Written by David Golliver at SI.com
Obsessive. That’s long been the go-to adjective to describe Ray Allen, who officially announced his retirement on Tuesday, more than two years after he played his last game with the 2014 Heat. The future Hall of Famer, two-time champion all-time leading three-point shooter stressed the importance of his “Boring old habits” in a letter announcing his decision posted on The Players’ Tribune.
Obsessive attention to his shooting mechanics and warm-up routine. Obsessive attention to his physique. Obsessive attention on his internal motivation, eschewing naysayers and yaysayers, alike.
“You’ll win a championship in Boston,” Allen writes. “You’ll win another in Miami. The personalities on those two teams will be different, but both teams will have the same thing in common: habits. Boring old habits. I know you want me to let you in on some big secret to success in the NBA. The secret is there is no secret. It’s just boring old habits.”
Allen’s singlemindedness and commitment produced a career so long and distinguished that it can be broken into eras. He was Jesus Shuttlesworth in 1998’s “He Got Game” and he was “Mr. Yellow Ropes” during the historic 2013 Finals. Along the way, he plied his trade for the Bucks, SuperSonics, Celtics and Heat, piling up 10 All-Star and two All-NBA selections and cultivating the league’s most envied shot.
“The greatest shooter to play the game,” Stephen Curry wrote on Twitter Tuesday, the ultimate compliment from the ultimate authority on the subject.
In recognition of Allen’s formal announcement, which comes after two seasons worth of rumors about a return to the court, here’s a look back at his sterling 18-year career through the lens of the Sports Illustrated Vault.
UCONN
Allen first arrived in the pages of Sports Illustrated with a whisper rather than a bang, garnering a quick mention in a Big East preview that devoted more ink to Allen Iverson. Midway through his sophomore season at UConn, SI hailed him as an “emerging superstar” and forecast his NBA ceiling. By Jan. 1996, Allen’s junior year, Jack McCallum suggested he had top-five potential in the upcoming draft while evoking a particularly lofty comparison.
“Allen’s classic jump shot and smooth, economical moves suggest Michael Jordan.”
Then, in March, Alexander Wolff offered this extended profile, which, not surprisingly, quotes Allen on the virtue of “control.”
UConn coach Jim Calhoun intends no disrespect when he points this out, but he says, “Iverson makes it look difficult. Ray makes it look easy.”
“Control is basically the whole agenda of my life,” says Allen, a 6’5” junior swingman. “To take charge of everything and make decisions for myself.” As he goes up for one of his jumpers, a shot so reliable that he was making 47.4% of his three-pointers at week’s end, Allen is compact, in control. He plays defense with the relentlessness of a spurned long-distance company that wants you back, but always… in control. When he curls off a screen and takes a pass from his usual setup man, Huskies guard Doron Sheffer, and slashes his way to the basket, it’s the same thing. “He’s committed one charge all year,” says Calhoun. “For a guy who’s averaging 23 points a game, that’s remarkable.” Indeed, Allen may sometimes be too controlled for the Huskies’ own good; Calhoun frets that Allen is so adept at altering his flight path with midcourse corrections that he often avoids contact altogether, thus losing out on a trip to the foul line
Afterward Allen explained why the Huskies hadn’t been more demonstrative after clinching their third straight regular-season Big East title. “Last year we had guys who drank a lot of coffee,” he said. “[Former Huskies] Bu Willingham and Donny Marshall, they were all hyped up.”
Someone suggested that Allen was a decaf guy. “No,” replied this most fluid of players. “I’d say I’m just water.”
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