Ray Allen
Teams
Milwaukee Bucks - 1996-03
Seattle SuperSonics - 2003-07
Boston Celtics - 2007-12
Miami Heat - 2012-14
Playoffs
Appearances - 11 (1999,2000,2001,2005,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014)
Conference Finals - 6 (2001,2008,2010,2012,2013,2014)
NBA Finals - 4 (2008,2010,2013,2014)
Championships - 2 (2008,2013)
Awards and Honors
All-NBA Second Team - 1 (2001,2005)
All-NBA Third Team - 1 (2001,2005)
Hall of Fame - 2018
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Three-Pointers Made - #1
Free Throw Percentage - #6
Total Points - #29
Three-Point Percentage - #48
Total Steals - #54
Total Assists - #98
League Leads
Free Throw Percentage (#2-2003,2009, #3-1998,2006,2010, #4-1999,2004,2007,2008, #5-2000,2013)
Three Pointers Made (#1-2002,2003,2006, #2-2000,2001,2009, #4-2005, #5-2008,2011)
Three Point Percentage (#2-2011, #4-2012)
Ray Allen was a great shooter and scorer at the University of Connecticut, and after being drafted #5 overall in 1996, he became a very good scorer in the NBA, and one of only a handful of players in the conversation for the best shooter of all time.
He was drafted by Minnesota, but immediately traded to Milwaukee for Stephon Marbury, who was drafted right before him. He was named to the All-Rookie Second Team, then quickly improved to become an All-Star within just a few years. In his 4th season, he averaged 22.1 points per game, the first of 8 consecutive seasons where he scored at least 21 per game, and he made his first of 10 All-Star appearances in a 12-year period.
In 2001, he, along with Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell, led the Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals, his deepest playoff run to that point, but they fell to Allen Iverson and the 76ers in 7 games, even with Allen scoring 27.1 points per game, including 41 in a big Game 6 win.
The Bucks were not able to replicate that success the next year, and early in 2003 Allen was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in a deal involving Gary Payton. His 4 full seasons in Seattle were the 4 highest-scoring of his career, but they would only make one playoff appearance, losing in the second round in 2005. After averaging a career-high 26.4 points per game in 2007, but missing the end of the season after double ankle surgery, Allen was traded to the Boston Celtics.
It was in Boston that Allen began to gain his reputation as a clutch playoff performer. In his first season with the Celtics, his scoring average dropped by 9 points per game due to having superstars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett as teammates, but Allen stepped up in important moments, like Game 6 of the NBA Finals, when he set a Finals record with 7 three-pointers as they finished the series and he won his first championship.
As great as Allen was as a three-point shooter, he was even better from the free throw line. Although he never led the league in free throw shooting, he was in the top five 11 different times, and currently ranks as the 6th-best free throw shooter of all time. In 2008-09, he hit 72 straight free throws, breaking the Celtics franchise record that was previously held by Larry Bird.
In 2010, Allen would break his own record for most 3-pointers in a Finals game when he hit 8 of them in Game 2, but the Celtics fell to the Lakers in 7 games. In 2011, he passed Reggie Miller to become the all-time leader in three-pointers made, a distinction he still holds, and in 2013 he passed Miller to take over first place in playoff three-pointers, though he has since fallen to third behind Stephen Curry and LeBron James.
Allen finished out his career with 2 seasons in Miami, where he won another championship in 2013 after hitting one of the greatest 3-pointers in playoff history to tie game 6 in the closing seconds, and making a 4th Finals appearance in his final season, this time losing to the Spurs in 5 games. Allen considered returning to the league several time over the next few seasons, but eventually made his retirement official in 2016.
Allen never had a ton of rebounds or assists in his career, never reaching 6 rebounds or 5 assists per game in any season of his career. He was primarily a shooter and a scorer, but he was great at what he did. He is among the all-time leaders in both three-point and free throw percentage, with career averages of .400 and .894, which are both amazing numbers, and made important contributions to 2 title teams late in his career, which makes him one of the greatest players of all time.
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