Food for Thought: Ray Allen

[Michael Anthony]

Mr. Shuttlesworth has recieved a lot of love lately from local and national media outlets for his "resurgence". Ray Allen is back. Allen is finaly healthy. His cankles are not slowing him down....

Personally, I hope they are right. He is playing excellent basketball right now, and subjectively looks like he is moving with less effort than last year.

One number caught my eye - Ray is shooting .500 from the field - .053 better than his career average - at the age of 33. Most of his other numbers are pretty similar year over year.

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

[celticmaestro]

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

I read somewhere that his improved shooting is as a result of being able to use his legs more in his jump shot due to having good ankles. Last year he used his arms a lot and didn't use his wrist much the way he is now and used to.

Without healthy ankles, Allen did not get up as high on his jump shot and used a lot of arm strength instead of his trademark flick of the wrist on his release, and a lot of shots ended up hitting front rim.

Link.

Edit - Quote and link.

[christuffa]

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

I read somewhere that his improved shooting is as a result of being able to use his legs more in his jump shot due to having good ankles. Last year he used his arms a lot and didn't use his wrist much the way he is now and used to.

Without healthy ankles, Allen did not get up as high on his jump shot and used a lot of arm strength instead of his trademark flick of the wrist on his release, and a lot of shots ended up hitting front rim.

Link.

Edit - Quote and link.

He actually shot right on his career average last year (0.445 for 07/08 and 0.447 career) even with bad ankles. He is currently shooting a better season than he ever has (surpassing 00/01 FG by 2%).

I think it has a lot to do with his health (ankles, fitness) but also a lot to do with the team and his shot selection. They are running a lot more plays focused on Ray this season, and it is really paying off for him and the C's.

EDIT: What I love to see is:
Ray Allen, Rank 1 (Guards) FG% over last 10 games @ 57.1%, 49.3% 3FG and 21.3PPG
Ranked 8th in league, with only 2 forwards and 5 centers ahead of him.

[dark_lord]

Mr. Shuttlesworth has recieved a lot of love lately from local and national media outlets for his "resurgence". Ray Allen is back. Allen is finaly healthy. His cankles are not slowing him down....

Personally, I hope they are right. He is playing excellent basketball right now, and subjectively looks like he is moving with less effort than last year.

One number caught my eye - Ray is shooting .500 from the field - .053 better than his career average - at the age of 33. Most of his other numbers are pretty similar year over year.

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

there are a few reasons:

1.  he is healthy
2.  his sons diabetes appears under control and he can mentally focus on ball
3.  rondos play is making it easy for ray to get good looks

[TrueGreen]

Mr. Shuttlesworth has recieved a lot of love lately from local and national media outlets for his "resurgence". Ray Allen is back. Allen is finaly healthy. His cankles are not slowing him down....

Personally, I hope they are right. He is playing excellent basketball right now, and subjectively looks like he is moving with less effort than last year.

One number caught my eye - Ray is shooting .500 from the field - .053 better than his career average - at the age of 33. Most of his other numbers are pretty similar year over year.

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

there are a few reasons:

1.  he is healthy
2.  his sons diabetes appears under control and he can mentally focus on ball
3.  rondos play is making it easy for ray to get good looks

First of all I think Ray is a great player and surprises us because he's so much better than we all thought when he came here. I only saw him twice a year till then. Also, he's had a year with this team. Last year so much was new and different it's amazing they did as well as they did. This year Ray's part on the team has been worked out and is better defined.

As to being able to focus better mentally because of his son's improved condition---I don't think this has anything to do with his better play. That incident didn't happen till after game 4 of the finals last year. What is amazing is how well he was able to play after that incident occurred. They thought they were going to lose their son. He hardly slept for several days. He played great in game 5 in LA. After that game he got back to Boston early in the morning before game six and instead of going home, they took their son to Children's Hospital. Then he was amazing in Game 6, even after his eye was hurt and he had to leave the game for awhile (no foul called). I don't think anything can keep Ray from focusing for 48 minutes regardless of what is going on in his life. This makes him even more amazing to me.

To me, Ray Allen has been the prototypical Celtic his entire career. He only just put the uniform on last year.

[Chris]

Mr. Shuttlesworth has recieved a lot of love lately from local and national media outlets for his "resurgence". Ray Allen is back. Allen is finaly healthy. His cankles are not slowing him down....

Personally, I hope they are right. He is playing excellent basketball right now, and subjectively looks like he is moving with less effort than last year.

One number caught my eye - Ray is shooting .500 from the field - .053 better than his career average - at the age of 33. Most of his other numbers are pretty similar year over year.

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

I expect that if Allen stays healthy, he will have the best shooting percentage of his career.  Last year he was hurt, and not comfortable in the system, but this year he looks completely different.  Combine that with the fact that he is seeing more open shots the last two years than in the rest of his career combined, and you have a recipe for success.

