RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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After years of the two being compared together, Klay Thompson addressed the parallels between him and Ray Allen after joining the Miami Heat.
Thompson is joining the Heat on a two-year, $11.4 million contract after agreeing to a buyout with the Dallas Mavericks and becoming a free agent.
Now past his prime, the former All-Star is set to provide shooting and a veteran presence to the Heat, much like Ray Allen did in 2012, leaving the Boston Celtics to join the Heat.
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Klay Thompson loves the comparisons to Ray Allen
Speaking to ESPN West Palm radio after joining the Miami Heat, Klay Thompson was asked how he feels about his signing being compared to the team landing Ray Allen during the 2012-13 season.
Thompson loves being compared to Allen, crediting him and Reggie Miller for his style of play, and acknowledging Allen’s finest moment in a Heat jersey, his clutch step-back three-pointer in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
“Of course I like those comparisons. I love Ray Allen. Are you kidding me? Him and Reggie were the blueprint for my whole off-ball formula.
“It gives me chills I’m even in the same sentence as Ray, because if you told me this my rookie season, I would’ve never believed you.
“Ray has one of the greatest shots in history, and I still practice that back pedal drill he did in Game 6 of 2013. I love those comparisons.”
Thompson and Allen are both considered two of the greatest shooters of all time, sitting third and fourth in the NBA’s all-time three-pointers made list behind Stephen Curry and James Harden.
While Thompson and Curry helped popularise the three-point shot, it was the dominance of players like Allen and Miller that made a perimeter-oriented offensive game a viable option for NBA players.
And the comparison is definitely apt, given that both Klay and Allen joined the Heat at a later point in their careers, when they were no longer All-NBA players and were coming to play a role and provide spacing.
If Thompson’s impact on the Heat can match Allen’s game-winning heroics in the NBA Finals, fans will come to embrace the Captain just as they did Jesus Shuttlesworth all those years ago.
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