Non Celtics- Big Dog bites back

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

Things are getting pretty nasty between these two.
And what's the Big Dog doing stealing KA's trademark of speaking in the third 
person? 
 
"Who was the first one there to take up for him? Big Dog was. He needs to 
work on not being so soft and quit being a little punk on the court."  -Too 
funny.  
    
Big Dog bites back at Ray Allen

By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
Special to the Journal Sentine
Last Updated: Oct. 10, 2002

Atlanta - Just two short seasons ago, Glen Robinson and Ray Allen made up the 
bigger two-thirds of the Milwaukee Bucks' vaunted "Big Three" attack that 
powered the team to within one game of the National Basketball Association 
Finals.

The pair had spent six seasons together, helping turn the franchise back into 
a certified winner. Yes, it was tough early on, but victory after victory 
quickly erased the past.

Those were indeed the best of times for both of these all-star players.

But last season, after roaring into first place in the Central Division at 
the all-star break, the Bucks - the defending division champions - 
inexplicably failed to make the playoffs.

So Robinson was jettisoned to Atlanta over the summer for, essentially, Toni 
Kukoc and a future No. 1 pick, with the team citing chemistry problems as the 
main reason for the blockbuster trade.

Today, at the start of the 2002-'03 season, the Allen-Robinson relationship 
is in tatters and the fate of two franchises hangs in the balance.

Allen served the first volley toward Robinson on the Bucks' media day, 
blaming "Big Dog" for the team's bad chemistry, for being a ball-hog and for 
not working hard in practice.

"Me trying to lead Glenn Robinson wasn't going to happen," Allen said that 
afternoon. "Last year, there was a situation in training camp where Glenn had 
just had ankle surgery, and he came and practiced in all the practices, and 
then when we got ready to run, he sat down. I didn't like it. Nobody liked 
it, and I said something to him in the locker room. He told me 'Expletive, 
expletive, whatever, whatever.' "

Those comments, along with a few others, did not go over well with Robinson, 
who is looking to transform the moribund Atlanta franchise into a winner.

"I heard some comments that Ray Allen said about me, saying that he was glad 
that I got traded because we had cursing arguments in the locker room," 
Robinson said on Wednesday after the Hawks' practice at Philips Arena.

Robinson then offered his account of the blow-up.

"One time, the coach wanted us to do sprints and I didn't do the sprints 
because of my ankles. I had just came off not one, but two ankle surgeries.

"It's easy for a person to say 'Come on, come on Dog and run' when they are 
not feeling that pain in their body."

Robinson did not like the portrayal of himself as an selfish player who only 
wanted to hoist up jumpers during his tenure with the Bucks.

Allen, who declined comment for this article through a Milwaukee Bucks 
spokesman, contended that he's looking forward to playing with Tim Thomas 
because Robinson's replacement will pass him the ball.

"I passed the ball to Ray more than he passed it to me," Robinson said.

"He takes the most degree of difficulty shots than anybody in the league. 
He'll pull up for a three-pointer from the hash marks and nobody ever 
complained about him."

Allen's comments obviously stung Robinson. In a way, he said, he feels a deep 
sense of betrayal from his former teammate.

"Don't forget, I raised him in this league," Robinson said. "He was a rookie. 
He was my rookie when he came in the league. Now, all of a sudden, how is he 
going to bite the hand that fed him? That's a coward move. I think that's 
pretty (weak) for a person to talk about a player when they don't have to 
face him every day."

And Robinson further intimated that it was inaccurate for Allen to paint him 
as a selfish player.

"You can ask every player on the roster last year if I was a team player and 
I bet you that more people would say that I was a team player than would say 
I wasn't a team player," Robinson said. "He can say everything that he wants 
to say, but that's a coward. I have no respect for somebody who talks behind 
a player's back.

"I have no respect for him. If this was a street game, I'd be going up side 
his head when I see him. But this is the NBA."

Robinson then fired a few more shots at Allen, alleging that the shooting 
guard is a soft player and that he had to literally come to his defense on 
several occasions.

The Bucks' second all-time leading scorer contends that Allen did not start 
to flourish in the league until hand-checking was eliminated and there was a 
crackdown on physical play.

"It's no secret in the league that he's soft," Robinson said. "He needs to 
let me live my life and finish my career instead of talking about him being 
glad that I'm gone.

"I can remember when . . . what's Dennis Rodman's boy name? His right hand 
man? He was with him at San Antonio? . . . (Jack Haley) Yeah. Haley knocked 
the (expletive) out of him.

"Who was the first one there to take up for him? Big Dog was. He needs to 
work on not being so soft and quit being a little punk on the court. Just 
play ball and keep his mouth closed.

"You can quote every word I said," said Robinson. "I'll tell him that to his 
face."

During their time in Milwaukee, Robinson, Allen & Co. rose from being a 
non-factor under Mike Dunleavy to being a playoff team and then a title 
contender.

If one of Robinson's patented baseline jumpers goes down, it would have been 
the Los Angeles Lakers and the Bucks, and not the Philadelphia 76ers, playing 
for the 2001 title.

Last season, when the Bucks' goal of reaching the Finals went down in flames, 
changes had to be made. Robinson was traded to the Hawks for Kukoc, Leon 
Smith and a first round pick in 2003 on Aug. 2, 2002.

"A lot of people were saying how bad of a trade it was and that they didn't 
get anything for me," said Robinson, "and for (Ray) to come out and say 
something like that, that's gay to me. You know what I mean? I look at him as 
a coward."

Robinson, for his part, didn't take the news of his trade to Atlanta very 
well.

"I always wanted to stay (with the Bucks) because that was the first team 
that I got drafted to," Robinson said. "I wanted to be like Magic Johnson and 
Larry Bird and stay with one team. That was always the goal with me.

"It was my goal to turn that program around from a losing program to a 
winning program.

"I did that in Milwaukee."

Robinson characterized his relationship with George Karl as solid, but also 
stated that he had problems with the coach airing team laundry in the media.

"George Karl wouldn't say things to me or in practice," Robinson said. "He'd 
take it to the media. Bring it straight to the Dog."

Now the Bucks must trudge onward in the Eastern Conference, hoping to be 
better by subtraction. The Hawks, who have not been to the playoffs since the 
1998-'99 season, are hoping that Robinson will help turn their fortunes 
around.

The date to mark on the calendar is Dec. 5, 2002. That's when the Bucks and 
Hawks meet for the first time this season - in Atlanta.

And it's highly unlikely that these old friends turned foes will exchange 
pleasantries before the tip-off.