Ray Allen

Position	Shooting guard
Nickname	Ray Ray Jesus Sugar Ray
League	NBA
Height	ft  in ( m)
Weight	lb ( kg)
Team	Boston Celtics
Nationality	USA
Born	July 20 1975 (1975--) (age 32) Merced, California
High school	Hillcrest HS (Dalzell, South Carolina)
College	Connecticut
Draft	5th overall, 1996 Minnesota Timberwolves
Pro career	1996–present
Former teams	Milwaukee Bucks (1996–2003) Seattle SuperSonics (2003–2007)
Awards	NBA All-Star Three-point Contest winner (2001) NBA Sportsmanship Award (2003)

Walter Ray Allen (born July 20, 1975) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics, for whom he plays shooting guard. He has also played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Seattle SuperSonics. Allen is known as one of the best jump shooters in the history of the NBA, especially from three-point range.

Early life

Allen was born in Merced, California. He played high school basketball at Hillcrest High School in Dalzell, South Carolina taking them to a state championship.^[1]

College career

Allen was a highly successful college basketball player at the University of Connecticut from 1993–96. He earned All-American status during the 1994-95 season and was also named USA Basketball's Male Athlete of the Year for 1995. In his next and final college season, Allen was named first-team All-America and received the Big East Player of the Year award.

NBA career

Drafted out of UConn by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the fifth pick of the 1996 NBA Draft, Allen was shipped, along with a future first-round draft pick, to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to fourth pick Stephon Marbury. Named to the NBA's All-Rookie 1st Team in 1997, Allen evolved into an elite player, averaging at least 20 points per game in each of the last seven seasons.

He is regarded as one of the best shooters in NBA history, having made nearly 40% of his three-point attempts and almost 90% of his free throw attempts. In 2001, he won the NBA All-Star Weekend three-point contest. He was also drafted for a role in the critically acclaimed film He Got Game, in which he starred as a high school basketball phenom Jesus Shuttlesworth.^[2] He played along side Denzel Washington in the movie and said, "It was a wonderful experience".^{[citation needed]}

Allen played with the Bucks for the first 6½ years of his career until 47 games into the 2002-03 season, when he, along with guards Kevin Ollie (a fellow UConn alum), Ronald Murray and a conditional first-round draft pick, was dealt to the Sonics for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason. The move to Seattle did not hurt Allen's game; he bounced back from an injury-riddled 2004 to be voted to the All-NBA Second Team in 2005. Allen re-signed with the Sonics in 2005 for a 5-year contract worth $80 million, with $5 million more in performance bonuses. In the 2005-06 regular season, he averaged a career-high 25.1 points per game while adding 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

On March 12, 2006, Allen became the 97th player in NBA history to score 15,000 points. On April 7, 2006, Allen moved into second place on the NBA's list of all-time three-point field goals made in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers, behind only legendary marksman Reggie Miller. On April 19, 2006, against the Denver Nuggets, Allen broke Dennis Scott's ten-year-old NBA record for three-point field goals in a season by sinking his 268th. At the end of the game, Allen received a standing ovation from the home crowd.

On January 12, 2007, Allen scored a career-high 54 points against the Utah Jazz in a 122-114 overtime win, the second most in Sonics history. Fred Brown scored 58 points for Seattle in 1974.^[3] Allen, who has missed games during the 2006-07 NBA season due to ankle soreness, has had ankle surgery and missed the rest of the season.

On February 5, 2007 his number was retired at Gampel Pavilion on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Connecticut during halftime of the men's basketball game against the Syracuse Orangemen as part of the "Huskies of Honor" ceremony which recognized the accomplishments of 13 former players and three former coaches.^[4]

On June 28, 2007 Allen was traded to the Boston Celtics along with Seattle's second-round pick Glen Davis (#35 overall pick) for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and the number 5 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft (Jeff Green).

He was the subject of the article "Pro Athlete Lauded For Being Decent Human Being" in the satirical newspaper The Onion.^[5]

Allen is a member of the famous Air Jordan brand, which is a subsidiary of Nike. The shoe label is headed by Michael Jordan and features prominent athletes from several different sports.

