Ray Allen
Age: 34
Height: 6-5
Position: SG
Key 2009-10 Stats: 16.3 ppg, 36.3% 3p%, 15.22 PER
What to Like About Allen: His outside shooting. The Nets were terrible from the three point line last year, and it really hurt the productivity of their offense. When you have a three point shooter like Ray Allen, he doesn’t even need to have or shoot the basketball to help an offense. Teams are so worried about Allen, that when he comes off screens away from the basketball defenses tend to focus on him, and that opens things up for the rest of the team, especially a big man like Brook Lopez. Looking at what Brook Lopez was able to do with no outside shooting presence to take away double and triple teams, and you have to be impressed. Lopez didn’t have a ton of chances to work in the post one on one, but a shooter like Ray Allen will create more opportunities for Brook Lopez. Oh, and when he does get the basketball, Ray Allen has one of the quickest, most effective releases I have ever seen. Ray Allen is a knock-down shooter.
What’s Not to Like about Allen: Age. Ray Allen is probably going to want a multi-year deal (since this could be Allen’s last long term deal of his career), and while I see him being effective next year, I don’t know about 2, 3, or 4 years from now.
Around the web on Allen: Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com: Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Wednesday that bringing back free agent guard Ray Allen and keeping the nucleus of the Celtics together would be his preference, particularly after coming up just short of a world title this past season.
“I think that is the most likely scenario,” Ainge said on Boston sports radio WEEI (850 AM) when asked about re-signing the soon-to-be 35-year-old Allen. “We love Ray. We know Ray has basketball left in him. We have to make wise financial decisions knowing that Ray is going to have other options, but also knowing that Ray has basketball left in him. He’s a difference maker in us winning or losing.”
This Bloggers Take: Ray Allen is going to be on top of many teams Free Agency lists (including the Nets), but if the Nets can get him to agree to a two year deal for not too much money, they really need to look into it. Ray Allen would bring a legitimate shooting threat to the Nets, something that they didn’t have last year.