[LarBrd33]

health is probably a big part of it, but Ray was extremely streaky last year.  He had months where he was pretty bad and months where he was pretty awesome.  The inconsistency carried over into the playoffs.   We'll see if he can sustain this great play or if he's just in the middle of a hot streak.

[crownsy]

health is probably a big part of it, but Ray was extremely streaky last year.  He had months where he was pretty bad and months where he was pretty awesome.  The inconsistency carried over into the playoffs.   We'll see if he can sustain this great play or if he's just in the middle of a hot streak.

the thing that makes me lean towards the former (though he has to cool off at some point, he's bonkers right now) is that his jumpshot really is more fluid now, seems more effortless, and he is back to the wrist flip i remeber from seattle. last year it really did look like he had to pu talot of "omph" into the deep ball.

A lack of confidance in his ankles durablity would also explain why he was less aggresive off the dribble into the paint last year.

[housecall]

According to D.Ainge yesterday on the Big Show when asked about Ray's resurgence,"he never lost it,Ray had a good year,just not a super year,remember in the playoffs halfway through it Ray came alive and played well.There were a lot of people saying to me that the MVP(playoffs) could have gone to Ray as well".

[ScoobyDoo]

I think he's healthy, he's had a year and the starting five is playing better ball together, making everyone's job better.

last year I was scratching my head all year going this guy is one of the best shooters of all time and the way he was shooting I was suprised when "he made one". It didn't add up.

This year is how I always perceived Ray allen...a deadly, deadly shooter and you're suprised when "he misses one".

Hope for good health all around and we are good to go again I beleive. Cleveland is the biggest challenge...and it is a big one.   

[papa shuttlesworth]

One thing that is nice to see this year is Ray Allen shooting a "heat check" three.  A few times over the past 5 or so games, he has launched a three in transition or early in the shot clock that he never would have taken last year.  I'm glad his confidence is back, not only in his shot, but in his role as a all-star, not a role playing spot up shooter.

[Hoops]

I think it's entirely possible that his shooting has improved this year BECAUSE of his ankles last year. He was already a phenomenal shooter during his career. But given what we know now about his adjustment to playing on bad ankles, I'm certain that he learned a lot about his shooting mechanics and how to improve them to adjust last year. Now this year he's benefiting from that experience.

It reminds me of when I was in high school and I tore up the tendons/ligaments in one of my fingers on my shooting hand pretty bad during a game. I had to sit for like 4-6 weeks to let it heal. In the meantime, since I still had to attend practice, I would practice shooting with my left hand on one of the side hoops while the team was scrimmaging or whatever. Not only did I become a pretty decent left handed shooter, but all that work focusing on the shooting mechanics with my left hand reinforced good shooting mechanics with my right hand when my finger healed. To this day, when I sense that my shooting mechanics are sloppy (I only play like once a week anymore), I practice shooting with my left hand for a few minutes to force me to think about proper mechanics. It always helps.

[dark_lord]

Mr. Shuttlesworth has recieved a lot of love lately from local and national media outlets for his "resurgence". Ray Allen is back. Allen is finaly healthy. His cankles are not slowing him down....

Personally, I hope they are right. He is playing excellent basketball right now, and subjectively looks like he is moving with less effort than last year.

One number caught my eye - Ray is shooting .500 from the field - .053 better than his career average - at the age of 33. Most of his other numbers are pretty similar year over year.

Are you expecting a regression to the mean, or do you think the improved shooting is a result of improved shot mix (vs. career average) and good health?

there are a few reasons:

1.  he is healthy
2.  his sons diabetes appears under control and he can mentally focus on ball
3.  rondos play is making it easy for ray to get good looks

First of all I think Ray is a great player and surprises us because he's so much better than we all thought when he came here. I only saw him twice a year till then. Also, he's had a year with this team. Last year so much was new and different it's amazing they did as well as they did. This year Ray's part on the team has been worked out and is better defined.

As to being able to focus better mentally because of his son's improved condition---I don't think this has anything to do with his better play. That incident didn't happen till after game 4 of the finals last year. What is amazing is how well he was able to play after that incident occurred. They thought they were going to lose their son. He hardly slept for several days. He played great in game 5 in LA. After that game he got back to Boston early in the morning before game six and instead of going home, they took their son to Children's Hospital. Then he was amazing in Game 6, even after his eye was hurt and he had to leave the game for awhile (no foul called). I don't think anything can keep Ray from focusing for 48 minutes regardless of what is going on in his life. This makes him even more amazing to me.

To me, Ray Allen has been the prototypical Celtic his entire career. He only just put the uniform on last year.

i failed to mention that on top of his sons health issues, he had all that drama involving his mother and step father that was publicized thru the media.  it involved ernest garlington and conspiracy to commit murder.  a combination of that drama and his sons health, had to have an impact mentally on his playing.