Ray Allen not invited to Celtics' 10-year champ'ship reunion
Mar 21, 2017 0:47:11 GMT
nutsberryfarm 🏜 likes this
Post by theauxphou on Mar 21, 2017 0:47:11 GMT
theundefeated.com/features/rajon-rondo-boston-celtics-ray-allen
That's pretty petty. Everyone on the team moved on, like, five years ago - get over it!
Rajon Rondo, former Celtics teammates plan to celebrate their 2008 title without Ray Allen
Just like Rajon Rondo used to set up the fast break for the Boston Celtics, he is setting up a vacation with his former Celtics teammates from the 2008 NBA championship team to celebrate the nearing of the 10-year anniversary of their title. This party, however, doesn’t include an invite to ex-Celtics star guard Ray Allen.
“I asked a couple of the guys. I got a no, a no head shake,” said Rondo to The Undefeated when asked why Allen wasn’t invited.
Allen, a retired 10-time NBA All-Star, has been estranged from Rondo, Pierce and Garnett since his departure from Boston and winning the 2013 championship with Miami.
“It will be a long story about that, but it is what it is,” Rondo, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, told The Undefeated. “I don’t know a good analogy to put this in. It just wasn’t the greatest separation. It wasn’t the greatest thing that could’ve happened to us as a team, a bond. We were at war with those guys [Miami]. To go with the enemy, that’s unheard-of in sports. Well, it’s not so unheard of. It’s damn near common now.
“The mindset we had. The guys on our team. You wouldn’t do anything like that. It makes you question that series in the Finals … Who were you for? You didn’t bleed green. People think we had a messed-up relationship. It’s not the greatest. But it’s not just me. I called and reached out to a couple of other vets and asked them what they wanted to do with the situation. They told me to stick with what we got [without Allen].”
One former Celtics player from the 2008 NBA championship team said of Allen’s exclusion from the party: “I mean, Ray left. He left to the enemy.”
Pierce didn’t comment on the lack of the invitation to Allen when asked about it March 18. But in a 2016 story in The Undefeated, the Los Angeles Clippers forward described Allen’s departure to Miami as “betrayal.”
“That was a tough situation because we thought it was betrayal,” Pierce said. “That’s why the whole thing evolved like it did with us not talking to him. Ray didn’t really have the best relationship with Rondo anyway. That was nothing. [Rondo], me and Kevin, he didn’t have any talk with us [before his Miami decision].
“I tried to call him and I didn’t get any return calls before he signed with Miami. That was our rival. We were brothers. We came in together. We just wanted a heads-up or a ‘what’s on your mind?’ or something like. Then, all of a sudden, he left. That was the biggest disappointment on my end. Not even getting a callback at that moment.”
Efforts to reach Allen didn’t result in a comment. But if the group consensus were to invite Allen, would Rondo offer an invitation despite their differences?
“I would have went with the team, with the group,” Rondo said.
Not every member of the 2008 NBA championship team is anti-Allen. Former Celtics forward-center Leon Powe, a member of the 2008 NBA championship team, said he spoke to Rondo about the reunion recently in Boston and was in. Powe, who works in the Celtics’ scouting department, was surprised to learn Sunday that Allen wasn’t invited.
“I assumed that Ray would be invited,” Powe told The Undefeated. “That is one of my guys. My preference is that Ray is extended an invitation.”
Except for Allen, Rondo said, he has personally offered an invite to the celebration to all of his ex-Celtics teammates except a hard-to-locate retired forward-center P.J. Brown. The Rondo-led celebration is a work in progress at an undisclosed international location.
Just like Rajon Rondo used to set up the fast break for the Boston Celtics, he is setting up a vacation with his former Celtics teammates from the 2008 NBA championship team to celebrate the nearing of the 10-year anniversary of their title. This party, however, doesn’t include an invite to ex-Celtics star guard Ray Allen.
“I asked a couple of the guys. I got a no, a no head shake,” said Rondo to The Undefeated when asked why Allen wasn’t invited.
Allen, a retired 10-time NBA All-Star, has been estranged from Rondo, Pierce and Garnett since his departure from Boston and winning the 2013 championship with Miami.
“It will be a long story about that, but it is what it is,” Rondo, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, told The Undefeated. “I don’t know a good analogy to put this in. It just wasn’t the greatest separation. It wasn’t the greatest thing that could’ve happened to us as a team, a bond. We were at war with those guys [Miami]. To go with the enemy, that’s unheard-of in sports. Well, it’s not so unheard of. It’s damn near common now.
“The mindset we had. The guys on our team. You wouldn’t do anything like that. It makes you question that series in the Finals … Who were you for? You didn’t bleed green. People think we had a messed-up relationship. It’s not the greatest. But it’s not just me. I called and reached out to a couple of other vets and asked them what they wanted to do with the situation. They told me to stick with what we got [without Allen].”
One former Celtics player from the 2008 NBA championship team said of Allen’s exclusion from the party: “I mean, Ray left. He left to the enemy.”
Pierce didn’t comment on the lack of the invitation to Allen when asked about it March 18. But in a 2016 story in The Undefeated, the Los Angeles Clippers forward described Allen’s departure to Miami as “betrayal.”
“That was a tough situation because we thought it was betrayal,” Pierce said. “That’s why the whole thing evolved like it did with us not talking to him. Ray didn’t really have the best relationship with Rondo anyway. That was nothing. [Rondo], me and Kevin, he didn’t have any talk with us [before his Miami decision].
“I tried to call him and I didn’t get any return calls before he signed with Miami. That was our rival. We were brothers. We came in together. We just wanted a heads-up or a ‘what’s on your mind?’ or something like. Then, all of a sudden, he left. That was the biggest disappointment on my end. Not even getting a callback at that moment.”
Efforts to reach Allen didn’t result in a comment. But if the group consensus were to invite Allen, would Rondo offer an invitation despite their differences?
“I would have went with the team, with the group,” Rondo said.
Not every member of the 2008 NBA championship team is anti-Allen. Former Celtics forward-center Leon Powe, a member of the 2008 NBA championship team, said he spoke to Rondo about the reunion recently in Boston and was in. Powe, who works in the Celtics’ scouting department, was surprised to learn Sunday that Allen wasn’t invited.
“I assumed that Ray would be invited,” Powe told The Undefeated. “That is one of my guys. My preference is that Ray is extended an invitation.”
Except for Allen, Rondo said, he has personally offered an invite to the celebration to all of his ex-Celtics teammates except a hard-to-locate retired forward-center P.J. Brown. The Rondo-led celebration is a work in progress at an undisclosed international location.
That's pretty petty. Everyone on the team moved on, like, five years ago - get over it!
