Allen, " I am a better player than Pose"

[nugentrk]

Tony Allen is talking smack already. I can't wait, start the season already

I am not sure if this a repost or not

Last season, the experienced veteran, Posey, was ahead of him on the depth chart.

Now, with Posey in New Orleans, Allen gets his shot. The fourth-year pro said he’s never been concerned about Posey, and perhaps for this reason: “I look at every year as a time to compete,” he said.

“I mean, he had more experience, more years and knowledge than I did, and me coming off the injury was detrimental to the team. The coaches looked at it like this guy (Allen) has more strengthening to put on his knee, and right now Pose is a more complete guy.”

Now, though, after a summer of relaxation and further rehab, Allen comes in with a new attitude.

“I truly believe that I am a better player than Pose. I don’t want to toot my own horn and make it sound like that, but that’s how I feel. I mean, I let the coaches evaluate that. That’s just how I feel.”

full article
http://www.patriotledger.com/sports/x1477853617/Playing-time-may-increase-for-Celtics-Tony-Allen

[BballerShotCaller]

That is very unnecessary for him to say.

Then he goes on to contradict himself by saying... "I don’t want to toot my own horn and make it sound like that, but..."

So he doesn't want to,... but he just did,... walking contradiction.
He goes on to say,...

"I mean, I let the coaches evaluate that."

Another contradiction, because the coaches obviously did evaluate it, and they went with Posey.

[darrendaye]

I'm an admitted TA supporter. From the neck down, he surely can be a better producer than James Posey, but it's tough to imagine that TA will suddenly evolve mentally to an equal or superior player to Posey when it comes their contributions to winning basketball games consistantly. TA can erupt. The thing is though that he can do so in bad ways as well as good on any given night.

I'm certainly rooting for him and appreciate the ways he does help the team. But, I'm not ready to trust he's quite in Pose's category. I'd love to see it.

[Jammer]

Posey had a phenomenal year shooting the 3, and could somewhat defend LeBron.

In terms of NET PER, Tony was better last year.

Let's look at 3 categories,

defensive PER (what the man you are guarding is doing),
offensive PER (what you're doing),
NET PER (the difference between the two).

The results from last season may surprise:

2008 Celtic Defensive PER (what the man they were guarding was doing over season)
Note (the lower the number, the better a DEFENDER you are)

11.2 Tony Allen (arguably team's best defender)
12.1 Paul Pierce
12.1 Gabe Pruitt
12.7 Kevin Garnett
12.7 Ray Allen
13.3 Eddie House
13.8 Brian Scalabrine
15.8 Glen Davis
16.3 Rajon Rondo
16.5 Kendrick Perkins
16.8 James Posey
17.6 PJ Brown
19.0 Sam Cassell
19.6 Leon Powe
22.6 Scot Pollard (worst defender)

Now, let's look at offensive PER's from last year, where the higher the number the better:

28.7 Kevin Garnett (9.2 rpg explains why his PER is highest)
23.6 Leon Powe
22.4 Paul Pierce
18.5 Ray Allen
17.7 Rajon Rondo (surprise, but the kid took 9.3 shots per game, I wish he took 7)
14.9 Kendrick Perkins (another surprise)
14.9 Eddie House
13.9 James Posey
12.9 Sam Cassell
12.8 Glen Davis
11.6 PJ Brown
09.9 Gabe Pruitt
09.8 Scot Pollard
06.0 Brian Scalabrine (how'd he get a 5 year, $15 million contract??? - One Good playoff series)

Now, the most important, NET PER, the difference between the above numbers,
where Tony Allen will comfortably be higher than James Posey.
(note higher numbers are better)

16.0 Kevin Garnett
10.2 Paul Pierce
05.9 Ray Allen
04.0 Leon Powe
01.6 Eddie House (surprise, he's only on the floor when he can succeed)
01.5 Tony Allen
01.4 Rajon Rondo
-1.6 Kendrick Perkins
-2.2 Gabe Pruitt (surprise)
-3.0 James Posey
-3.0 Glen Davis
-6.0 PJ Brown
-6.1 Sam Cassell
-7.8 Brian Scalabrine
-12.8 Scot Pollard

So, if you go by NET PER, the top 8 players on last year's team were:

Kevin, Paul, Ray, Rajon, Kendrick, Tony, Eddie and Leon.

