NEWS: The Miami Heat just got even better. The team just acquired Ray Allen from the Boston Celtics. The 37-year old shooting guard will become the fourth option for the NBA champs with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Allen spent five years with the Celtics and helped them win the 2008 NBA championship. Now he will try again for another title in Miami.
THE TRUTH: An unrestricted free agent, Allen turned down more money from the Celtics to play for the Heat. Miami is limited to giving Allen the taxpayers’ midlevel exception, worth $3.1 million annually, over three years. The Celtics were reportedly offering Allen about $6 million a season in a two-year deal. The Celtics reached agreement with Dallas Mavericks free-agent guard Jason Terry earlier this week, but team officials had also hoped to bring back Allen.
Sources say that Miami’s Pat Riley made a better pitch to Allen that Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers of the Celtics. But there are also reports of a strained relationship between Allen and Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, who received a five-year, $55 million extension during the 2009-10 season. Allen than began to hear his name in trade talks including a deal to Memphis that was almost complete before Danny Ainge told him that it fell through. Allen also resented the he wasn’t given his starting job back after he returned from a late-season ankle injury.
Maybe people saw this coming. Allen was one of the few Celtics to remain on the court and congratulate the Heat players after the Celtics were ousted by them in the Eastern Conference Finals. LeBron James was clearly on board as he recently tweeted a photo of Ray Allen in a Miami Heat uniform hoping to lure the sharpshooter. Ray Allen is the NBA’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made.