So Ray Allen has played, what, 16 years in the NBA - five with the Celts,- and he's had a platinum rep all along, never any talk of him being a locker-room cancer, and this is your conclusion, that he was "obviously a locker room problem"? Based on what?
Assuming all of the reports going around are correct...
1. Ray Allen had an issue getting along with Rondo that nobody else on the team seemed to have.
2. Bass was our 6th man last season, giving us 12-14 points off the bench every night, and we were great when we were getting that. When Oneal went down we had to start Bass, and since that day we had
no consistent scoring whatsoever. Boston really needed Ray's scoring to to give them some kind of presense off the bench, but he seemed to take offense to this and see it as undervaluing his abilities.
There are other guys in the league like Ginobilli, Terry and Harden who are more then good enough to be starters in this league, but they come off the bench because they know it's what's best for their team - the understand they are still just as valuable to their team, they are just contributing in a different way.
Ray could have looked at his situation in that same positive light and realised that he was still just as valuable to his team, but it seems he was too proud to see it that way.
your sipping some good wine
absolutely dominant?
Obviously it may not be the most technically correct use of the terms, but pretty much.
Boston have always struggled with bench scoring. This past season that was supposed to be rectified by adding Jeff Green and Brandon Bass, but Green never played a game and Bass got moved to the starting 5 when Oneal got injured. When Ray was coming off the bench it filled a LOT of that gap. The Celtics where much more dangerous - they put constant pressure on opposing defenses rather then giving them a break everytime the starters sat down.
But Ray allegedly didn't exactly accept the role with open arms.
As I said don't get me wrong - I still love Ray Allen as a player and I still think he's a good guy, but I just don't think his presence in the locker room was necessarilly doing them any favours.