Obviously James filled an important role as a mobile power forward,
just as PJ served as the low post defender late in the season.
But when Kendrick is healthy, he can perform that function.

So, I kind of agree that Tony is better, but Tony is more suited to defending guards,
we still have to see how he handles the larger SF's
(unless Ray moves over,
or Darius ends up being the 5th man on the floor late in games when the team wants to go mobile).

Who the 5th man will be, Darius or Tony, is still to be determined (on nights they don't want a banger like Kendrick).

[mrautobahn]

I just finished watching the game the Celtics played in LA during the regular season... Rondo didn't play and TA had to play point...

He was simply magnificent... If he can do this consistently this coming season and make us forget about Posey...

[Scalamental]

I love Tony Allen. If he needs a little krunk comin out his mouth to get his mojo working, so be it. I just hopes it works for him.

[Dogen]

Yeah, who's 'Pose'? That guy who plays for the Hornets? He was great last year, and now gone.

Tony Allen has all the experience and tools to come in and prove himself as our sixth man. He's never seemed particularly eloquent in interviews; so let's give him an opportunity to put his money where his mouth is.

I think he's going to be integral this year, and will be a nice backcourt compliment to Eddie House.

[TommyPoints]

Salmon and mashed potatoes...

[GreenGrizz]

Now is TA's time. I believe in him.

[return2glory]

When healthy, TA is the better one one one player IMO. But Posey brings a lot to the table and is more clutch. Posey helped us win a championship, TA didn't. I'll never forget the contibutions Posey and P.J. made. Without them, we would not have won a championship last year.

TA, POB, and Miles have to fill the roles left behind by Posey and PJ.

[Man_Up]

I like it .

Tony has been lacking this type of confidence for a while now. If he believes that he can be the player we saw before the injury then that's great. For the record the Tony we saw before the injruy was a better player than Posey.

[humblebum]

Posey was a very solid player for the Celtics but he rarely performed well enough to be considered a true game changer. He functioned as a momentum killer with the three ball when the other team got hot. He got under the other teams skin taking charges and being in the right spots (wrong spots according to the opponent) consistently on the defensive end. But, let's be real here, there were plenty of games where Posey was almost a non-factor in terms of making the key plays. Most of the time he was reliant on Ray, Paul, KG, and Rondo making plays for him. This is what caused so many of our struggles to score last season.

Tony Allen will not always be the steady player that Posey was but he can go out there and dominate a game once out of every five tries IMO when healthy. On the other 4 nights you can at least count on solid, solid defense. Don't let it be said that Tony isn't a good positional defender as well because he really is. If you want to talk about something that Tony can consistently bring to the table it's getting to the free throw line. This is the most important exchange between Posey and Tony. I think Tony is going to have a really strong impact on the game in an expanded role.

[Celtsfan1980]

The only difference I can see is that Posey has played well in the clutch. He benefits from having good teammates as he is usually wide open. Tony Allen hasn't been in that situation yet, so only time will tell if he has Posey's same abilities. I like his confidence though.

[campybatman]

There's no way that Tony Allen or rookies J.R. Giddens or Bill Walker can step in for Posey. Not on the court or off of it.

Allen is a high-level athlete with plenty of toughness and is the most likely immediate defensive replacement for Posey.

Paul Pierce couldn't defend LeBron and Kobe throughout an entire game and the C's will need another shut-down defender this season because it's unreasonable to run Pierce into the ground each and every night by putting him on the opposing team's top wing scorer.

"We think Tony's our best defensive player and he gives our offense something different we missed last year," Ainge said. "He's a slashing, up-tempo type of guy who can get to the basket."

But I just can't seem to get THE PLAY out of my mind. You know which one. The one where Chauncey Billups made Allen look like a kindergarten kid grasping for a lollipop. The one when he bit on Billups' up-fake at the end of a regular-season game, which led to a couple of game-winning free throws with 0.1 seconds left.

I mean, everyone in the new Garden knew exactly what Billups was going to do – yet Allen was unable to keep his feet on the ground.

Ainge counters with numbers – and they don't lie.

Boston went 9-2 in the 11 games that Allen started last season. I found that the Celtics were also 43-11 in games in which Allen logged more than 15 minutes a year ago.

Impressive, but I’m hardly sold.