Career Season Averages

Year    Team    G       GS      MPG     FG%     3P%     FT%     OFF     DEF     RPG     APG     SPG     BPG     TO      PF      PPG
96-97   MIL     82      81      30.9    .430    .393    .823    1.2     2.8     4.0     2.6     0.9     0.1     1.82    2.70    13.4
97-98   MIL     82      82      40.1    .428    .364    .875    1.5     3.4     4.9     4.3     1.4     0.2     3.21    3.00    19.5
98-99   MIL     50      50      34.4    .450    .356    .903    1.1     3.1     4.2     3.6     1.1     0.1     2.44    2.30    17.1
99-00   MIL     82      82      37.4    .455    .423    .887    1.0     3.4     4.4     3.8     1.3     0.2     2.23    2.30    22.1
00-01   MIL     82      82      38.2    .480    .433    .888    1.2     4.0     5.2     4.6     1.5     0.2     2.49    2.30    22.0
01-02   MIL     69      67      36.6    .462    .434    .873    1.2     3.3     4.5     3.9     1.3     0.3     2.30    2.30    21.8
02-03   SEA     29      29      41.3    .441    .351    .920    1.7     3.9     5.6     5.9     1.6     0.1     2.79    2.40    24.5
02-03   MIL     47      46      35.8    .437    .395    .913    1.0     3.7     4.6     3.5     1.2     0.2     2.49    3.20    21.3
02-03   SEA     76      75      37.9    .439    .377    .916    1.2     3.8     5.0     4.4     1.4     0.2     2.61    2.90    22.5
03-04   SEA     56      56      38.4    .440    .392    .904    1.2     3.9     5.1     4.8     1.3     0.2     2.79    2.40    23.0
04-05   SEA     78      78      39.3    .428    .376    .883    1.0     3.4     4.4     3.7     1.1     0.1     2.19    2.10    23.9
05-06   SEA     78      78      38.7    .454    .412    .903    0.9     3.3     4.3     3.7     1.4     0.2     2.41    1.90    25.1
06-07   SEA     55      55      40.3    .438    .372    .903    1.0     3.5     4.5     4.1     1.5     0.2     2.80    2.10    26.4
Career          790     786     37.5    .446    .397    .888    1.2     3.4     4.6     3.9     1.3     0.1     2.46    2.40    21.5
All-Star        7       0       20.9    .381    .288    .800    0.7     1.7     2.4     2.6     1.3     0.3     1.57    1.60    13.9

Awards/honors

• All-NBA Second Team: 2005
• All-NBA Third Team: 2001
• 7-time NBA All-Star: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• NBA All-Rookie Second Team: 1997
• NBA Joe Dumars NBA Sportsmanship Award: 2003
• NBA All-Star Weekend Three-point Shootout champion: 2001
• Holds NBA record for most three-point field goals made in a regular season with 269 in 2005-06 [2].
• NBA regular season leader, three-point field goals attempted: 2006 (653)
• NBA all-time career three-point field goals made: 2nd with 1,920 (as of April 7, 2007)
• Holds NBA record for most seasons leading the league in three-point field goals made with 3 (2001-02 with 229, 2002-03 with 201, 2005-06 with 269)
• Shares NBA record for most three-point field goals made in one half with 8 (April 14, 2002 vs. the Charlotte Hornets).
• Holds Milwaukee Bucks franchise records for most consecutive games played (400), most career three-point field goals made (1,051), and most career three-point field goals attempted (2,587).
• Ranks 69th all time on the NBA's scoring leader list trailing Bob Cousy (as of 13-Mar-2007).
• Member of the 2000 United States Men's basketball team, which won gold at the Sydney Olympics.

Trivia

• Ray is a 12 handicap golfer. He also bowls, and averages over 150.^[6]
• During Milwaukee's 2001 playoff series with the Hornets, Ray painted his toenails green and purple for good luck.^[7]
• Played lead character Jesus Shuttlesworth in the 1998 Spike Lee film He Got Game.

Notes

External links

• Ray Allen Player Info at NBA.com
• Ray Allen Statistics at Basketball-Reference.com
• Ray Allen at the Internet Movie Database
• RAYFAN.com - Ray Allen fan blog
• Career Statistics

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