Tony Allen (basketball)

Tony Allen
No. 9 – Memphis Grizzlies
Position Shooting guard
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1982-01-11) January 11, 1982
Chicago, Illinois
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 213 lb (97 kg)
Career information
High school Crane (Chicago, Illinois)
College Butler County CC (2000–2001)
Wabash Valley (2001–2002)
Oklahoma State (2002–2004)
NBA draft 2004 / Round: 1 / Pick: 25th overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career 2004–present
Career history
2004–2010 Boston Celtics
2010–present Memphis Grizzlies
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com

Anthony "Tony" Allen (born January 11, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is nicknamed "The Grindfather" for his excellent perimeter defense and grinder mentality and style of play.[1]

Early career

Allen played at Chicago's Crane High School, where he was a basketball standout. At Crane, Allen played alongside future Celtics prospect Will Bynum.[2] A 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 213 lb (97 kg; 15.2 st) shooting guard, Allen spent his freshman year (2000–01) playing for Butler County College in El Dorado, Kansas, where he averaged 16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.8 steals, going on to being named Jayhawk West Conference Freshman of the Year.[3] During his sophomore year (2001–02) at Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Illinois, he led his team to 32–6 overall record and fourth place at the NJCAA championships.[3]

For his final two college seasons (2002–2004), Allen transferred to Oklahoma State University (OSU), where he was named the national junior-college transfer of the year by collegeinsider.com,[2] and cited by college basketball commentator Dick Vitale as one of the top three junior college transfers during his junior season.[2] He was named the Big 12 Player of the Year his senior year, after averaging 16 points per game and leading the Cowboys to the Final Four. Allen became the first player in OSU history to score 1,000 career points in two seasons.[3] He graduated from Oklahoma State with a degree in education.

Professional career

Boston Celtics (2004–2010)

Allen was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 25th overall pick of the 2004 NBA draft. In his rookie season in 2004–05 he averaged 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, and ranked 3rd in the league in steals per 48 minutes, with 2.89. He was selected to play for the rookies in the Rookie Challenge during All-Star Weekend, along with fellow Celtic Al Jefferson.

Shooting incident

During the 2005 off-season, Allen was charged with aggravated battery stemming from an altercation that escalated into the non-fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man outside a restaurant in Chicago in August 2005. Although he was not a suspect in the shooting, Allen was accused of breaking another man's left eye socket.[4] He spent two nights in jail, but was not implicated in the shooting. Due to this incident and a severe right knee injury that Allen had suffered prior to the shooting, Allen missed much of the first half of the 2005–06 season. On April 24, 2007, Allen was found not guilty by a Chicago court.[4][5]

Knee injury

On January 11, 2007, in a Celtics loss to the Indiana Pacers, Allen suffered a debilitating knee injury as he landed awkwardly following an uncontested slam dunk attempt,[6] tearing both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL).[7] Allen underwent a successful ACL reconstructive surgery on January 13 at New England Baptist Hospital[8] and was sidelined for the rest of the season.[6] He was averaging 11.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.48 steals in 33 games.[9] He made a quick return to the court for his type of knee injury only nine months later during the following preseason, even though not at full strength.[10] However, the explosiveness he displayed prior to the injury has since been noted as "sorely lacking".[10]

2008–2009

On July 23, 2008, Allen re-signed with the Celtics on a 2-year, $5 million contract.[11][12]

Memphis Grizzlies (2010–present)

2010–11

In July 2010, Allen signed a three-year, $9.7 million contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.[13][14] He later reflected on his final seasons in Boston by saying that he felt he was 'overshadowed', in particular, by veterans Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.[13]

On February 8, Allen was inserted into the starting lineup in a game against Oklahoma City, in place of an injured Rudy Gay and suspended O.J. Mayo. Allen produced 27 points, five steals and three blocks while spending most of the contest guarding Kevin Durant. In a postgame interview, he coined the phrase "Grit. Grind." that became part of Memphis' team identity going forward.[15]

He was named to the 2011 NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team for his efforts that season[16] after averaging 1.79 steals per game, good for 5th in the NBA,[17] mostly off the bench. He led the league in steals-per-48-minutes at 4.14, more than one steal higher than second-placed Chris Paul.[18]

2011–12

Due to the 2011 NBA lockout, the 2011–12 NBA season was reduced from its normal 82 games to 66 games. In the 2011–12 NBA GM survey, Allen was ranked the "Best Perimeter Defender".[19] He was the Grizzlies' starting shooting guard, averaging 9.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.8 spg, 1.4 apg in 26.3 mpg. He was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the first time in his career. The Grizzlies finished 41-25 and clinched the fourth seed in the Western Conference and made the playoffs for the second year in a row. However, the Grizzlies were defeated by the Los Angeles Clippers in a full seven game series in the opening round of the playoffs.

2012–13

In the 2012–13 season, Allen received 53 points to make the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the second time in a row.[20]

2013–14

On July 15, 2013, Allen re-signed with the Grizzlies to a multi-year deal.[21] The Grizzlies had a season of ups-and-downs as the new coach Dave Joerger, who was appointed in June 2013, had to deal with numerous player injuries. Eventually, the Grizzlies went on to finish the season with 50 wins, which was good for seed number 7 in the West. They lost in the first round to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game, highly competitive series (four matches ended in overtime). Allen was a huge part of the gritty Grizzlies team, as he received huge credit for drastically limiting Kevin Durant's productivity thereby making the series more even.