"He was a factor in games in which he played a lot," Ainge said. "In fact, he was fantastic – and more importantly, our team was fantastic."

Allen, who is still making his way back from knee surgery less than two years ago, won't need to be fantastic. He'll just need to be consistently productive because there is certainly a void – one that likely won't be filled between now and the beginning of October when training camp begins – at the wing spot coming off the bench.

It's realistically the lone void that needs to be addressed on the team. Everyone else is back other than P.J. Brown and Sam Cassell – who will both be collecting social security anytime now.

"Most people judged Tony when he was the 10th or 11th man," Ainge said. "He struggled in that type of role, but he's proven that when he does get time, he plays very well – and our team plays well."

http://weei.com/pages/2801500.php?

[ParticleMan]

That is very unnecessary for him to say.

Then he goes on to contradict himself by saying... "I don’t want to toot my own horn and make it sound like that, but..."

So he doesn't want to,... but he just did,... walking contradiction.
He goes on to say,...

"I mean, I let the coaches evaluate that."

Another contradiction, because the coaches obviously did evaluate it, and they went with Posey.

LMAO. i think you've been watching too many debates.

[Dave_From_NB]

Tony was handicapped all last season from coming back from knee surgery, then playing with a knee brace. With the brace off, he's probably quicker than last year. There's no reason not to believe that Tony is better than last year, and Posey is on the downside of his career. I'm not dissing Posey, he's still a good player. It's not inconceivable that Tony is physically a better player than Posey now.

Between the ears, Posey has the advantage.

Good for Tony, having the positive mind-set is a big step.

[celticfan42487]

I clicked this link thinking this is something Ray Allen said.

I still remember Posey clearly outpreforming Ray Allen in Ray Allen's role the first two post season rounds as well as filling Pose's own role of all around help defender and leader.

Tony Allen is either being completely disrespectfull or he's still and idoit who hasn't learned that there are two type of shooters, Sasha Vujabitches and James Posey's. Let alone defenders.

Does anyone else remeber Posey stealing the ball from Prince on what should have been a "routine" inbounds pass to seal the game and kill a late comeback of the Pistons? Does anyone else remeber the astounding confidence you must of had because every open 3 Posey took simingly went in as soon as it was playoffs time.

There comes to a point where I just don't like this sort of stuff. Tony Allen may have better tools then Posey... maybe but he undoubtedly has a long way to go to be a better player and I think it's something he needs to recognize in order to work on. You don't wake up a baseketball genuis.. you live your live to be one.

[ParticleMan]

LOL I remember it wasn't that many years ago when Posey was considered a knucklehead, with questionable desire, and people wondered if he would last in the league. Now he's some sort of genius glue guy? Right. I mean, I appreciate what Pose did for us, but to make it seem like it was some critical thing that was absolutely essential to our success, um... no. Statistically he was one of our worst players who played significant minutes. The timely 3's were great, but frankly I'd rather have someone who puts pressure on the defense consistently, and can actually stay in front of their man on D.

I don't actually think TA is better than Pose right now, but it's pretty close, and I love TA's confidence. Just like I love PP saying he's the best player in the league. It doesn't matter if it's true, it only matters whether the player believes it and tries to live up to it.

[humblebum]

People need to stop evaluating Tony by the standard of James Posey. People want to talk about clutch three point shots and timely defensive plays as if that is the only way to get the job done. Tony is a different player and he brings his own strengths. Let's not compare Posey's strengths smart, clutch, good shooter to Tony's weaknesses erratic, mediocre shooter etc. Instead lets compare their strengths and then think about how Tony's strengths can help THIS TEAM win. This is a new team. Tony brings a slashing offensive game, a high % of fouls drawn, energy, and really good on the ball defense. Those elements will help this team but if you look for Tony to provide in the areas of Posey's strengths you'll be disappointed.

[Bad-Thoma]

I'm glad not to many posters are on Tony's case about this, because really... BFD. I liked Posey a lot, and he made some nice contributions last year, but there was plenty of times he looked pretty damned ordinary out there. Regardless of who is in fact "better" I'd be more worried about Tony if he didn't think he was better than Posey. If Tony can play at the level he has shown us in spurts around knee injuries we'll all be saying, "James who?" by December, because when Tony is on he is an excellent defender and is relentless taking the ball to the hoop.