Tony Allen

In his first season outside of the security of Memphis for a long time, Allen struggled. His 4.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game were career lows, and the trademark intense defence was much less effective in a team defence that was neither good nor accustomed enough to operate as a cohesive unit. At that point, Allen was a decent one-on-one defender with negligible offensive skill. If he can get back to a situation that will maximise his off-ball cuts, not need him to do much offensively from the perimeter and provide good interior defence behind him, he might have some years left in him. Ironically, the late-season Pelicans could have been that, but only after trading him away.

Tony Allen
SG, 6’4, 213lbs, 35 years old, 13 years of experience

Getting old, but does not seem to have lost any noticeable impact yet, still able to do his combination of defence, cutting and the occasional power move. Allen now enters unrestricted free agency, and a market value is hard to gauge on an aging one-way player with so few comparable peers. Both him and Randolph entering free agency at the same time is awkward, and potentially dangerous unless both can re-sign for favourable prices. There isn't much money to go around post-Parsons. But Allen does stuff on the roster that no one can do or readily projects to doing, while Randolph has Green (and potentially Martin) for company. Should it be a choice, this is a big plus for Allen.

Player Plan: Expiring $5,505,618 contract. With Bird rights in toe, re-signing Allen is as doable as it is wanted to be. The kind of price tag he just played for seems fair considering his age.

[...] With one exception: the date becomes Jan. 15 if the player is a Larry Bird or Early Bird free agent who re-signed with his over-the-cap team and received a raise greater than 20% in the first season of his new deal in the process. This applies only to Brandan Wright, Timofey Mozgov, Tony Allen, Nikola Pekovic, Chase Budinger, J.R. Smith and Tiago Splitter.

[...] In comparison, 36 such players have signed within those parameters in 2013. And in contrast to 2008, those names are often established quality role players who aren't quite stars and who rightly aren't being paid like it. At the top end, players like Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon, Brandon Jennings, Jarrett Jack, Jeff Teague and Carl Landry are all getting acceptable prices, perhaps $2 million annually less than they would have done five years ago. At the bottom end, established role players like Marreese Speights, Tony Allen and Chris Kaman are getting paid adequately for their useful role player production. And unlike in 2008, those deals like Kaman's are not too long. See also Greg Stiemsma, Tyler Hansbrough, Mike Dunleavy Jr, Dorell Wright and Randy Foye, none more than three years in length, some as short as one.

It no longer matters, but, for point of reference, four year 120% contracts for [Xavier] Henry and [Greivis] Vasquez will total a combined $15,167,563. Contrastly, 100% scale contracts for the two of them would have totalled a combined $12,639,636. That is a difference of $2,527,927, over four years, for a combined eight years of service between the two players. That total amount is less than they just sold Dominique Jones for, less than they just gave Tony Allen, less than they got for taking on Steven Hunter's deal last year, and less than 40% of what they're still paying Marko Jaric, a man currently without a job. Worse still, Henry and Vasquez would probably have met those minute incentives - if not in year one, then through the remainder of the contract. The savings, therefore, would have been even less. Yet that comparatively trivial amount was deemed enough to risk everything.

Henry was the right pick, and Vasquez was OK, but a team ostensibly designed (if not mandated) to build through the draft decided to sell a first rounder (Dominique Jones, #25) for $3 million, which seems like a hypocrisy and a grave misallocation of assets. (It's an even graver error when that $3 million is instantly invested in Tony Allen, who will earn that much just to play 1,500 minutes at backup shooting guard next year. In a role Dominique Jones could easily have played. For less money. And for four years.)