Ray did a good job screwing the team over

[indeedproceed]

Was KG's really 10 mil? Jeez I thought it was a lot less.

[tonyto3690]

No.  The best decision for his family would be to take the money and stay near the doctors your son, with a dangerous disease, has.

And you're basing that on all those years you spent as a married professional basketball player who has already made millions upon millions of dollars?

Ray Allen's son's proximity to doctors isn't really a legitimate concern. Nearly any competent hospital in the united states of America can effectively treat Walker's diabetes. Its a pretty arrogant opinion to think you know what would be best for his family, or for himself.

Rays decision wasn't to go to the Clippers for a starting gig.
Rays decision wasn't to go to the Wolves for more money.

Neither of those teams are likely contenders. Not surprising.

Rays decision was "I don't like you guys so I'm going to join the enemy and show you that you should have appreciated me more".

It was just a diva move based on giving the finger to Rondo, Pierce, and the Celtics.

Again, really inserting your own, relatively uninformed (compared to, you know..Ray Allen) narrative into this. You may be right, and that pettiness might be what motivated Allen.

But is it anymore likely than Allen feeling hurt and maginalized by the Celtics, and wanting to go somewhere that they won't pull out any of the stops? maybe he just wanted to move on? Maybe he legitimately didn't like playing with Rondo, who knows?

But the point here is that its pretty out there to suggest that you, me, or anyone else knows what was 'best' for Ray Allen.

The Celtics are title contenders next season.  We are not the Bobcats.  We're not even the Timberwolves.  We're the Boston Celtics who at half strength were one quarter away from beating the eventual NBA champs.

Ray wanted 3 years, 27 million dollars from the Celtics to stay.

The Heat gave him 3 years, 9 million dollars.

He wanted literally 3 times as much money to stay here.  He obviously hated it here.  This was not the difference between winning a championship.  That difference was just blatant disrespect and disloyalty.

[indeedproceed]

Was KG's really 10 mil? Jeez I thought it was a lot less.

It really wasn't 10 mil. Well I was technically but that's because his last contract was back-loaded. It was more like ~6 million, or close to it.

[BballTim]

Now the real reason everyone is upset about this whole fiasco is despite that fact you think Ray is some washed up 37 year old who can't play D and can't start in this league anymore, and who isn't as important as KG, Pierce, or Rondo, is you now realize your team has little chance of beating Ray's new team without Ray.

  Ray was the 5th or 6th best player on the Celts and he'll be the 5th or 6th best player on the Heat. He's better than Miller but probably not Battier, who really helped them with his defense in the playoffs. The Celts need to finish out their roster but they're a better team than you give them credit for, and it's a little early in the (off)season to give up on them. We could have beat the Heat 2 years ago if we were healthy, we could have beat them last year if we had Bradley, and we should be a better team next year.

[indeedproceed]

He wanted literally 3 times as much money to stay here.  He obviously hated it here.  This was not the difference between winning a championship.  That difference was just blatant disrespect and disloyalty.

Who can say what Ray Allen wanted, or what motivated his initial demands? Not you, not me. But disloyalty, disrespect, how would you qualify that compared next to the Celtics trading him, and making less of a recruiting effort towards him than KG?

If we want to throw out baseless emotional speculation, seems like one is as valid as the other.

[Roy H.]

He wanted literally 3 times as much money to stay here.

True, if reports are accurate. 

He obviously hated it here.

This is also true.

This was not the difference between winning a championship.

Both teams are contenders, but the Heat have to be the favorites. 

That difference was just blatant disrespect and disloyalty.

Disagree, in terms of it being "disrespect".  In terms of loyalty, Ray wasn't loyal.  Why should he have been?  The team wasn't loyal to him.

Ray made the decision that best suited his needs in his opinion.  I'm not sure why people are having a hard time with this.  He didn't like his work environment, so he decided to try somewhere else. 

How many of us, if we hated our job, would feel loyal to our employers?  If there was this one co-worker we hated, and our bosses had threatened our job security multiple times, how many of us would look for a new job?  Would we be disrespectful if we took the job with less salary, but greater fringe benefits?  Would we be terrible human beings if we were willing to stay if our boss vastly overpaid us, but otherwise thought it best to move on?

[BballTim]

He wanted literally 3 times as much money to stay here.

True, if reports are accurate. 

He obviously hated it here.

This is also true.

This was not the difference between winning a championship.

Both teams are contenders, but the Heat have to be the favorites. 

That difference was just blatant disrespect and disloyalty.

Disagree, in terms of it being "disrespect".  In terms of loyalty, Ray wasn't loyal.  Why should he have been?  The team wasn't loyal to him.

Ray made the decision that best suited his needs in his opinion.  I'm not sure why people are having a hard time with this.  He didn't like his work environment, so he decided to try somewhere else. 

How many of us, if we hated our job, would feel loyal to our employers?  If there was this one co-worker we hated, and our bosses had threatened our job security multiple times, how many of us would look for a new job?  Would we be disrespectful if we took the job with less salary, but greater fringe benefits?  Would we be terrible human beings if we were willing to stay if our boss vastly overpaid us, but otherwise thought it best to move on?

  While I agree with most of what you said, telling your current employer you'll stay there if they vastly overpay you is being a jerk. There's no way around that. Also, under these circumstances, acting like you're torn about whether to leave or not is a bit disengenuous.

