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Tony officially signed his contract today, 2yr/$5M, and met with reporters to discuss his role next season.
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Sports/Deal- ... 5877.html#

To me he seems much more mature than he has from what I've seen in interviews in the past. His IQ may have actually doubled over the past year. I think the injury, the Ubuntu philosophy, and time spent with Posey, may have made the guy into a slightly cerebral player. This is a good thing, in the past his playing style was very high intensity, and based solely on instinct alone. While that is good in some regards, as he has natural talent to fall back on, it can lead to things like getting faked out of his shoes when he goes by reflexes alone. If he can mix in smart basketball with his pitbull attack style of play, it will pay big dividends. He says that he has learned a lot from James, and I believe it, at points in the interview, he even sounds like Posey. He has also clearly given himself to the team, and said that he would love to stay in Boston for the remainder of his career. I've always believed in the guy, but after this interview, I feel a little more confident about Tony going into next season.

It's really good to have Tony back on this team. He has a world of potential and like Danny and Doc, I think this will be his breakout year. I'm rooting hard for him to become an impact player for us. Go TA!

God I love it when people say they want to finish their career in Boston. Sure it could be all talk and odds are he won't but I still love to hear it.

I really hope TA has a great year

The underrated aspect of Tony Allen, the player and the person, are the intangibles that he brings to the game and to an organization. Tony has always been one of the most active players on the bench in terms of rooting on his teammates. Even last season, in a very reduced and inconsistent role, he displayed a great team spirit. I believe on the court that his energy is infectious (which can go the other way when he doesn't have it going). As a fan you can tell that Tony really loves the game and he plays it at the level of passion that you want to see. Honestly, I believe that not only does Tony have the chance to replace Posey, he has the chance to raise this team to possibly being one of the best teams of all time. Can you imagine the Celtics with the a fully realized Tony Allen in a big role? Tony is perfectly capable of being in the running for Sixth man if he can reproduce the type of dynamic all around court game we saw from him the season before last before he suffered the knee injury. I'm excited about his potential.

humblebum wrote:The underrated aspect of Tony Allen, the player and the person, are the intangibles that he brings to the game and to an organization. Tony has always been one of the most active players on the bench in terms of rooting on his teammates. Even last season, in a very reduced and inconsistent role, he displayed a great team spirit. I believe on the court that his energy is infectious (which can go the other way when he doesn't have it going). As a fan you can tell that Tony really loves the game and he plays it at the level of passion that you want to see. Honestly, I believe that not only does Tony have the chance to replace Posey, he has the chance to raise this team to possibly being one of the best teams of all time. Can you imagine the Celtics with the a fully realized Tony Allen in a big role? Tony is perfectly capable of being in the running for Sixth man if he can reproduce the type of dynamic all around court game we saw from him the season before last before he suffered the knee injury. I'm excited about his potential.

Well said, humblebum. When healthy, Tony plays the game with absolute joy. And it's a joy to watch. And that joy can infect the whole team.

As Danny mentioned yesterday at the press conference for Tony's new contract: when Tony was playing with the starters last season, the team's +/- was +31 per 48 minutes. And that was when he was still recovering from injury, and only saw erratic playing time. Imagine what he can do when he's healthy and playing a consistent amount every night!

humblebum wrote:Tony has always been one of the most active players on the bench in terms of rooting on his teammates.

Maybe we should sign Houses kid for 2 mil a year too? All kidding aside, I love seeing Tony Allen play well. Nice interview, highlighting a good guy, who likes the game of bball and the city of boston. nothin wrong with that.

I think a healthy Tony would be huge for this team. He does things no else does. He used to be able to take over the game on the defensive end. And of course his slashing.

Other teams would just be overwhelmed if we had a healthy TA. I don't know how much he can come back, but the money is right. His plus minus was great last year as mentioned. Injured, he was our best perimieter defender.

I'm glad he's back. I had no doubt he would be.

Tony definitely sounds more mature. He's certainly saying all the right things. Good on him. Let's hope that translates to his play.

We're talking NBA basketball here, not rocket surgery. There's a lot to be said for the repetition of experience. I think TA cuts down on his boneheaded plays this year, just as Leon Powe gets the defensive rotations down. Both will be the better for it.

Tony, you're my favorite knucklehead. Welcome back.

I can't say that I'm a fan of Tony Allen, but I do like players that can play defense. Not to mention, it's nice to have players on your team that want to be here. When Tony took the team not picking up his option in stride, I knew he was probably going to resign at some point. He and his agent were not worried at all. Both parties were patient and that was good. It all worked out.

I am a TA believer. I thought he was underutilized this last season and can really help us this upcoming year. I thought he took WAY to much flack for some of the same plays other players make on occasion.

I don't know if he will be six man of the year but he can be our six man - that's for sure.

Pete

We should feel lucky to have Tony back on this team. When he started to get healthy again last year he got less playing time and didn't hang his head or want to leave this team. Guy Clinch is right that he was underutilized, as Ainge knew he had to keep Tony's minutes down so that his play wouldn't blow up so we couldn't re-sign him. If Tony had played at the end of the year like he did before he got injured some team would have thrown the MLE at him and he would be playing elsewhere. Ainge made the right decision letting Posey go and keeping Tony, as Tony could step in the starting lineup at any time and at three possitions without this team missing a beat.
I don't need to mention that I was a big supporter of bringing TA back all season and my frustration at the lack of playing time in the playoffs. Ainge reiterated all that I have said about TA in the papers today, and the biggest one about him being a better overall player than Posey. Tony will make everyone remember exactly why they were praising him before the injury. For all those that believe we need to bring in a veteran SF because they believe TA can't play against the bigger SFs, what makes you believe the bigger guys can guard TA? I can remember Doc saying a few years ago that he wants teams to have to adjust to us, and TA is just that type of player that other teams need to adjust to.

TA will be fine this year, I have absolutely no doubt he's gonna be one of the top 6 men in the NBA

i remember his game against the lakers when rondo was out and i see that game of his to be his relative contribution next season.

The change in TA that I saw last year was his ability to drive and dish....something that probably didn't occur to him until he saw the big three doing it with Perk and BBD. It makes him a lot tougher to defend and it was either a sign of his inability to get to the rim or (hopefully) a bit of maturity settling in.

That dumb foul on Billups was no different than a couple of big time PP fouls against LA at the three line that I didn't whine about too much about. Stuff happens when you play defense against vet players. Hell, Pierce getting called for that charge on the shot fake against the Pistons, WTH?

I dislike Rip....