‘Its been 9 years receiving death threats from Celtics fans’: Ray Allen talks about fallout for signing with LeBron James and Heat

Ray Allen endured a ton of hate for falling in the ‘Can’t beat em, join em’ camp, leaving the Celtics for the Heat in the summer of 2012.

The Celtics pride themselves a lot given their relative lack of success over the past 30 seasons. For a franchise that has 17 NBA championships, they last were in the vicinity of one in 2012.

It was the summer of LeBron James ultimately, but it was also the summer of Rondo in almost equal measure. The Celtics profited from injury to Derrick Rose to make a run to the Conference Finals. They took the Heat, who were without Chris Bosh for significant time off, to 7 games.

Ray Allen was a member of that squad, but his role had diminished to that of a pure shooter more than ever. At the age of 37, his best years were clearly behind him.

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Ray Allen describes the vitriol he’s endured from Celtics fans

Allen signed with the Heat in 2012, and immediately became a crucial cog in a 66-win team. He hit the shot that saved their season and gave them a shot at retaining their trophy in the following game. But the heat from Cs fans refuses to die down:

“What is it now? It’s 2020, so you’re talking about nine years now and I’ve gotten so much hate, death threats, vitriol from Boston fans,”

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Celtics fans have gained a bad reputation over the years of demanding too much from their players. The way the front office treated Allen, and Isaiah Thomas later on, have given them a bad rep with the players as well. Anthony Davis’s father went so far as to say he’d never have allowed his son to turn out in the shamrock green.