Tony Allen undoubtedly is one of the NBA’s best defenders. Today, Mr. ‘First Team All-Defense’ celebrates his 42nd birthday.
About five and a half years ago, Allen made an appearance at the Basketball Hall of Fame’s ’60 Days of Summer program’. 60 days of summer is family oriented interactive museum programming, with various appearances and autograph signings. People from the audience are welcome to ask questions for the former and current NBA stars to answer.
One kid asked Tony Allen who he did look up to as a young player?! Allen instantly named Paul Pierce and told a bunch of funny stories. Allen said that Pierce has liked him from the get go.
“When I first got to Boston, he just took a liking to me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m from Chicago, I’m rough around the edges, I’m not sure. He kinda put like a battery to my back.”
Pierce was mentoring Allen, and motivated him with money or expensive gifts. The Grindfather told two funny stories about Pierce’s motivation tactics:
“I get drafted, he comes to the Summer League. He comes in, I’m tying my shoes… He comes and sits down… I look and say ‘ohhh, that’s Paul Pierce, ok’. So I tied ’em [my shoes] up a little tighter, cause it was time to play now. I come in and get my first dunk. He [Pierce] looks to the sideline and he said: ‘Man, you get five more and I’m giving you $2000’. I’m saying, ‘Five dunks, that’s all you want for the $2000?’ Man, I got four right in a row and I said ‘I got one more’… I got the last one on a breakaway steal, I say ‘have that $2000 ready’. He had that $2000 ready.”
Since rookie Tony Allen and Paul Pierce had a great connection ever since that day, Pierce didn’t stop mentoring Allen. Summer League is Summer League and the regualar season is a whole different thing. That’s why Pierce upped the ante. For his next motivational push, he didn’t offer $2000, but a $30,000 watch. Allen recalled the story.
“So it was almost All Star break. I’m playing good… I’m starting and I’m playing a nice amount of minutes. I can remember Paul Pierce saying. ‘You know Tony, you’re playing good. This week you’re averaging like 13 points a game, you’re being solid, you’re competing with some of the top prolific scorers.’ So he said: ‘what if you get called to the rookie All Star?’ Well you know me, I gotta say the most humble answer and said: ‘Well you know right now, that’s not my concern. I’m focused on winning ball games…’ that’s what I told him. Paul Pierce busts out saying: ‘Man, stop lying, I know you wanna make that team… You know what, if you’re gonna make that team,’ Pierce took off his watch, ‘he said, if you make that team, I’m giving you this watch.’ I made that team…”
