Ray Allen’s jumper is God-Given, like it or not
When it comes to pretty things, you take Megan Fox. I’ll take Ray Allen’s jumpshot.
Splash.
When you see Ray Allen let loose a jumper, even when it misses, you feel he was born to do nothing else. How else could you explain his stroke, more pure than Mary, the Virgin Mother of Jesus?
But Ray says it wasn’t always that way. There was a time when his shot was, in his word, “weird.” (Boston Globe)
“My coach at the time, he put me on tape and he showed me my form shooting,’’ said the Celtics guard. “I was jumping at the free throw line, and I have the tape still somewhere around the house.’’
Unless I see the tape, I don’t believe it. Ray Allen came out of the womb specifically designed to shoot three-pointers, jumpers, runners, and anything else that involves him flicking his wrist so a little round ball travels through a ring raised ten feet from a hardwood floor. Barring conclusive evidence, there is nothing Ray Allen can do or say to get me to think otherwise. Not even the following quote can change my mind.
“People always want to say that shooting the basketball is God-given and everyone isn’t blessed with that,’’ Allen said. “I say, my ability to shoot is my ability to want to go out and work every day at it, prepare, and just stay zoned in every day.’’ [...]
“Reggie Miller doesn’t have the best form, but his time in Indiana, he’s religiously been one of the hardest workers there,’’ Allen said. “That’s a formula. That’s the formula.’’
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick and tired of having Ray Allen lie to me. When he tells me that what he does — and does as well as or better than more or less any human being to walk this planet has ever done — isn’t God-given, it makes my toes curl. To suggest that I, through hours and years of hard work, could shoot a basketball with the accuracy and longevity of Ray Allen is nothing short of blasphemy. That’s like saying I could throw a baseball in my backyard for years and suddenly be Pedro Martinez in his prime. Or toss around the pigskin for awhile and morph into Tom Brady, slinging touchdown passes to everyone in sight. Apologies to Ray Allen, but his talents are undeniably God-given.
To call them that is no slight to his work ethic, which by all accounts involves getting to the gym before anyone else and draining shot after shot while his teammates and opponents are still sleeping. Just look at MJ: Michael Jordan is widely considered the hardest worker to ever grace an NBA court, but his talents were most definitely a gift from above. If you took Brian Scalabrine and gave him Jordan’s work ethic and competitive mindset, he still wouldn’t sniff being the player Jordan was. There are certain things that are unteachable, that only the great ones have.
Ray-Ray’s shooting, much like Jordan’s athleticism, is one of those things. There are other, less worthy shooters who also spend long chunks of time in the gym. But, as with any other skill, certain people are limited. If you locked Andris Biedrins in a gym for three years, threw away the key, and forced him to do nothing but shoot jumpers, he’d never become half the shooter Jesus Shuttlesworth is. Not only that, but, over the three years, he’d probably score only 10 or 20 points, even with nobody defending him. With shooting, like anything else, people have limitations.
For Ray, those limits just don’t seem to be there. It’s why we wondered what the hell was wrong when Ray struggled through the first half of the season. Regular human beings go through shooting slumps, not Ray Allen. Ray was born to shoot, and that’s what we expect out of him.
We laud his work ethic, and understand the amount of effort it took to build and maintain his craft over an entire career. Ray could have squandered his gift, like many people have done with their talents, but he never allowed that to happen. He refused to take his ability to float a ball through a basket for granted, and developed that ability to a point that, perhaps, no other human being ever has.
A lot of what he has accomplished is due to hard work, but there can be no mistaking the fact that Ray Allen was born with a talent very few men have. It’s not hard to find that out.
All you have to do is watch him shoot sometime.
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Celtics Columns, Featured | Jay King | March 26, 2010
I know you’re trying to compliment his jump shot, but I do not understand this rigid stubbornness about it being “God-given”. If there’s anything in the game of basketball more teachable, it’s the jumpshot, and yes, calling it God-given is a definite slight to his work ethic.
The MJ example you could make a case for. Even barring his natural athleticism, he had gigantic hands which helped his jumper and finishing at the rim. Saying Ray Allen’s shot wasn’t a complete product of constant practice and development, however, is something I take issue with.
Yes, if you worked enough on your jumpshot, you could shoot like Ray. If you took the time, you could throw like Pedro. The difference between the average joe and Ray is that he put the time in, and didn’t just think about it. Being a writer for a Celtics website, I’m sure you’re aware of Ray’s meticulous workout schedule and borderline OCD when it comes to basketball, so it’s not that surprising to me to see him drain a bunch of three’s in a row, with that practice.
I’m writing this for Ray because I find it insulting to say his shot is a product of God’s work. I don’t want any young readers to see having a jump shot like his as something unattainable without practice, because as many world class shooters can attest to, that’s all there is to it. Practice.
It is quite a pretty jump shot, though.
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His shot is a combination of God’s gifts and his own time and efforts. As I said, give Andris Biedrins the same work ethic and he won’t become a shooter, not in a million years. Shooting, like anything else, is a talent and skill that goes beyond merely working at something. It’s a gift, too.
Ray works as hard or harder than anyone at maintaining his craft, but at the same time has the God-given ability to shoot a basketball. When you combine those two, you get Ray Allen, one of the world’s greatest shooters. But hours of work doesn’t work for everybody; you need the gift too.
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I do somehow like the article but the virgin mary analogy was lame(and I’m not even a christian, tsk. wait for the other guys to burn you at the stake hehe)
I do believe though that Ray’s Jumpshot is a GOD-given talent that would be hard to achieve but even though it’s a God-given talent he, rightfully so, lay it to waste by not honing it consistently by thousands of hours.
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Ben, thanks for the compliment. I hope you’re wrong and I don’t get burned at the stake by any of my readers for the lame analogy.
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Knew a kid. He went into state driven facility for doing stupid things. Came out and was visiting at a friends house with a deadly accurate jumper. Guy could not really play basketball but he could shoot. Didn’t miss much if at all. I asked how the hell did he get that accurate. For five years all he did was shoot jumpers. Not that much else to do in a state run facility he said. Obviously NOT Ray Allen, but I think there is a truth to waht Alen says. Lots of work and desire. Confidence.
Ray Allen however has taken a gift for the game and honed it into a weapon.
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Agreed, completely. Allen has a gift and he’s worked like hell to mold it into a skill unmatched by almost anyone.
But then there are people like Rajon Rondo. This summer, he spent time every day working on his jumper with Mark Price. He works hard, too, but doesn’t have the gift. Even after all the hard work, he still struggles to hit an open twelve-footer, or even free throws.
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