During an appearance this morning on WEEI, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix hinted at a riff between Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen:
“There is going to be a ton of interest in Ray Allen in the offseason,” Mannix said. “He’s going to be able to pick and choose where he wants to play.”
Allen conceivably could return to Boston, but Mannix said that decision might be affected by Allen’s apparent struggles to get along with Rajon Rondo.
“I think there’s no question that the relationship was strained over this year,” Mannix said. “How strained is the key, and it’s still a little bit unclear. There was some friction between those two. I think that could play a role in Ray’s decision not to come back. Now, I agree, I think that Boston probably wasn’t going to bring him back anyway, you’re right, it’s Avery Bradley’s job and Ray isn’t coming back to the Celtics to be a bench player, especially when he can be a bench player on a team that might be more likely to win a championship. But I think the relationship over the last year between Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo soured. Now, I’m not entirely clear as to how bad it got. But certainly I know that there was some legitimate, palpable friction between those two players and I think that will ultimately affect his decision in free agency.”
I think people are exaggerating the likelihood that Ray Allen leaves Boston. Is he really going to uproot to chase a championship? And I don’t see a scenario where the Celtics suddenly become a lottery team. Not with $25 million in cap space and a Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley backcourt.
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