the stats.  We've already seen more "oohs" and "ahhs" from Ray's play this year than we did all of last year.

[Birdbrain]

I find it funny how people say Ray was garbage last year...um then is Pierce garbage this year? I mean, hes shooting below 40%... Ray Allen was good last year minus the first 2 rounds of the playoffs

They have completely different styles and if Ray isn't shooting very well he becomes more of liability then if Pierce isn't shooting very well because of Paul's superior floor game.  Ray's always been a much better jump shooter than Pierce and they had pretty similar numbers last year so in that respect I at least felt that Ray didn't play up to his capabilities.  Be it because of injuries or just lack of cohesion it didn't seem like the Ray Allen that I've seen for so many years.  Doesn't Ray just look more comfortable on the court this year?  I mean he's already came out and said he wasn't 100% for most of the season last year.

[ManUp]

I find it funny how people say Ray was garbage last year...um then is Pierce garbage this year? I mean, hes shooting below 40%... Ray Allen was good last year minus the first 2 rounds of the playoffs



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Highlights don't mean Jack. I remember that Pistons game, and I remember Ray not showing up until really late in the 4th when it was too late. Certain players should be held to higher standards, and Ray wasn't playing like an all-star. He was living off his rep for the majority of last year. Ray's play had hit some really new lows. It got to the point where I didn't expect him to hit wide open jumpers last season.

Pierce has been taking bad shots, and too many 3's. He's had some really bad first halfs followed by great second ones. He's still rebounding, getting to line, and forcing teams to react to him. You can't say that about Ray last year, because he was just missing. Ray wasn't rebounding, and he wasn't make defenses react to him, therefore his impact was all in his scoring, offensively.

[papa shuttlesworth]

I agree with the post above that when not scoring, Ray didn't add much last year in terms of stats.  But he always impacted the game with his spacing.  Even if he wasn't hitting anything, teams always had to pay attention to him, freeing up everyone else.  When TA started in his place, opposing teams (like the Bobcats) just packed the lane and made everything so much more work.

I thought much of Ray's decline last year was just due to Doc's system reducing him to a 3 point shooter (which I hated).  But it looks more and more like it was a physical thing.  Seeing him return to form this year has been fun.

[Toine43]

I agree with the post above that when not scoring, Ray didn't add much last year in terms of stats.  But he always impacted the game with his spacing.  Even if he wasn't hitting anything, teams always had to pay attention to him, freeing up everyone else.  When TA started in his place, opposing teams (like the Bobcats) just packed the lane and made everything so much more work.

I thought much of Ray's decline last year was just due to Doc's system reducing him to a 3 point shooter (which I hated).  But it looks more and more like it was a physical thing.  Seeing him return to form this year has been fun.

I think this post has got it right. ManUp is correct in saying that Ray doesn't have as many dimensions to his game as Pierce does, and that when Ray's not shooting it well he's going to be limited on offense. However, ManUp forgot to mention that Ray deserves a lot of credit for his performance last year because of his defense. He's not the most talented, but as Pierce did, Ray definitely upped the effort on d from his previous playing years. I remember hearing the announcers point out (as well as seeing myself) last year that Ray was impacting the game despite his poor shooting. Also, I think the point about Ray being more than just a 3-point shooter is true. He has an excellent midrange game, which Ray seems to be going to more this year.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Ray is very quietly leading the league among SGs in FG%. Rondo is #2 among PGs at the moment himself.