Ray Allen going to Miami Heat
Ray Allen lingered on the court for a bit after his Boston Celtics lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat last month, shaking hands and offering congratulations.
A few minutes later, Allen made a vow about his future.
“There’s still a lot of basketball left in my legs” – he said.
The Heat apparently were listening, apparently agree — and will soon officially welcome Allen to their club.
Allen told the Heat on Friday night that he intends to accept their contract offer and leave Boston after five seasons, even though the Celtics could have paid him about twice as much as the reigning NBA champions will be able to next season. Miami could only offer Allen the mini mid-level, worth about 3 million dollars a year.
Heat owner Micky Arison tweeted the news just after 9:30 p.m. Friday, or about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in Europe, where Arison has been for several days.
“I was just woken up with great news” – Arison wrote. “Welcome to the family.” Arison ended the tweet by making mention of Allen’s jersey No. 20, but didn’t mention the NBA’s leading 3-point shooter by name. No matter — Allen’s agent, James Tanner, confirmed the plan to The Associated Press moments later.
Ray Allen.
Ray Allen has agreed to sign with the Miami Heat for the mini mid-level exception worth $3.09 million a season, according to team owner Micky Arison, who tweeted the news Friday night.
Allen (who spent the last five seasons with the Boston Celtics) met with Heat officials Thursday and made his final decision Friday afternoon.
“Its 2:30am in London and I was just woken up with great news. Welcome to the family #20!!” – Arison wrote on Twitter.
Allen’s agent, James Tanner, confirmed the decision in an email to USA TODAY Sports shortly after Arison’s tweet.
Allen considered a return to the Celtics but ultimately decided to join the Heat because he felt it gave him the best chance to compete for another championship. Boston was offering significantly more money than Miami — $6 million a season vs. $3.09 million — as well as a no-trade clause, but that didn’t stop the likely future Hall of Famer from taking his talents to South Beach.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had been aggressively recruiting Allen in recent days.
James wasn’t subtle in his recruitment, tweeting a picture of Allen in a Heat jersey alongside the caption: “This looks damn good to me.”
Allen is the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history. And he dares to take and make shots that have a huge impact. The Thunder will tell you how badly they were damaged in the NBA Finals by the three-point shooting of Shane Battier, Miami’s top free-agent signing of last summer. Now the Heat can finish games with Allen scoring in transition and spacing the floor around LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
The double-edged impact of this move is that it also damages the Celtics, who lost Game 7 of the conference finals at Miami and will go into next season as the Heat’s top challenger in the East. The Celtics were hoping to bring back Allen and were offering twice as much as the Heat’s 3 million dollars annual exception in hope of keeping him. Had they succeeded, they would have entered the new season with a wealth of options on the wing between guards Allen, Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry and Avery Bradley to go with small forwards Paul Pierce and Jeff Green, who is expected to re-sign with Boston.
Now it’s Boston that may be overwhelmed trying to match up with Miami’s variety of options, especially now that James has developed his ability to score and pass out of the post. The Miami half-court offense that tended to stagnate in James’s first year was moving more fluidly in the playoffs last spring as the ball zipped from shooter to shooter. Allen’s tireless cuts without the ball and the defensive attention he commands far away from the basket will encourage more ball movement than ever.
When James, Wade and Bosh joined together in Miami, their goal was to recreate the championship dynamic of Boston’s Big Three. Now they’ve succeeded in co-opting Allen – whose arrival by trade to Boston in 2007 convinced Garnett to accept a trade to the Celtics.
There is nothing hypocritical about Allen’s decision to switch sides in the East’s best rivalry. Allen has spent the last several midseason trading deadlines dealing with rumors that Boston would move him, and last March he was told that he had been sent to Memphis before the trade was rescinded. Among Boston’s four All-Stars, Allen was the only one who didn’t suggest personal animosity with the Heat. Pierce liked to goad them via Twitter, and Rondo and Garnett left the court without congratulating the Heat after Game 7. And yet no fans of the Celtics can complain that Allen didn’t do everything he could to help them beat Miami over the last couple of years.