No. 65 - Ray Allen

Ray Allen is a two-time NBA champion who for the longest time wasn’t really considered a winner.

Allen was the fifth overall pick in 1996 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he was immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for Stephon Marbury. The T-Wolves wanted a point guard to pair with Kevin Garnett. For Milwaukee, the hope was that Allen would team up with Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson to form a dynamic duo. And it worked for a while. The Bucks made the playoffs in his third season and in 2000-2001, his fifth, Milwaukee advanced to the Eastern Conference finals by knocking off Orlando and Charlotte. There, Milwaukee fell to Allen Iverson and the 76ers in seven games. Allen scored 41 points in game six to force the Game Seven and led the Bucks again with 26 points, but Iverson poured in 41 and Philly won by 17.

Instead of building on the success, the Bucks slipped back to 41-41 in 2001-2002, missing the playoffs. In 2002-2003, midway through the season, he was traded to Seattle for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason. The Sonics would only make the playoffs once in Allen’s 4 ½ seasons there despite Ray making the all-star team every season. In 2006-2007, Allen averaged a career-high 26.4 points per game for the Sonics,  but Seattle finished just 31-51. At that point in his career, Allen had been in the NBA for 11 seasons and made the postseason just four times.

Allen reputation as a winner changed in the 2007-2008 season. The Sonics traded Allen and Glen Davis to the Boston Celtics for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Jeff Green. After landing Allen, the Celtics then traded for Kevin Garnett. Garnett and Allen teamed up with Paul Pierce to form “a big three” in a gamble to bring the struggling Boston franchise back to life.

It worked. The Celtics won the title in 2007-2008, beating LeBron James’ Cavaliers in the second round and Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in the finals. Allen’s scoring average plummeted to 17.4 points per game, but now he was a key cog to a title team. Allen played four more years in Boston, making the playoffs every season and another NBA Finals. In 2012-2013, he took less money to join James in Miami as a sharp-shooting reserve and he helped James pick up his second NBA title. As great as LeBron played in those finals against San Antonio, the Heat were down 3-2 in the series and down three points when Allen nailed a corner three-point shot with 5.2 seconds left to force overtime. Miami won in OT and then won Game 7.

Allen’s standing in my top 100 was hurt tremendously by his mid-career playoff drought. You simply can’t score enough points in my system if your team doesn’t make the playoffs, and Allen’s team only made one in a six-year stretch right in the middle of his prime. His standing was helped tremendously though by his final seven seasons where his personal statistics declined but he made four NBA Finals appearances. So perhaps it evened out and 65 on this list feels about right.

Ray Allen bio info
Career	1996-2014
Games	1,300
Points	18.9
Rebounds	4.1
Assists	3.4
FG Pct.	45.2%
All-Star games	10
NBA MVPs	0
NBA Titles	2
Playoff seasons	11
Playoff games	171
Points	16.1
Rebounds	3.8
Assists	2.6
FG Pct.	44.3%
Hall of Fame

Top 100 rankings
	Points	Top 100 ranking
1-year	302.21	86th
5-year	1,324.32	84th
10-year	2,391.78	62nd
Career	3,320.28	42nd

Ray Allen at his peak
2000-2001	Allen	Top 5	Points
PER	22.9	25.90
Win Shares	13.7	13.92
Box +/-	5.6	6.51
VORP	6.0	6.55
Total Advanced Stats	48.2	52.87	91.16
Playoff PER	23.7	26.15
Win Shares	3.6	3.50
Box +/-	7.0	8.03
VORP	1.7	1.60
Total Advanced Stats	36.00	39.28	91.65
Reg. Season Win %	63.41		63.41
Playoff Win %	55.56		55.56
MVP Voting (75 points)	7/1,240		0.42
Playoff MVP (25 points)	0		0
Total Score			302.21

Allen’s 10 greatest seasons
2000-2001	302.21
2004-2005	271.33
2010-2011	263.24
2007-2008	254.04
1999-2000	233.50
2012-2013	232.00
2008-2009	221.49
2009-2010	220.99
2013-2014	197.95
1998-1999	195.03

Career winning percentage
	W	L	Pct.
Regular Season	755	545	58.08%
Playoffs	100	71	58.48%