Tony Allen

[underdawg]

I know he blew out his knee last year and I'm wondering if the Celtics don't tender him an offer. Wouldn't he be cheap and a possible short contract? I only bring this up because I remember him being pretty good at Oklahoma State and he seemed decently effective in the Finals even with his limited minutes. 6-4 guard - plays defense?

[UCantHandleTheTruth]

I think he could be a bargain for some team. His D was great even after blowing out his knee. If he's healthy, there's no reason he can't be a 10 ppg bench guy for a contender either. He was very good at finishing at the rim for us prior to that knee injury and he drew a lot of fouls. Very aggressive player. He does tend to make some bonehead plays at times, but overall, the good outweighs the bad big time when this guy is right (which, unfortunately, hasn't been often in his NBA career).

The Celtics have guys like Brian Scalabrine on their roster and had Pollard on the roster as well last year, so I'd hope Ainge is going to give him a qualifying offer. He serves much more of a purporse than either of those stiffs and has way more potential than either of them at becoming a very good bench player/role player for the C's.

It's not uncommon for a guy to be less than 100% a year after going through an injury as rough as the one Tony had to go through, so I'd give him at least another year before I'd be willing to let him walk for nothing. We'll see if Ainge feels the same way.