Ray Allen: Rajon Rondo told Celtics he carried them to 2008 championship

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/ray-allen-rajon-rondo-told-214502787.html



Ray Allen: Rajon Rondo told Celtics he carried them to 2008 championship



Dan Feldman,NBC Sports 18 hours ago





Ray Allen fell out of favor with the Celtics when he signed with the Heat in 2012. His relationship with Rajon Rondo, poor already, became especially dismal.

Allen said the issue stems from him trying to have Rondo stop a trade of the pair to the Suns in 2009.

Sean Deveney of Sporting News:

It came up again during the 2010-11 season. In a team meeting, Allen writes, Rondo told his teammates, “I carried all of you to the championship in 2008.” Allen continued: “The rest of the team, almost in unison, responded, ‘You what?’” Rondo said everyone on the team had problems with him, and when Allen told him, “None of us had issues with you,” Rondo said to him, “You did, too. You told me I was the reason we were going to be traded.”

Allen describes Rondo as a player who expected that he would be treated as a leader without having done the work to deserve the role, and describes the Celtics as an organization that could not figure out how to handle Rondo. Coach Doc Rivers asked Garnett and Allen to “let [Rondo] into the circle,” but Allen told Rivers, “We can’t make him a leader, Doc. He has to earn it.” Allen details the famed incident during the Celtics’ playoff series against Miami in 2011, when Rivers was going over film with the team and pointing out some of the errors made during their losses in the first two games. Rondo “put his head down and turned his chair toward the lockers.” Rivers implored him to watch the film. “F— that film,” Rondo said, according to Allen, hurling a water bottle at the screen and breaking it. Rivers ordered Rondo out. Garnett followed him and said, “Young fella, you need to get your s— together.”


Keep in mind: This is Allen’s perspective, detailed in a new book. Rondo might describe things differently.

Though even Rondo admits he can be difficult.

Rondo didn’t receive enough credit at the time for Boston’s 2008 title. So much of the praise was heaped on stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Allen. Rondo, just a second-year player, was also very good and hadn’t yet been recognized for his production.

But that’s not close to saying he carried the Celtics to the championship. He was still their fourth-best player.

And telling his Boston teammates he carried them would be a whole other level. Allen revealing this will probably take his feud with Rondo up a notch, too.




bob




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I wonder why Rondo`s Celtics teammates all seem to prefer him to Ray? Allen strikes me as an egotistical jackass. Evidently Rondo can be one at times Rondo loved being a Celtic . That tips the scales for me. If Ray keeps grinding his axe , maybe he`ll be uninvited to the reunion.

The time has come to put this to bed. Allen says he will "always be a Celtic" yet on any occasion he gets he spits on them. Go away Ray, we couldn't care less at how you feel. I am beginning to think you are the broken toy, not Rondo

Allen is the only player that has ever said anything bad about Rondo. Many of the players that have played with him have raved about what a great teammate he is. KG, PP, Cousins, all of the young players in Chicago, and now the Pelicans all praise him. He obviously clashed at times with Rivers but Rivers was a point and tried to tell RR how to be a point. RR was young and probably didn't know how to manage Doc thinking he was the father figure. Carlisle is a notorious micro-manager who has clashed with others and never wanted Rondo in the first place. But RR has proven that he is one of the best floor generals ever and any coach who doesn't respect that is not going to get his respect in return. But no player other than Allen has ever had a bad word to say about him. I think we can do the math.

There were several players on that team that were challenging personalities at times. Rondo, Allen, Pierce, and Garnett, all had their moments during their time with Boston.

Some successful teams bicker with each other, but have each others backs on the court or field. The Celtics, from around '07, to the time Rondo departed,were one of those teams. All four of those guys could be glorious jackasses at times. All four of those guys, together, were also champions. They can whine about each other, but the soap opera has not only grown tiresome, it's inconsequential.

No, it doesn't really matter. They raised a banner together. That's all that counts.

There seems to be a ton of dirt on Ray Allen if he wants to play that game. On the surface if Rondo said that, sure, he becomes up there with LeBron for a humongous ego.

There's no context. Maybe he was putting them on to take the piss out of them for &$#?5 and giggles. I hope I'm not breaking family rules here with bad language. Sorry in advance.

Those two were water and oil. From what I read, Ray has obsessive compulsive disorder and was extremely difficult to play with. KG was a different kind of madness. Pierce turned out to be an incredible person. I always liked how he survived the surgery and he was so clutch. He was the opposite of Carl Yastrzemski, although I missed the 1967 season as a baby. Maybe he was clutch earlier in his career.

Yeah, it's a different sport. That team would have won nothing without Rondo, Perk, PJ Brown, Eddie and oh yup, Mr. James Posey. I am so sick and tired of the NBA's star system. It borders on deranged. It's the reason why every single game players and coaches from both sides think the refs are inexplicably incompetent. Maybe Tim Donaghy has some ideas.

So anyway, take away that star system and all that petty nonsense goes away. It's to Rondo's credit that he forced himself a key role on the team. Perk, wow, he truly put up a great season as did many of them. They won 66 games. The only tough part was never winning a road game in the earlier playoff rounds.

No Rondo, no title, period.

Now if he is breaking t.v.'s, that's another matter. That is serious stuff and I'd need more proof than Ray's words. And no one likes a snitch or not many do or it better be for something important.

I actually like this kind of story. The avalanche of injuries has turned the green kool-aid a bit sour. Everything is now in the air. They could lose in the first round if all these injuries are as bad as they sound.

Horford sounds like he is fine. He needed rest anyway. He is at his best with full strength and stamina. He is over thirty now. We know what happens to every player especially when they hit 32.

Rondo was no worse or not too much than KG for fiery strange behavior. So what Ray seems to be saying is wait until you are closer to washed up and have accomplished some serious statistics before kissing the mirror too much.

That's ridiculous. Larry Bird led this team as a rookie. Jayson and Jaylen could break out in the playoffs and dominate. Why not? Kyrie and Al could dominate. Baynes, Monroe, Morris, Terry... Smart might tape up his hand and still get it done. Never give up.

Ray Allen gave up on the Celtics. That tells me all I need to know on who I will back in this story.

If Rondo by chance reads this, thank you for leading Boston to the title in 2008-09. He did. But a team is about everyone in the rotation. Oh yeah, don't forget about Leon Powe's contribution. Maybe he led the C's to #17. Get rid of this pro-wrestling fake basketball and this sport would take off. It reeks of corruption. They've had more than enough time to clean up the ref situation and call games straight.

Rondo was more important than Ray. Sam Cassell had nothing left in the tank. Eddie was more of a shooting guard.

There is Pierce and KG, then Ray is below in another tier with ironically probably Rondo. Both put up gaudy stats over long careers.

KG was obviously the most historic player, but for that season Pierce was on his level. He was on it some other years as well. He was called The Truth. But KG was, come on. But Ray is way below Pierce and Garnett. That's what I'm trying to say.

Ray was a great shooter. He like KG and Pierce sublimated for the greater good. Both Rondo and Ray look bad here. I am sort of curious if Rajon will respond.

That's a silly, petty road to go down.You'd think a friend or his wife or someone would tell him to chill out and stop making unnecessary public comments in order to sell a book. That is what's going on, inho.

Maybe all five of them need to sit down and get real with Oprah or Ellen. Perk is looking great. No one hears anything about him. I guess he was the Ringo Starr member of the band.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:The time has come to put this to bed.  Allen says he will "always be a Celtic" yet on any occasion he gets he spits on them.  Go away Ray, we couldn't care less at how you feel. I am beginning to think you are the broken toy, not Rondo

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