Allen: NBA haggling is 'almost embarrassing'

Ray Allen knows where he came from. He also knows where his money came from, which means he knows that if it wasn't for the NBA greats of the past, current players wouldn't be nearly as wealthy as they are today.

That, for Allen, makes this whole NBA lockout business a bit ridiculous. The veteran Celtics guard breathed a fresh perspective into the NBA's current state at a local event to benefit his charity Ray of Hope.

"I look at Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Dr. J, and . . . the money we make, not only us as players but as owners, the money that's in the loop is so outstanding it's almost embarrassing that we can make this type of money and we still haggle over what we haggle over.

"It's important that the game is at an all-time high, and those players in the [1970s] and '80s, that generation, they built us to this point that we can afford the salaries that we all afford. We just have to always remember that we have to take the game to the next level, we gotta know that this is bigger than us, and we gotta make sure the game continues to grow."