Much has been made of the ’08 Celtics’ reunion on KG’s Area 21 without Ray Allen. They can feel how they want regarding Allen’s departure.
During Monday’s episode of Area 21, the conversation of Ray Allen’s departure to the Miami Heat in the 2012 offseason drew a lot of attention.
Kevin Garnett was joined by former teammates Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis. The five players reminisced about their times in a Celtics uniform, how Pierce dealt with retirement, and how Rondo dealt with the up and down season with the Bulls this year. Doc Rivers even came on through a video cast to talk about the way he coached that ’08 team.
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Then they decided to talk about Allen. Garnett gave insight to how it felt for Allen to leave the brotherhood they had created, and how it didn’t matter that Allen went to the rival Heat. Every player except Rondo, who did not speak on the issue, mentioned how going to Miami was just something that went on top of the betrayal.
Pierce said that when free agency was in progress, Allen failed to communicate with anyone on the team that he was leaving for the Heat. After everything those players went through in their five years up to that point didn’t seem to matter when Allen made his decision.
Since some members of the media aren’t that interested in what actually happened, and more interested in causing a stir, this was made into a big deal.
To recap: Celtics are having a 2008 championship reunion, they didn't invite Ray Allen then whine about Ray on TV. Get over yourselves boys.
— Frank Isola (@TheFrankIsola) May 9, 2017
Isola is a well regarded reporter for the New York Daily News, but this is just ridiculous. If you actually watched the conversation, there is no way you come away with this thought. Well, unless you only hear what you want to hear. But wait, we had another misinformed media member chime in.
So the Celtics really didn't invite Ray Allen to the cookout.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) May 9, 2017
This doesn’t seem like much of a fire starting tweet unless you understand Hill’s history of hating the Celtics. I believe that she was suspended from ESPN once for saying that rooting for the Celtics is like rooting for Hitler.
The point of the story isn’t to call out biased reporters, but to develop an understanding of how outsiders should handle situations like this. If you were not on the team, in the locker room, or affiliated with the ’08 Celtics in any way, you should not tell those involved how they should feel about something that happened within those walls.
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Allen left Boston and decided not to tell Pierce, Garnett, Rondo, or anyone else on the team. As fans, we can be upset at the fact that he went and joined the Celtics’ arch rival, but eventually you get over that. But in no way can I decide whether Garnett, Pierce, Perkins, Rondo, Davis, etc. should get over the fact that Allen took off without saying anything to them. That’s up to them, and nobody else has the liberty to tell them otherwise.