Hooped Up

Allen is rested – and relaxed
While Allen was resting during All-Star Weekend, the first time he had not participated in the game in seven years, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge was working the phones trying to improve his sagging team, with Allen’s $19.7 million expiring contract an attractive carrot for financially strapped teams seeking salary cap relief next season.

Allen focused on relaxation during a rare midseason vacation. He doted on his family, two little boys and a wife who would be just as affected by a trade as Allen. He has made a home in Boston. He has re-embraced the Northeast after years in Milwaukee and Seattle, and in fewer than 48 hours, he will know whether he will don an unfamiliar jersey with a new number and colors and shoot 3-pointers for his fourth team in 14 seasons.
Boston Globe

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As long as Ray Allen is alive, not a day will pass by without somebody calling him Jesus Shuttlesworth, which is of course the character Allen played in one of the best basketball movies of all-time, He Got Game.

Now thanks to Freshnes, you too can feel like your a Coney Island native, have a girlfriend named LaLa and a dad with a decent jumper played by Denzel Washington. Cop yours here.

Another van glorious season of NBA basketball is about to begin and Hooped Up does a quick and dirty preview of all 30 clubs.

Rasheed Wallace believes that this years Celtics squad can win more than 72 games. While I’m a glass half full guy too, I think the big three playing at least 72 games together healthy is the real key to a championship season. Read More »

Why would the starting shooting guard for the Boston Celtics need to become a Cat? Other than the fact that cats have 9 lives and extra lives like extra underwear on a long trip is always a good thing. Well, according to his Twitter page Cat Jesus explained the transformation saying “Today is my sons bday party and it was a safari theme. We had face painters. Everyone including me got our faces painted.”

Originally, he posted this picture with the caption: “If only I could golf like tiger”. The short answer to that question if it wasn’t for his sons bday excuse,  would be “because you’ve become obsessed with yarn and cat nip Ray”. But since the make up was for his sons enjoyment, we can all let it slide on the bases of good fathering.

However, if this is all an elaborate ruse then I hope Allen’s audition went well and he nailed his performance of Memory.

Another pic of Jesus Cat and a beautiful performance of Memory surely inspired by the best feline guard in the league after the jump.

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Ray Allen’s contract is up at the end of the season and Celtics president Danny Ainge reports that no serious talks have taken place regarding an extension.

But there is considerable chatter in Wellesley, where Allen lives, that his teenage daughter may move in with him.Tierra Allen has lived with her mother in South Carolina and plays volleyball and basketball in high school.

She would be a junior at Wellesley High (and why would she come if dad wasn’t planning on playing beyond this year?

Boston Globe

The Boston Celtics appear willing to make major roster changes to balance a chance for a championship run and future financial flexibility. The Celtics offered Ray Allen andRajon Rondo to the Detroit Pistons for a package that includedRichard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Boston general manager Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars never spoke, but rather the Celtics had a lower-level executive make the pitch to aPistons official over the past weekend, league sources said. Detroit immediately rejected the idea, and it never advanced to the two top executives speaking about particulars. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence for a GM like Ainge to dispatch an underling to make that kind of a call, if for no other reason to give the top executive some level of deniability that he’s shopping his stars.

Yahoo! Sports

Despite rumors to the contrary, an NBA executive said there has been “zero” trade discussion regarding Ray Allen, who will be a free agent in 2010, and that such talk is “preposterous.”Another NBA executive said, “I’m not really hearing that. But I would expect that kind of rumor. They didn’t win without KG [Kevin Garnett], he was hot and cold in the [playoffs], and he’s a last-year guy. Upgrade if you can. It would make some type of sense.” 

Boston Globe

It’s always a safe bet to never bet against Ray Allen! After the Celtics dropped game one in their series against the Bulls in Boston. The C’s were able to steal a game back from the Bulls with the help of Jesus. Now the best opening series in the playoffs, just got even better.

Don’t be surprised if this series goes the distance, I just wished this series was the best out of 15.

The next time somebody asks you how many games you think  you’d get for elbowing a guy in the groin, you can safely tell them at least one. Thanks to Ray Allen.

“Celtics guard Ray Allen has been suspended one game without pay for elbowing Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao in the groin, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations. The incident occurred with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter of the Celtics 107-76 loss to the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday. Allen will serve his suspension tonight when the Celtics visit the 76ers. Tony Allen will likely start in Ray Allen’s place.”

This has got to be music to the ears of the 76ers who are looking to inch up in the east.

Via Boston Globe

Leaving Ray Allen open for three is always a bad idea. His nickname is Jesus dammit!

Last night, Gerald Wallace found that out the hard way, after Ray Allen drilled an open 3-ball with 2.1 seconds left in the second overtime against the Bobcats. Every single time I miss a Bobcats versus Celtics game, I end up kicking myself for it.