Ray Allen wants the world to know he’s more than a three-point shooter. He can put the ball on the floor, go to the hole, make the pass and… [wait for it] work in the post. From the Sun Sentinel:
One of the areas the Heat could possibly use Allen is in the post. It was a big part of his game during the early portion of his career before he became identified mostly as a jump-shooter. Allen said he often pleaded with Celtics coach Doc Rivers to play more in the post, but it was not part of the plans.
“In practice, I always posted up,” Allen said. “I just could never convince my coach to allow me go down in the post. He was always telling me he wanted different matchups. I’ve had so many matchups in the post throughout the years. It gives me a different scoring angle. It takes pressure off having always to shoot 3s.”
Playing in the post would force teams to rethink their strategies of defending Allen. Opponents generally place a smaller defender on Allen because his tendency to run off screens and tire bigger players. The presence of a post game all but eliminates the possibility.
“What teams try to do is when they want a guy to chase me they bring a small guy that’s quick,” Allen said. “So you roll to your next stunt and you post them and get them out of the game. The way we play here just creates so many different opportunities. You put the other team in so many complicated situations that it forces their defenses to play more uncomfortable.”
I was tempted to file this post under our humor category because it’s laughable. If Ray Allen truly had effective post moves in his arsenal, I’m fairly confident we would have seen at least one during his five years in Boston.
Every now and then, Ray would surprise us with his athleticism on a drive to the hole or on the fast break. But for the most part, he’s horrible off the dribble. I can’t fathom him routinely backing down a defender in the post. Does anyone think Doc Rivers would ignore a potential offensive threat?
And for someone looking forward to the future in Miami, Ray sure enjoys talking about Boston.
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