Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ray Allen ready to sacrifice season for a fair deal. Just great.

NBA basketball shooting guard Ray Allen, of the Boston Celtics, arrives at the 2011 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles

Spectators are reflected on the sunglasses of NBA basketball shooting guard Ray Allen, of the Boston Celtics, as he arrives at the 2011 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, California, July 13, 2011. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT ENTERTAINMENT BASKETBALL IMAGES OF THE DAY)

REUTERS

Remember those heady days a couple of weeks ago when we were optimistic that the level heads would prevail and it seemed like the entire season could be salvaged? Ahhh, the naiveté of youth.

Now, we’re getting back to games being cancelled and more strident positions.

Such as Celtics sharp shooter Ray Allen yesterday speaking at his alma mater — the University of Connecticut, what you forgot his 1995 run to the Elite 8? — saying he would be willing to give up an entire season to get a fair deal.

That is saying something — Allen doesn’t have a lot of seasons left, and the Celtics championship window is about to close. This is not a team that can afford a year off. Yet Allen is willing to talk about it.

Rashard Lewis — the veteran about to be the second highest paid player in the NBA — said essentially the same thing.

I’m trying to be optimistic people, but it is hard. Very hard.