[CantBeRight]

Ray Allen did a good job selling his soul to the devil.

[guava_wrench]

The obvious bits and pieces are in relation to joining the enemy, the Heat.

But the secondary problems occur from the hole he leaves.  Instead of being stacked at the guard position and having the BAE to spend on a center, we're stuck with the need to find a temporary starting SG along with a massive hole at center.  If Ray had resigned here it wouldn't have cost an exception, would have put us at the right spot to sign Terry easily and we wouldn't have to overpay Green. 

We would have been in perfect shape for this season if Ray had just resigned.  We'd be stacked at 1-4, and have an exception in the backpocket to stock up at the 5.   Instead, now we need to find a SG and probably overpay him as he won't be playing a whole lot when Bradley gets back, and find a starting C or at least capable backup.

He screwed us over when he wasn't under contract to us and made his decision relatively quickly, giving us time to go in another direction? Really?

And Deron Williams screwed us by not signing a vet min contract to backup Rondo.

[spinz]

What gets me is this: when he made the demands of 27 mil from the celtics, did he really think there was a chance theyd pay it???
My brain tells me no.. in which case ray had made up his mind he wasnt staying with us.. so why didnt he just tell us that from day 1.

[Crushmaster]

So Ray Allen should be more loyal? Do you mean more loyal like the Celtics, who tried to trade him away multiple times?  More loyal like his countless "fans" on this blog who spent the better part of this past year dreaming up trade scenarios to ship him out of town, or begging Doc to bench him for Bradley, or hoping he'd more or less quietly fade away somewhere conveniently out of sight like Memphis to free up roster space and money?  I guess because it's Miami and they ruined our Spring, losing Ray Allen is now such blow, such a betrayal, such a crime. To be so hateful, hypocritical and myopic in one’s thinking is truly disturbing.  

Everything the Celtics have done in the past year has, not very subtly, communicated to Ray that he’s expendable. So Ray took less money to play on a team that needs him more, because he’s a competitor and he wants to matter. So does that register at all, the part about not being the stereotypical greedy athlete just chasing the money? That's something to be commended and I for one wish him well.  
 

[indeedproceed]

  While I agree with most of what you said, telling your current employer you'll stay there if they vastly overpay you is being a jerk. There's no way around that. Also, under these circumstances, acting like you're torn about whether to leave or not is a bit disengenuous.

I wonder why you think Ray Allen didn't believe himself to be worth the 9 million per, or that he didn't labor over the decision?

[Green Hell]

So Ray Allen should be more loyal? Do you mean more loyal like the Celtics, who tried to trade him away multiple times?  More loyal like his countless "fans" on this blog who spent the better part of this past year dreaming up trade scenarios to ship him out of town, or begging Doc to bench him for Bradley, or hoping he'd more or less quietly fade away somewhere conveniently out of sight like Memphis to free up roster space and money?  I guess because it's Miami and they ruined our Spring, losing Ray Allen is now such blow, such a betrayal, such a crime. To be so hateful, hypocritical and myopic in one’s thinking is truly disturbing.  

Everything the Celtics have done in the past year has, not very subtly, communicated to Ray that he’s expendable. So Ray took less money to play on a team that needs him more, because he’s a competitor and he wants to matter. So does that register at all, the part about not being the stereotypical greedy athlete just chasing the money? That's something to be commended and I for one wish him well.  
 

Give us a break. This is a business, not group therapy for the hyper sensitive, okay? Ray let down his TEAM, his COACH and his FANS who stood by him through thick and thin to spite OWNERSHIP.

What kind of a guy lets down the people who battle with him through THICK and THIN in order to prove a point? Speaks to the guys character, which his whole reputation is founded upon. If he's so willing to say **** you to us, we should be just as eager to return the gesture as FANS and as THE BOSTON CELTICS.

[Onslaught]

I've had enough time to let this all sink in and get over being mad. I'm not happy he's gone and I'm really not happy he's with the Heat. But it was the best thing for him to do. And I won't hate him for it. And he in no way screwed the team over.

I won't pull for him as long as he's a Heat however.

[Crushmaster]

 

What kind of a guy lets down the people who battle with him through THICK and THIN in order to prove a point? Speaks to the guys character, which his whole reputation is founded upon. If he's so willing to say **** you to us, we should be just as eager to return the gesture as FANS and as THE BOSTON CELTICS.

Not sure where you came up with this hyper-emotional slant on what I wrote. Ray is leaving because he prioritized playing basketball over a pay check, not to "prove a point". If that hurts your feelings, I'm sorry. The fact that you are taking it personally speaks to an inflated self-worth. Now if you’d prefer to chalk Ray’s decision up to his ego, that’s fine. It takes a big ego to do what he does, and to do it so well. But don't give me this Pollyannaish take on the NBA where players are motivated by the goodness of their hearts and feel constrained by a loyalty that doesn’t exist. The idea that a hyper-competitive athlete would gladly move down to the end of the bench and just cash checks while other teams are clamoring for his services certainly doesn’t wash with reality. If your worldview demands a villain in all scenarios where you’re disappointed, take a look at DA, who screwed the Ray sitch up when he dangled him all over the NBA and then didn’t pull the trigger. If Ray’d been traded to Timbuktu, I imagine you’d probably have nothing to say on the subject of loyalty.