Back in the early 2010s everyone was hyped because of the BIG3 in Miami.
You still had BIG 4 in Boston
you had your old BIG3 in San Antonio,
the Clippers were starting to come up, but there was also one team nobody wanted to face
and that was the Memphis Grizzlies.
They were tough defenders, playing hard, and quite possibly nobody was tougher than Tony
Allen.
Hey guys.
Purple Prince here and today we’ll look back at the career of The Grindfather Tony
Allen.
Allen started his college basketball career for Butler County Community college.
As a freshman, he averaged 16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.8 steals.
He then moved to Wabash Valley College where he led his team to a fourth-place in National
Junior College championships.
Tony Allen gained his college degree and first real basketball acknowledgment in Oklahoma
State.
There, for 2 seasons he was a starter in BIG 12 conference and in 67 total games averaged
15.3 points, 2.9 assists, and 2 steals.
He was a great defender, but not really a shot-maker, so he fell in the 2004 NBA draft
to the 25th spot and was picked by the Boston Celtics.
Almost right away he signed a multi-year contract
He got some playing opportunities in his rookie season and finished it averaging 6.4 points
and 2.9 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game.
He was getting more and more minutes with the Celtics because of his great efforts on
the defensive end, but with the arrival of Rajon Rondo and an ACL injury that ended his
2007 season prematurely, his playing time became stagnant.
But, he did manage to win the NBA Championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008.
After the championship win, Allen agreed to resign with the Celtics for 2 more years.
Allen was a key bench player for the Celtics for 2 more years and ended his Celtics tenure
with a loss in the 2010 NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the summer of 2010 Allen signed a 3-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.
In Memphis, he emerged as one of the premier perimeter defenders in the league.
He was the teams starting shooting guard and one of the more important players on the Grizzlies
roster.
In his first season there, Allen finished fourth in the voting for the Defensive Player
of the Year.
He made the All-NBA Defensive second team and was a key defender in Memphis’s shocking
upset of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011 NBA Playoffs.
Allen continued to build his reputation on the defensive end.
During the lockout-shortened - 2012 season Allen made the NBA All-Defensive First team
and was voted the best perimeter defender in the NBA by the league’s general managers.
As good as his defense was, you could never count on him making a shot.
He didn’t shoot from the three and his shot as a whole just wasn’t there.
A lot of times, actually most of the time, it was like Grizzlies were playing 4 on 5
on offense.
It all was cool while the main stars of the team were in their prime, but as they faded,
so did Tony Allen.
His last hooray was during the 2013 NBA playoffs where Memphis battled all the way to the conference
finals.
On the way getting there Memphis beat the higher-seeded Los Angeles Clippers
and the best team of the Western Conference that year - the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Allen himself averaged career highs all across the board in the playoffs,
but all of that was just too much as in the conference finals Memphis was swept by the
Spurs.
Memphis did return to the playoffs, but never with the same success.
At the time Tony Allen, along with Mike Conley was one of the most fearsome defensive backcourts
in the league.
Memphis’s grit n grind playstyle was giving problems to a lot of teams, so the team management
decided to give it one more go and in the summer of 2013, resigned Tony Allen to a 4-year
deal.
During the 2014 season, Allen was slowed down by his health but still managed to guard at
a high level.
Next year he once again was named to the first All-Defensive team and the year after he made
the 2nd defensive team.
The trajectory of the team was changing though.
Every year it was getting tougher for Memphis to win and their players were getting older.
After spending 7 seasons in Memphis, Tony Allen was not resigned.
His contributions were recognized though as the Memphis Grizzlies promised him to retire
his jersey when he retires as a player.
He continued his career with the New Orleans Pelicans, but it was just a short 22 game
stint.
In the first part of the season, he suffered a fractured left fibula, and later after suffering
a setback in recovery, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls who waived him soon after.
That was the last we saw of him in the NBA.
There hasn’t been any official word on his retirement, but since he’s been out of the
league for 2 years and is already 38 years old I think it’s pretty safe to say that
his NBA career is over.
Tony Allen played in 820 NBA games, started 441 of them and averaged 22 minutes, 8.1 points,
3.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals.
During his heyday, he was one of the best if not the best defender in the league and
during his time in Memphis, he made 6 NBA All-Defensive teams.
Just for a cherry on top - he is also an NBA champion.
He was never the best scorer, the most important player and never really flirted with that
all-star level.
But he left a mark on the league with his tenacity, competitiveness, and love for the
game.
The Grindfather - Tony Allen!
Thanks for watching the video guys.
Did you enjoy watching Tony Allen play?
Was he the best defender in the league at the time?
What is your best Tony Allen highlight?
Please leave a comment below with your thoughts about Tony Allen.
Leave a like for the video to improve your chances to make the NBA All-Defensive team,
share this video with others and SUBSCRIBE to become the real NBA champion.
Thanks for everything.
This was Purple Prince and I’m out!