Waltham, MA – The departure of Ray Allen has been interpreted in many ways since the NBA's all-time 3-point field goal shooter decided to leave the Celtics and join the NBA champion Heat on July 6. On Saturday, Celtics' President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge gave his.
"I don't feel like we lost Ray," Ainge said. "I feel like Ray left us to go to Miami. We appreciate all that Ray has done and all that him and [wife] Shannon have done in our community and we tried to get Ray back and he chose to go to Miami."
Ainge reportedly had a two-year, $12 million deal on the table for Allen but the guard was rumored to have a serious personality conflict with point guard Rajon Rondo and was concerned about his role and playing time next season.
"No one player makes a team and players choose not to come here all the time," Ainge said. "There are 30 good basketball teams out there and it's a very competitive league and there's other teams outside of Boston. We knew Ray had this option and this opportunity and he chose to go that direction.
"I've talked with Ray much over the last five years. I'm a fan of Ray. I'm grateful for what he's done and he'll always be part of that 2008 championship and the success we've had since then as well. But I have a feeling there wasn't one thing. I think it was an accumulation of lots of things, including the allure of Miami. And I'll just leave it at that."
As a reporter was asking a question about the club's roster, Ainge went back and finished up his thoughts on Allen.
"I will say that I was hopeful that he would make another decision but I was not surprised," Ainge concluded.
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