Next year will be the 10-year anniversary of the Boston Celtics 2008 NBA Championship, and to celebrate, Rajon Rondo is planning a vacation for all of the members of that championship team, with the exception of one.
Ray Allen will not receive an invite, as he remains black-balled from the Celtics brotherhood after leaving in free agency in 2012 for the hated Miami Heat. Allen’s decision to leave Boston for Miami was seen as an act of treason by the Celtics, as he was leaving for their most hated rival.
Rondo told The Undefeated’s Marc Spears that he spoke to other teammates and some of the other vets agreed that Allen shouldn’t be invited to their vacation party. Rondo and Allen had a rocky relationship prior to Ray’s departure, but Rondo insists that he isn’t the only one that doesn’t want Allen to be brought back.
“It will be a long story about that, but it is what it is,” Rondo said. “I don’t know a good analogy to put this in. It just wasn’t the greatest separation. It wasn’t the greatest thing that could’ve happened to us as a team, a bond. We were at war with those guys [Miami]. To go with the enemy, that’s unheard-of in sports. Well, it’s not so unheard of. It’s damn near common now.
“The mindset we had. The guys on our team. You wouldn’t do anything like that. It makes you question that series in the Finals … Who were you for? You didn’t bleed green. People think we had a messed-up relationship. It’s not the greatest. But it’s not just me. I called and reached out to a couple of other vets and asked them what they wanted to do with the situation. They told me to stick with what we got [without Allen].”
There is at least one member of the 2008 Celtics team that wishes Allen would be extended an invite to the vacation, as Leon Powe told Spears that Allen was still “one of my guys,” but with Rondo and others against it, I can’t imagine Powe being able to get his wish. Kevin Garnett wasn’t happy with Allen leaving in 2012 and Paul Pierce said it felt like a “betrayal” as recently as last year, so it’s not likely that either of them will be pushing Rondo to extend the olive branch to Allen for this trip.
According to Rondo, he’s talked to everyone else from the 2008 team about going and expects the full squad out there, with the exception of P.J. Brown, who he’s still trying to contact. The trip will be to an “undisclosed location” outside of the country at some point this summer. So if you happen to be vacationing to a tropical location this summer, you might run into all of the ’08 Celtics, sans Allen.