2015-16

On March 22, 2016, Allen scored 27 points on 12-12 shooting, the most shots made without a miss that season, in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Personal life

Allen was born to Ella Allen, and he has two sisters, Ebony and Dominique, and a brother, Ryan,[2][3] who played college basketball for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

His Celtics teammates called him "Gucci".[22] With the Grizzlies, he earned the nickname "Grindfather".[23]

Bill Simmons also gave him the nickname "Trick or Treat" for his ability to perform an amazing athletic feat on defense only to miss a wide open lay up on the offensive end. [24]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes season in which Allen won an NBA Championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004–05 Boston 77 34 16.4 .475 .387 .737 2.9 .8 1.0 .3 6.4
2005–06 Boston 51 9 19.2 .471 .324 .746 2.2 1.3 1.0 .4 7.2
2006–07 Boston 33 18 24.4 .514 .242 .784 3.8 1.7 1.5 .4 11.5
2007–08† Boston 75 11 18.3 .434 .316 .762 2.2 1.5 .8 .3 6.6
2008–09 Boston 46 2 19.3 .482 .222 .725 2.3 1.4 1.2 .5 7.8
2009–10 Boston 54 8 16.5 .510 .000 .605 2.7 1.3 1.1 .4 6.1
2010–11 Memphis 72 31 20.8 .510 .174 .753 2.7 1.4 1.8 .6 8.9
2011–12 Memphis 58 57 26.3 .469 .308 .800 4.0 1.4 1.8 .6 9.8
2012–13 Memphis 79 79 26.7 .445 .125 .717 4.6 1.2 1.5 .6 8.9
2013–14 Memphis 55 28 23.2 .494 .234 .628 3.8 1.7 1.6 .3 9.0
2014–15 Memphis 63 41 26.2 .495 .345 .627 4.4 1.4 2.0 .5 8.6
2015–16 Memphis 64 57 25.3 .458 .357 .652 4.6 1.1 1.7 .3 8.4
Career 727 375 21.8 .477 .280 .718 3.4 1.3 1.4 .4 8.1

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2005 Boston 7 3 12.9 .444 .000 .429 1.7 .3 .4 .3 2.7
2008† Boston 15 0 4.3 .563 .000 .400 .2 .2 .1 .0 1.3
2009 Boston 10 0 6.0 .500 .000 1.000 .9 .3 .2 .0 .9
2010 Boston 24 0 16.3 .480 .000 .778 1.7 .7 1.0 .6 5.1
2011 Memphis 13 13 26.9 .426 .143 .659 2.9 1.5 1.9 .4 8.8
2012 Memphis 7 7 24.3 .400 .000 .706 3.1 .7 1.3 1.0 6.9
2013 Memphis 15 15 28.1 .432 .250 .759 6.1 1.8 2.0 .3 10.3
2014 Memphis 7 1 32.9 .486 .000 .762 7.7 1.3 1.7 .1 12.3
2015 Memphis 10 9 27.9 .491 .143 .750 5.2 1.5 2.4 1.1 6.6
2016 Memphis 4 2 23.5 .303 .143 .692 2.8 .8 1.3 .5 7.5
Career 112 50 19.2 .447 .106 .716 3.0 .9 1.2 .4 6.0

See also

References

  1. ↑ 20
  2. 1 2 3 4 Tony Allen Bio at okstate.com
  3. 1 2 3 4 2004 NBA Draft Prospect Profile: Tony Allen
  4. 1 2 Charges in shooting dropped against Allen, published April 24, 2007
  5. ↑ http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2007-04-25/sports/NBABEAT25_1_lebron-james-boston-celtics-coach-bob-hill
  6. 1 2 Celtics guard Allen out for season with knee injury
  7. ↑ Tony Allen Interview, May 14, 2007
  8. ↑ Celtics G Allen undergoes knee surgery. Updated July 12, 2007
  9. ↑ Celtics' Allen has surgery on torn knee ligaments. Updated January 13, 2007
  10. 1 2 Mark Murphy, All's well with Tony, Boston Herald
  11. ↑ Frank Dell'Apa, Celtics rebound, re-sign Allen, House, Boston Globe, July 22, 2008.
  12. ↑ NBA.com: July 2008 Transactions
  13. 1 2 Memphis Grizzlies' Tony Allen says he was overshadowed in Boston - ESPN Boston
  14. ↑ Allen opts for security in Memphis Boston Globe, July 12, 2010
  15. ↑ "Grizzlies Make Up for Lack of Flash With Grit." Cacciola, Scott. The New York Times. 2013 May 18.
  16. ↑ Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett, Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant named to all-defensive first team for record ninth time - ESPN
  17. ↑ 2010-11 Regular Season NBA Player Stats and League Leaders - Steals - National Basketball Association - ESPN (note: sorted by STPG)
  18. ↑ 2010-11 Regular Season NBA Player Stats and League Leaders - Steals - National Basketball Association - ESPN (note: sorted by STP48M)
  19. ↑ 2011-12 NBA.com GM Survey Results
  20. ↑ "Allen, James headline 2012-13 NBA All-Defensive First Team". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. May 13, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  21. ↑ Grizzlies re-sign Tony Allen to multi-year contract
  22. ↑ Marc J. Spears, Celtics' Allen is on the road to recovery, Boston Globe, March 27, 2009.
  23. ↑ "Memphis Means Grizzlies – Got It?". memphisdailynews.com. May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  24. ↑ Bill Simmons, {http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100510}, May 11, 2010

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