Ray Allen
Today Ray Allen is best remembered as a 3-point marksman who spent the end of his career chasing rings, but it's easy to forget that before he was traded to Boston he had already established himself as one of the best players in the league. In 2001, he was already the star of the Milwaukee Bucks, despite having veteran stars Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson on the roster. Here are his stats from that season:
Allen - 22.0 pts, 5.2 reb, 4.6 ast, 1.5 stl, .480 FG%, .433 3P%, .888 FT%
That season he also led the Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they fell to Allen Iverson and the 76ers, but there's no way they would have made it that far without Allen, who improved in almost every category in the playoffs, averaging 25.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and shot nearly 48% from long range and 92% from the free throw line.
Ray Allen scored at least 20 points per game for 8 straight seasons in the prime of his career, peaking out at 26.4 in 2007, his final season with Seattle. Allen is also known as one of the best free throw shooters of all time, ranking 7th all-time currently with a 89.4% mark.
Allen also holds a record that looked untouchable for a while, the all-time lead in three-pointers made. When Reggie Miller retired in 2005, he had 2560 career 3-pointers, while Allen had totaled only 1486 to that point, leaving him more than 1000 behind. What did Allen do the next season? He set a new NBA record for three-pointers made in a season with 269 and led the league for the 3rd time in his career, cutting into Miller's huge lead and making it seem like it would only be a matter of time until he broke the record, which he did in February of 2011.
Allen finally saw the NBA Finals in 2008, when he helped the Celtics win their first championship in two decades. He was not the star of the team, but he was the third-best player while playing better than most teams' #2 guys. He also made a return trip to the Finals two years later, although his role had diminished a little bit more. He did get another championship ring in 2013 in Miami, although he had just a minor role in that title.
Though he is more remembered for 3-point shooting today, Allen was a superstar and very solid all-around player for years before accepting a reduced role in order to win. Although his 3-point record may eventually fall to Stephen Curry, he should still have it for at least the next 4 seasons, since Curry is almost 1400 three-pointers behind today.
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