“People don’t understand that this is real life for us,” Garnett said. “And the situation with Ray is very sensitive. I think that when we all talked about doing this reunion tour, we was talking about guys who we consider loyal and part of this group. Just being honest, my two cents, man: when Ray decided to go to the Heat, I feel like he moved on, and he went to pursue another ring, and he got another ring. Shout out to him. And that’s it. It wasn’t no other Wizards, it wasn’t no other Heat, it wasn’t no other — it was all Celtics invited to this.”
“How we all came together, we talked about it, we talked every day, we hung out all the time, and then, when it was time for free agency — and to each his own in free agency […] but I thought we formed a brotherhood here in Boston, in just how we carried ourselves, not only on the court, but off the court,” Pierce said. “I just figured that if it was me leaving, or KG leaving, y’all would have been like [mimes picking up a phone], ‘Well, Rondo, Perk, Baby, this is what I’ve been thinking about.’ That was what I was hurt by: when Ray didn’t just at least give us a head’s up about it.”
It’s been years, though, and that pass-by has yet to take place, which suggests that somebody’s going to have to take the first step toward working to reconcile this relationship. (If anybody really wants it reconciled, at least.) Perhaps unsurprisingly, Perkins sees that as Allen’s responsibility.
“At this point in time, I don’t think it’s on nobody on here to break the ice. I think it’s on Ray to break the ice,” he said. “If Ray want to make amends with anybody up here, or whatever the case, I think it’s on him to reach out and say, ‘Hey, P, I handled this wrong. We better than this.’ ‘Hey, Ticket, I handled this wrong.’ ‘Hey, Big Baby, I handled this wrong.’ ‘Hey Rondo, I handled this wrong.’ And just get it past us.”
Thoughts? Judging by some of the comments I've seen elsewhere, opinions are quite polarised. Either they're right on the money and Allen is a shady traitor (or at best, handled his business badly), or they're the ones being incredibly childish and petty, hanging on to an old grudge.