And just like that, it’s over.
Although you knew it was coming, it still came out of
nowhere.
Nothing could prepare the most protective Celtics fan for
it.
The Big Three Version 2.0 is officially over.
Ray Allen is taking his talents to South Beach in joining
the reigning NBA champions.
But nothing about it makes sense.
I would understand if there were financial reasons but the
Celtics were offering twice as much.
It’s not as if the Celtics are in a rebuilding phase or just
playoff contention. The Celtics were reloading for another run with the same
aging team that everyone discredited during the season.
Do not tell me that Allen fell out of favour in Boston and
had no other choice but to leave for somewhere he felt more appreciated.
You mean to say that Pierce and Garnett, two of the most
hard headed players in the NBA could find a middle ground with the stubborn
Rondo but Allen, labelled as the most diplomatic of people, could not?
Moreover, Danny Ainge who shops the NBA like he’s a real housewife
of Beverly Hills offered Allen a no trade clause in his contract negotiations.
Does Allen really not expect to enter a Miami locker room
full of even larger egos that form part of the self-proclaimed “Heatles”?
In the end what makes it difficult is in how it feels like
Ray “Jesus” Allen made it a point to get back at the Celtics - the same
organisation that traded half of its roster to gamble on brining the Big 3
together and win the NBA title that Allen had yearned for.
The same organisation that retained the Big 3 past its
so-called “use-by date” despite all the criticism of being too old.
Maybe it’s all just a Boston bias on my part.
Perhaps what cuts deepest isn’t that Allen left but rather a
symbolic concession of the end of the Celtics championship run.
