A letter to Ray Allen

Dear Ray,

In the five years that you wore Celtic green you became an icon and a legend in the eyes of Boston fans.  You won a championship here.  You set the all-time three point record here.  You were a multi-time All-Star here and when you one day go into the Hall of Fame, we here in Boston will remember the good times when we watched the graceful arc of your jump shot.

This is not one of those good times.  You are no longer with us, you are against us.  Your former teammates felt stung by your betrayal when you left for our biggest conference rival in Miami, so their initial reaction was to lash out.  KG says he lost your phone number.  Rondo won't even call you by name, referring to you only as No. 20.  Even Doc stepped in with a few barbs of his own (although they seemed more intended to protect his young point guard against criticism initiated by you).  Fair or unfair, they said their piece, now they've moved on.  It's time that you did the same.

There's no need to continue to defend your decision to take your talents to South Beach.  No need to bring up issues from years ago.  Here's the bottom line - you felt disrespected by the Celtics for a variety of reasons, so you joined their biggest rival out of spite.  Like a scorned teenage girl trying to make her ex jealous by having a fling with the high school quarterback.  That's how your comments have come across lately, because let's face it - Miami, of all teams, does not offer you the best option to meet the needs you felt weren't being met here.  You picked them because you knew it would hurt us the most.

You felt the team betrayed you first by nearly trading you to Memphis last season at the deadline for OJ Mayo.  That wasn't the first time Boston nearly traded you either.  It can't be easy having to deal with the uncertainty of trade rumors that could drastically uproot your life, but that's life as a pro athlete.  Every player in the league not named LeBron finds their name in trade rumors sooner or later.  Boston was walking a fine line at the time of being a below .500 team at mid-season and was forced to give serious thought to blowing up the roster and beginning the rebuilding stages.  Wouldn't you rather have joined a contending team instead of being left behind on a team trying to start over?  The team ultimately decided to keep the core intact and make another run at a title, which rewarded them with a trip to the Conference Finals.  You were a part of that.  You almost weren't, but that's business.  You took it personally.

It wasn't about money, because Boston offered you twice as much to stay as what you accepted from Miami.  In fact, Boston offered more than anyone else, which should put to rest any speculation that they didn't want you back.  You openly complained about your diminishing role in the offense and being relegated to a bench role, so your solution was to become Dwyane Wade's backup?  You want more touches and a bigger role in the offense, so you join a team that has two players with some of the highest career usage rates among active players in the league?  Your role is now to sit in the corner and hit wide open shots that come your way when defenses collapse on LeBron and Wade.  That's a pretty cushy job, but it's essentially the type of role you fought against being relegated to here in Boston.

You didn't like coming off the bench, but when you missed 20 games with ankle injuries it gave Avery Bradley the chance to shine.  Our defense was historically great with him in the starting line-up, while our bench was sorely lacking a reliable scorer.  The switch made a lot of sense, but your pride wouldn't allow you to see it that way.

We know you hadn't gotten along well with Rondo for years, but don't fault him for the inevitable transformation of the Celtics shifting into his team.  Doc put the ball in his hands more because that's what was best for the team.  It's not about disrespecting veteran players like yourself, it's about doing whatever it takes to win.  That's what matters most here in Boston.  We thought you knew that.

Ray, you've always been one of the league's classiest players.  That's part of what we loved about you here.  Your actions of late haven't really made you seem like the same guy.  Your ego was bruised and you let your pride cloud your judgement.  Now you've moved on, but that's fine.  We'll fill the void you left with newcomers like Jason Terry and Courtney Lee.  We're deeper than this core has ever been and ready to take back our throne at the top of the East.  When the season tips off in Miami tonight, you'll be wearing the villainous black uniform of the Heat.  You've become the enemy now.

Just know that years from now when we look back on this era, we'll remember you for the good times, for all the times you splashed that ball through the net and of course, for that championship.  We couldn't have done that without you, so for that, we thank you.  It's just too bad it had to end this way.

Sincerely,
Boston Celtics fans