Ray Allen for Three

"Then coach asked me to post up! Hahaha!"

Just a few days ago (or, if you're from the future, some other time measure ago), Ray Allen surpassed Reggie Miller for the greatest three point shooter in history.  This is not me boosting up a local player (Allen of course spent the bulk of his years in Seattle), but rather something backed up by stats: Ray Allen will have more threes made in his career than Miller, to go with a better percentage.

Strangely enough, both men have almost identical career stat lines despite such disparate personalities.  Miller, the fiery and outgoing man known mostly for taunting the Knicks and his 18 straight years as a Pacer, averaged 18 PPG, to go with 3 rebounds and 3 assists.  Ray Allen, known for being Jesus Shuttlesworth and his class, has a career line of 20, 4, and 4, on slightly worse overall shooting (.452 to Miller's .471).

It's fairly common knowledge for anyone with the ability to look things up on the internet that Miller, for all his greatness, never won a championship.  While some (specifically: me) will argue that Miller really wasn't that great of a player, that doesn't change the fact that he probably deserved a championship, especially after voluntarily living in Indiana for almost 20 years.  Allen had similar problems for years, forced to ply his trade on what were generally disappointing teams in Seattle before moving to Boston and winning a championship on the strength of KG's unmeasureably large dickishness.

The thing is, Ray Allen seems underappreciated to me.  The man spent years and years on average to slightly above average to miles below average teams, carrying them on his back.  Allen could work guys off the dribble, curl around screens from jumpers, and do just about anything outside of posting up.  Unfortunately, the Sonics of Allen's era weren't exactly given national exposure for a variety of reasons.  As such, people know Allen for his role as Jesus Shuttlesworth in a mediocre Denzel Washington film and for his work in Boston.

For the Celtics, Allen almost exclusively curls off screens for catch-and-shoot opportunities.  As such, people seem to view Allen mostly as nothing more than a shooter and defender.  This is, of course, laughable, as anyone who watched Allen in his prime knows he is far more than a shooter and far less than a defender (not that he doesn't try his best).

Ray Allen is indeed one of the greatest Sonics of all time, deserving to stand next to names like Jack Sikma, Gary Payton, and that one guy from high school (Robert Swift?).  While many may not remember him as shiningly as he deserves, Allen will stand for a long time now as the best shooter ever; just look at the stats.