NBA Rumors: Power Ranking Potential Landing Destinations for Ray Allen
Ray Allen will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and a bevy of teams are expected to be vying for his services.
According to SI’s Chris Mannix and ESPN’s Jared Zwerling, the 16-year veteran has a list of potential franchises he would like to sign with.
Let’s take a look at each one and, in reverse order, power rank where he should choose to go—if the team will have him.
New York Knicks
The Knicks are a decent option for Jesus Shuttlesworth. They have two superstars in Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, a clear need for a solid starting shooting guard with Iman Shumpert inexperienced and injured, and everyone else (J.R. Smith, etc.) is better suited as a backup.
However, Ray will be turning 37 years old during the offseason and may not want to play the rest of his career out with a team that has been struggling lately and does not exactly know what it has in PG Jeremy Lin.
The Knicks can only offer a $1.4 million veteran’s minimum deal as well, so this is likely the last place on his wish list he will end up at.
Miami Heat
After the C’s were eliminated by the Heat in their past two postseason runs, it is downright hard to see Allen in the black and red uniform.
However, they give him a great chance to win a championship and they do need his catch-and-shoot skills on the roster. The franchise brought in Mike Miller to fill that role, but he’s been largely ineffective and often injured.
With LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the court, Allen would be perfect to space the floor and will find himself with many open opportunities.
Los Angeles Clippers
This is a bit of a surprise, but L.A. would actually be an incredible situation for the marksman.
Before going down with injury last season, Chauncey Billups played as a shooting guard in the backcourt with Chris Paul. He was effective, which just means that Allen would be an even better fit.
The Clips are going to be contending for the Western Conference crown for the foreseeable future—as long as Blake Griffin and CP3 are on the roster—and Ray meshes perfectly.
He’ll provide veteran leadership, three-point shooting and everything else that Chauncey did as an out-of-position point guard.
Boston Celtics
The C’s deserve to give Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo one more chance to contend for a championship.
They made it so far this year only to fall short because they were ravaged by injury and had little depth on their bench.
If Ray and KG are willing to take pay cuts in order to come back, GM Danny Ainge can splurge on free agents this summer and make the Game 7 ECF runner-ups a legitimate contender in 2012-13.
This is definitely the best spot for Allen to land, as he is comfortable and familiar with the system and his teammates.
