Ray Allen didn’t need much help becoming one of the greatest shooters the NBA has ever seen. But when he looked back on the people who shaped him early in his career, the Hall of Famer had a clear list of teammates who pushed him in the right direction.
Appearing on The Jim on Base Show, Allen was asked to build a Mount Rushmore of former teammates who made him a better player. He didn’t stop at four names.
“I would say Johnny Newman, Sam Cassell, Michael Curry, Elliot Perry, Ervin Johnson,” Allen said. “If you’re not a basketball junkie, you may not know who they are… They just stayed on me.
They taught me the game of basketball. I watched them.
I grew up in that space in my career that allowed me to achieve the things that I did in my life, in my career.”
The names may not jump off the page for casual fans, but they clearly left a mark on Allen. Most of them were part of his early years with the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that acquired his draft rights from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1996.
Sam Cassell was one of the biggest names on Allen’s list. He arrived in Milwaukee in 1999 after already winning two NBA titles with the Houston Rockets, and the two were Bucks teammates through the end of Allen’s run with the franchise in 2003.
Allen and Cassell later reunited with the Boston Celtics, with Cassell joining the team in 2008. That pairing ended with an NBA championship that same year.
Cassell retired a year later with career averages of 15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.2 blocks across 15 seasons. Today, he’s an assistant coach with the Celtics.
Michael Curry is another name that might ring a bell because of his coaching work. He spent years as an NBA assistant coach and served as the Detroit Pistons’ head coach for the 2008-09 season.
As a player, Curry logged 11 seasons and averaged 4.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game. More than half of that career came with the Pistons, but he was also in Milwaukee from 1997 to 1999.
Johnny Newman was already a seasoned scorer by the time he reached the Bucks, where he played from 1994 to 1997. His best days were behind him, but Allen still credited him with helping shape his game. Newman spent 16 seasons in the league and finished with averages of 11.0 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.2 blocks.
Elliot Perry joined the Bucks in 1996, the same year Allen arrived. Perry had already spent four seasons in the NBA and eventually played 10 in all. He posted career averages of 6.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.0 steals per game.
Ervin Johnson rounded out Allen’s list. He played 13 NBA seasons, including seven with Milwaukee, spending time with the Bucks from 1997 to 2003 and again in the 2005-06 season.
According to RealGM, he played 425 games with Allen, second only to Paul Pierce’s 436. Johnson’s career numbers were 4.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game.
Allen made it clear that the lesson went beyond basketball skills. The mentorship he got in Milwaukee helped keep him on track.
“I always like to think back on those early days because if you don’t have good mentorship in anything you do, any walk of life, any business, any endeavor, you struggle coming out the gate,” Allen said. “And I like to think those guys kind of helped keep me on that straight and narrow. And then, you didn’t take advantage of me and then make sure that I did the right things.
“I dressed appropriately,” Allen continued. “I got in early to get shots up. I didn’t waste money, so it was a great blessing to be drafted to Milwaukee with those guys.”
That foundation helped Allen build a career that included 10 All-Star selections, two All-NBA teams, two championships, and a spot on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.
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